Is "Time" a brand name system in the UK? Or was it constructed as a generic type system by a computer store. (ie; Their (computer stores) brand system.)
Hi again, I'm not sure whether Time is the brand name on the computer or just the company name to be honest. I bought the computer I think about 3 years ago and the thing is I have had problems with it ever since I bought it. I have reinstalled the windows xp on it countless times and I even had it taken away by Time themselves within the first year. I bought it because it was a good price at the time so you could say you get what you pay for but my mum also bought exactly the same pc and she has never had any problems with it. Anyway, I am pretty convinced it is a hardware problem, I think it is the hard drive but I have 2 hard drives on it so how do I go about finding out if I do have this problem and can I replace it with a new one?
"I think it is the hard drive but I have 2 hard drives on it so how do I go about finding out if I do have this problem and can I replace it with a new one?"
If you know the hard disk(s) manufacturers, test them with these:
If you don't know the hard disk manufacturers, download, install, and run Everest Home Edition on this machine. (Clean FreeWare) Once it's finished loading and running, click on Report, Report Wizard in the Menu Bar. Save the Hardware related pages (the default). Save it as an HTML file (the default) in a location of your choice. (It will default the location to C:\Program Files\Lavalys\EVEREST Home Edition\Reports.)
The report will provide the information.
If you need assistance in discerning the info;
Add this report(.HTM) document to a .zip (compressed) file. Please Attach that .zip document to your next posting.
(When posting, click on Advanced, and just below the posting box you'll see "Additional Options", and within that, "Attach Files". Click on "Manage Attachments" and follow the prompts. Browse to the file location on your system and choose UPLOAD.)
Ok, I have done what you said and I have attached the zip file for you to see. I have to say it's all foreign to me. I can understand it but cannot make head nor tail of what it actually means so hopefully you can enlighten me. I want to say a HUGE thank you for all the help you have been giving me and are still doing so. It's so nice to know there are people out there willing to help dummies like me Lol x
You're welcome. ;>) There's no dummies here, just people who require some assistance with computer problems.
You have a floppy drive, a Maxtor 80 GB hard disk, and a Seagate 40 GB hard disk, so download these; (Direct download links, you'll need two floppy disks)
Unzip the files to an empty directory and (with a floppy in your drive) run the install.bat file. When complete, you won't see any files on the floppy, but they are there. Just boot the machine with this floppy and run it as long as you can afford to. (Overnite if possible.)
If there are errors, run it on one memory module at a time to narrow down the possibilities. (ie; Remove all but one module.) Run for at least one hour when testing one module at a time.
You may have to set your boot device sequence in the bios to boot from the floppy drive before the hard disk.
This is an executable file. Just insert a blank floppy in your drive and run the file to make a Boot Disk.
Boot the machine with it, select the disk to test, and run the tests.
(Quote from the download site for this tool) SeaTools for DOS has replaced SeaTools Desktop and PowerMax. SeaTools for DOS can test Seagate or Maxtor Parallel ATA (PATA and IDE) and Serial ATA (SATA) interface disc drives. Because the software boots to its own operating system you can test your drive regardless of the OS installed on it. You can even test a new or completely blank drive. SeaTools for DOS will instruct the drive to run its built in Drive Self Test (DST) and give either a pass or fail status. If you are troubleshooting your disc drive and the DST passes, then you have a good drive!
Test your drives, then test your memory. Post your results.
Hey Dan, I wanted to let you know I think I have solved my problem. I was pretty sure it was a hard drive problem but after searching and checking just about everything I could I could never find a problem with my hard drives. I found something last night that made me think maybe it was something else. I was reading about someone having the same sort of problem as mine on another forum and the replies she was getting was something to do with cpu, the computers temperature and the fans, so, I thought, well I usually keep my fans clean, I take the casing off and clean inside regularly, but it had been a while since I last done it. Anyway, I did it this morning, I gave the inside a real good clean on the fans and anywhere else I could see dust and you know what? Ever since, my pc has been running fine. It has'nt crashed once. I can hear the inside fans a bit more than I could before (it's never been a quiet pc) but I am thinking maybe that's because it's that much cleaner in there now. I am hoping that this is the only thing that was causing me so much bother, even when my daughter used the pc earlier today she was stunned that it never crashed on her lol. Anyway, I want to say a huge thank you to you for all the help you provided me with. Although it did'nt turn out to be what we thought you have enlightened me to a lot about computers. I will continue to be an active member here and when I can afford to I will make a donation. At least now I know I have somewhere to go should I ever have a problem again. x
"... I gave the inside a real good clean on the fans and anywhere else I could see dust and you know what? Ever since, my pc has been running fine. It has'nt crashed once."
Well that sort of brings us back to the beginning of your post.
Glad it worked out.
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