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Author Topic: Oh, my PC...  (Read 12800 times)

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« on: July 16, 2010, 16:51 »
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It seems I always have something every year.

PC not working. No beeps at boot-up, normal lights for keyboard, HD and DVD. Sound boxes click as usual. Monitor light turns green quickly, then turns yellow. Monitor tested on notebook, fine. HD does all the regular spinning, then spins once in a while.

I can't tell if Windows is loading because I have two logon choices (myself and guest). Is there a way I can emulate the clicking on one of them?

Of course I can not try a safe mode boot. Darn, there are files not yet backed up.


« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2010, 17:13 »
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Is it maybe a graphic card problem?

I would try first to unplug power cable from PC, wait 30 secs and plug it again.

vlad_the_imp

« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2010, 17:16 »
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Apple store------------------------->

« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2010, 17:27 »
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It may be a graphic card problem (had it many times before in previous PCs - marine environment is not computer-friendly).

Turned it on and off a couple of times already, but I'll try again later. It's very damp and cold tonight, no maybe after the power supply is active for a while, the electronics will warm up and eventually some condensate may be gone.

« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2010, 20:05 »
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Well, ok, opened the PC, unplugged the video board and connected the monitor to the mobo. Working.

I cleaned the video card with that electronics fluid. There was a small area in it with a whitish corrosion. I'm updating my backups before reinserting it, just in case.

« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2010, 20:24 »
+2
Apple store------------------------->

Yea cause nothing ever goes wrong with Apple products.  ;)

« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2010, 21:38 »
+1
Backups finished, video card back, at first didn't solve (though I could at least see the booting process). Restarted at safe mode, restored a previous system point, now everything is back to normal (even the icons as I spread them over the desktop).

If another failure happens, I know what to do.

« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2010, 03:51 »
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Backups finished, video card back, at first didn't solve (though I could at least see the booting process). Restarted at safe mode, restored a previous system point, now everything is back to normal (even the icons as I spread them over the desktop).

If another failure happens, I know what to do.

was it a bad driver update or something?

LSD72

  • My Bologna has a first name...
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2010, 10:49 »
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Since you say your in a moist climate.... you might want to collect those little packets that sometimes come in shoe boxes and a few other things. I think they are silica packs to absorb moisture. If you can't find them then you might try some dry rice to make some home made packets.

« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2010, 15:19 »
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was it a bad driver update or something?

I haven't updated anything intentionally. As I use NVidia drivers, I suppose no Windows update may have harmed them. Maybe the last problem happened as I was trying to boot yesterday several times, and perhaps something got corrupted or misconfigured in the process (maybe even for having reconfigured the video settings when I used the mobo video connection), and the system restoration point of the day before turned things back to normal.

Since you say your in a moist climate....
I have thought of putting a small box of an absorbing material (not silica, but similar), as there is room inside for it. I was always afraid however that these products might release some chemicals that might be dangerous in such an environment. I mean, there are sparks and such inside the PC box.

« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2010, 15:48 »
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You don't have to worry about silica gel because it's very inert substance. It's not toxic, and it's not inflammable. It reacts only with very reactive substances like strong alkalies or acids, and some fluorides. These substances are very unlikely to find around computers.
Silica gel is the best absorbent that you can use at home, because it's not reactive, and it's highly porous. One thing that always amazed me about silica gel is that it's so porous that 1g of it has surface of more than 500 square meters.
Feel free to put as many small bags as you can in your computer. (Of course, you don't want to clog the comp with it, lol)
Once you see it's saturated with water, just pour it from bags and put it in the oven for...let's say 2 hours, on 100-120 C, and it will regenerate. Than you can use it again. Just put it in another bag, made of any kind of light canvas.
You can also buy silica gel, but here in Serbia it's pretty expensive.

Don't worry about putting it in the computer, because manufacturers are putting it sometimes in electronic devices.

I edited because I forgot to tell you how to see if silica gel is saturated with water.
Measure it before putting in the computer. When it becomes heavier 35-40% more than in the beginning, you have to regenerate it.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2010, 15:53 by Dreamframer »

« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2010, 21:19 »
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I don't know if the problem is humidity in fact. For some reason - maybe humidity - video cards have always been a fragile element in my PCs. In the previous one, I had to replace it every year! This now looks ok, although a small area in it showed corrosion - a kid of greenish-whitish substance on some welded contacts. It's like something had dripped on it, but there is nothing there that could have dripped. Marine corrosion is dark and more dispersed, and is seen in the casing (PC technicians always get surprised when they see my PCs!)

« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2010, 02:03 »
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My video card sometimes gives me problems. Usually just unplugging and plugging it back in does the trick for me. Seems like it works for you too. I have an ATI video card so not the same as yours.

« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2010, 02:43 »
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I don't know if the problem is humidity in fact. For some reason - maybe humidity - video cards have always been a fragile element in my PCs. In the previous one, I had to replace it every year! This now looks ok, although a small area in it showed corrosion - a kid of greenish-whitish substance on some welded contacts. It's like something had dripped on it, but there is nothing there that could have dripped. Marine corrosion is dark and more dispersed, and is seen in the casing (PC technicians always get surprised when they see my PCs!)

"Whitish-greenish corrosion", especially on contacts (which are made of copper) is a mixture of Cu(OH)2 and CuCO3 called "patina" and it's very common in moist conditions.  but the thing that it looks like something dripped on it confuses me a bit. The only thing that comes on my mind is that this part of a graphic board is colder than the rest of it, so moisture is condensing there.

« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2010, 06:53 »
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I don't know if the problem is humidity in fact. For some reason - maybe humidity - video cards have always been a fragile element in my PCs. In the previous one, I had to replace it every year! This now looks ok, although a small area in it showed corrosion - a kid of greenish-whitish substance on some welded contacts. It's like something had dripped on it, but there is nothing there that could have dripped. Marine corrosion is dark and more dispersed, and is seen in the casing (PC technicians always get surprised when they see my PCs!)

More likely to be over heating Maria !!  GPUs get very hot !!

Maybe u need to consider better cooling !?  An extra case fan perhaps ??  Try a piece of software that monitors the GPU temperature.

« Reply #15 on: July 18, 2010, 07:02 »
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I don't know if the problem is humidity in fact. For some reason - maybe humidity - video cards have always been a fragile element in my PCs. In the previous one, I had to replace it every year! This now looks ok, although a small area in it showed corrosion - a kid of greenish-whitish substance on some welded contacts. It's like something had dripped on it, but there is nothing there that could have dripped. Marine corrosion is dark and more dispersed, and is seen in the casing (PC technicians always get surprised when they see my PCs!)


More likely to be over heating Maria !!  GPUs get very hot !!

Maybe u need to consider better cooling !?  An extra case fan perhaps ??  Try a piece of software that monitors the GPU temperature.



Madelaide

Here is the free monitoring software that I use, nice and easy.... monitors CPU, Motherboard, Power and Hard disk Temperatures plus other diagnostics:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html
« Last Edit: July 18, 2010, 07:05 by etienjones »

« Reply #16 on: July 18, 2010, 12:35 »
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My suggestion of having something "dripping" on that area is by the fact that only that area has this corrosion product. I would expect a condensation problem being more spread on the card.

How could overheat cause this type of localized corrosion?  ???

« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2010, 12:59 »
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it wouldn't cause corrosion, but it would cause video processor failure !!  :)

« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2016, 14:47 »
+1
OLD, OLD THREAD ALERT!




 

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