$299 Computer Fix

[kbarrett]

Well, for the last month I've been wrestling with my
ailing PC. Bought one of those el-cheapo models at a computer show about a year ago. (such a bargain it was
/w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif ).

AMD 800MHZ without any frills - Well ended up just
about re-building the "bargain" PC to get it up to snuff.

Recently, it's been flaking out on me.

Errors such as:

<font color=blue>IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO</font color=blue>

If you see these come up, that's not a good thing! /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

Did all the typical trouble-shooting steps:

1. Check Hard-drive / Try a another Hard-Drive
2. Check Video Card / Try a another Video Card
3. Update to the most recent drivers on everyting
4. Re-install XP Pro (over and over again).

I suspected that I was either having a cooling problem,
CPU problem, Motherboard problem, memory issue,
or Power Supply. Frankly, I didn't have forever to
pinpoint the precise culprit. You know, sometimes you
just have to throw in the towel, put your foot down and
say, "My times is worth something!" /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Well, not to bore you with the details, but I found a
quick fix. Buy a barebones PC and install all your
good stuff you've accumulated over the years into
it.

Duron 1000Mhz - Case, Motherboard, 300W Power
Supply, 52X CD-ROM (that's actually decent). Even
came with 128MB of 133Mhz SDRAM.

Well after a few hours of bumping it up to 512MB,
putting my old hard-drive and burner in. Presto! -
Instant Fix. It's not the top of the line, but it tears
it up pretty good /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Up to this point I was beginning to feel a bit
incompetent, until the problems I was experiencing
stumped quite a few seasoned pros as well.

Bottom line is this:

Boy it's nice to be on TBN for more than a few minutes without a <font color=red>crash</font color=red>.

Just thought I'd share a reasonable way to solve an unreasonable problem.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm getting pretty good
at tearing these things down and putting them back
together again. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Kevin,
The computer I have now, I built from scratch a little over a year and 1/2 ago. Pentium III, 850 Mhz. Asus mother board, Rage fury 32 MB video, Sound Blaster Live sound card, 256 MB memory, 20 GB Wester Digital 7200 rpm hard drive, 250 MB internal zip drive etc. etc.
I found that by building my own, I could pick and choose at my discretion and budget, just what I wanted for componants.
Building yourself is the only way to go, If you know how. I have a good friend who is in the computer repair etc. business so after I put it together, he helped me bring it to life.

 

[gws]

Local shops are selling 1ghz duron, 40gb, 256mb systems complete, less os and monitor for $289.

 

[kbarrett]

GWS,

I've been pretty happy with this little processor. Definitely quite a bit of bang for the buck. I'm glad to see that there
are even better deals to be had out there!