Al:
It does sound like heat is the problem. I'd go at it something like
this:
1. Are all of the fans working? In particular, the bearings in most CPU
fans are not intended to last very long, and they don't. One clue is
that fans usually get noisy as the bearings begin to fail. On the good
side, fans are cheap and easy to replace. On the down side, a fan
failure can result in damage to the CPU. Not cheap. If you do have to
remove the heat sink, remember to apply a dab of heat sink paste to the
bottom of the sink. You can get the stuff at Radio Shack.
2. Power supply fans fail, too. Unless you are a skilled technician, DO
NOT attempt to fix one, just replace the whole power supply. It doesn't
matter all that much whether it's on or off, there can be a lethal
amount of electrical energy stored inside that box, and it can kill you.
Bite the bullet, and spend the bucks.
3. Are the ventilation openings in the case filled with cat hair, carpet
fuzz, or other kinds of dust? (I once had a keyboard stop working
because it was filled with dog hair. I still have no idea how it got in
there -- he was a short dog with long hair -- but it did.) Simple fix --
clean them out.
4. Have you installed any new hardware lately? The latest generation of
super duper video cards generate a lot of heat, as do 7200 rpm hard
drives, and they should have their own fans. They should also be
installed so that there is some space between them and another heat
producing component.
5. While we're on the subject of new hardware, I've sometimes disturbed
something unintentionally while doing something else inside the box. Any
chance of that?
HTH,
Carroll Grigsby


Al Olry wrote:
>
> My computer goes absolutely crazy at times.
> It will lockup, no matter what I am doing with it.
> Day before yesterday, I must have restarted it at least 50 times.
> After restart it might load Dos, Safe mode or windows.
> I think there was something like a time cycle involved.
> I tried to reload WIN 98SE and got nowhere with it.
> I suspected that heat might be the problem, so I turned it off
> for the night.  The next morning it worked fine for awhile and
> then went goofy again. Once again I turned it off for the night.
> The next morning I removed the side cover and left it off.
> It has worked far better since then, however it is not
> trouble free yet.
> Is it possible that heat is the problem and if so, what do I do
> about it?
> I have Norton System Works and it doesn't catch the problem.
>
> Al Olry
> [log in to unmask]

            Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to
                    Digest mode - visit our web site:
                   http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml