Tech-related problems

[~Dan~]

Has the fan always been loud or did it just start doing it recently?

[redux]

^I think think that the fans really the problem now.  I had 2 computers of the same model.  I swapped the fan and it still did the same thing.  So I guess it's not the fan, but the motherboard, either that or some how the computer reads high temperature and kick the fan into overdrive...   

You can download speedfan for free and it gives you details on what exactly the fan is doing and, if your fan allows it alter the speed of it. I had a similar problem myself a couple of years ago, for whatever reason it decided to sort itself out though and decided to start working at the normal rate again after a month or two with no ill effects.

[BigDnm01]

to ~Dan~:Though it happen once before, but not that bad, this time it's repetitive,  Everytime I turn it on, the button lights up and steady amber/orange, the CPU cooling fan turns at very high speeds, causing excessive noise.  The computer doesn't even boot up, the dell icon/BIOS that usually pops up everytime disappear, it literally can't boot up, is what I'll say. can't use the computer.  so you can see why I can't follow your advice, redux, but thanks anyway.

Now I think it's the mobo, but I dunno wanna waste $70-100 on a mobo and still don't work.  how can I be sure that it's the mobo or not?  how can I troubleshoot it?

Reason is that I dunno know what might be causing the problem except a faulty CPU cooling fan or a short circuited mobo which unrestrict the fan speed.  now I tried switching the 2 fan and same problem.  I tested the fan on the other working Dell 370 and works fine, in normal operating conditions.  So I personally rule out the cooling fan, all that left is the mobo itself.  a short circuited/faulty motherboard maybe most likely be the culprit, but since I'm only a novice with no proper knowledge I'm hoping to see what you guys think.  
btw, both computer are bought used just earlier this year, so it's not like it's new or warrantyed.  I bought at a warehouse not really known for good product, since I don't think they take good care anyway, but since it's cheap $250 with a 3.4Ghz processor, 2 GB RAM, 160GB HD.  I'm willing to buy a new mobo if it comes to that, but I need to be certain.
maybe with all this knowledge, someone can come up with a good conclusion.
btw, I recently replace the power supply on that computer.  The original use a 350W I think, but the one i got is 400W.  could it probably be related?  last time I check, I think that upgrade is deem acceptable, so I didn't think it would cause any problems.  But maybe too much power shorted my mobo?  who knows.

[frblckstr1]

^ Putting in a bigger power supply shouldn't be the problem.

With what you say above it looks like it is either the CPU fan or the motherboard.
It sounds to me like the CPU is overheating, it might be CPU fan is not correctly touching the CPU itself resulting in first trying to speed up but then fail as the CPU still gets to hot.
have you checked the CPU fan is connected to the correct plug on the motherboard?
You could try putting some new termal paste between the CPU and the fan, cheapest thing to try before replacing the motherboard (clean first, then put the new pasta on)

[BigDnm01]

I believe that the CPU fan is correctly connected to the mobo, cuz I check at the manual and also the other computer had it the exact same way.  I'd also made sure that the Heatsink on top of the processor made contact with the CPU itself.  

Actually, so I remove the mobo from comp #1 (the malfunctioning one) and swap it with the #2 (the good one).  Found that the mobo really is the problem.  I kept everything, memory, fan, heatsink, hd, etc. in the same computer, only switching out the mobo, though not the CPU.  Comp #1 now works, 2 have the same exact symptoms.  So pretty ruling out everything except mobo with CPU. 
I guess I just have to buy a new mobo then. 

Thanks anyway, for everyone's help.

[~Dan~]

You can download speedfan for free and it gives you details on what exactly the fan is doing and, if your fan allows it alter the speed of it. I had a similar problem myself a couple of years ago, for whatever reason it decided to sort itself out though and decided to start working at the normal rate again after a month or two with no ill effects.

That's why I asked if it was always like that.  I use speedfan because when I built my pc the fan was way too powerful so I slowed the fan right down and with the temperature readout I can see that it's ok to have it at a slow speed.  I wouldn't slow the fan down if I didn't know the temperature of the cpu, too risky.

to ~Dan~:Though it happen once before, but not that bad, this time it's repetitive,  Everytime I turn it on, the button lights up and steady amber/orange, the CPU cooling fan turns at very high speeds, causing excessive noise.  The computer doesn't even boot up, the dell icon/BIOS that usually pops up everytime disappear, it literally can't boot up, is what I'll say. can't use the computer.  so you can see why I can't follow your advice, redux, but thanks anyway.

When was the last time you opened it up and cleaned out the dust?  If the answer is never then maybe it just needs a bit of cleaning.  or maybe it's something more serious like the fan working itself loose or something.

[frblckstr1]

I'd also made sure that the Heatsink on top of the processor made contact with the CPU itself. 

How did you check that? if you just 'wiggled' it to see if its loose that does not confirm that it makes enough contact.
If you took it off to look, make sure to replace the termal pasta.
Newer coolers use some kind of pasta that melts when first used which means when you pull the cooloer off and then back on the contact is not optimal (e.g. CPU overheats very easily or CPU fun runs very fast to try and cool the CPU).

[Slack]

I've actually had a very similar problem a few times before, and each time it was due to capacitor plague.

It's fairly easy to diagnose: you just look at the capacitors on the affected piece of hardware (the cylindrical thingies that stick out) and check for signs that they've been under high internal pressure.
This can be in the form of bulging tops of the metal caps, the entire metal cap being pushed off slightly, or complete breaches that result in brownish goo leaking out.  More details can be found in the wiki article above, and I recommend reading it.

Since the capacitors regulate the power in the computer, a failure in one can cause increased load to be put on other capacitors, leading to more failures.  If it's on your motherboard, this means that other components (e.g. video card) could have developed the same condition, even if they didn't have defective capacitors.  In other words, check all your cards and boards for this condition if you have it.

If you've got it, you have two options:
1. Replace the affected piece(s) of hardware - This is the only option for most people.
2. If you know an electrical engineer or someone who has a lot of experience soldering and repairing electronics, get them to unsolder the capacitors and replace them with equivalently rated new ones.
There is no guarantee that if you do this that it will fix the problem, and it will usually be pretty rare to find someone who knows exactly how to do this.  If it works though, it can be worth it to save some money on new hardware.

In the last 5 years, I've had this twice.  Once on a motherboard, which caused it to be unstartable, and once on a video card.  It was only worth it to fix the video card, since new mobo/cpu combos at Fry's go on sale all the time.

Even if you've decided to replace it, check your motherboard as well as your other components.  It's more common than you might think.

[BigDnm01]

I have a problem.  Everytime I watch a video on my Windows Media Player 11 in fullscreen, after 5-10 minutes, it automatically exits the fullscreen.  at first I thought it was a pop-ups that caused it, but nothing really pop-up.  I'd then go back to Fullscreen, and it happen again.  It's not just on my computer, but 2 others.  Thing is, it only happen recently, and that I believe it somehow connect to the new K-Lite Codec Pack/Mega codec pack that I recently installed on those 3 computers.  It would make sense that a video/audio codec would cause the video to exit fullscreen.  But how do I fix that?  does anyone else who installed the recent updated K-Lite codec pack have the same problem?  I believe the 5.2.0, 5.3.0 and the 5.4.4. have the same problem. 

Now I don't exactly know if it's really a problem, probably that I did something to the settings to make it that way.  so what do i have to change and how?

[shadowstar]

I transferred some movies from my computer to my iPod (for storage really) and when I opened it via My Computer to check on the files (using a Mac this time) I found a folder that said "RECYCLER"?

Is this a virus? How do I remove it? ;____;

[LaJon]

I transferred some movies from my computer to my iPod (for storage really) and when I opened it via My Computer to check on the files (using a Mac this time) I found a folder that said "RECYCLER"?

Is this a virus? How do I remove it? ;____;

It's not a virus.

http://ask-leo.com/why_is_there_more_than_one_recycler_folder_on_my_machine_and_why_dont_they_all_empty_when_i_empty_the_recycle_bin.html

Gives some info on this folder and why it's there.

[Guchi_Jnr]

I have a problem.  Everytime I watch a video on my Windows Media Player 11 in fullscreen, after 5-10 minutes, it automatically exits the fullscreen.  at first I thought it was a pop-ups that caused it, but nothing really pop-up.  I'd then go back to Fullscreen, and it happen again.  It's not just on my computer, but 2 others.  Thing is, it only happen recently, and that I believe it somehow connect to the new K-Lite Codec Pack/Mega codec pack that I recently installed on those 3 computers.  It would make sense that a video/audio codec would cause the video to exit fullscreen.  But how do I fix that?  does anyone else who installed the recent updated K-Lite codec pack have the same problem?  I believe the 5.2.0, 5.3.0 and the 5.4.4. have the same problem. 

Now I don't exactly know if it's really a problem, probably that I did something to the settings to make it that way.  so what do i have to change and how?

Had a quick Google, and the main things people say are..
Screensaver : When the screensaver wants to kick in, WMP will exit fullscreen..
Web Browser : When a web page refreshes, fullscreen will also exit..

Can't see anything about K-Lite causing it to happen..

[shadowstar]

I transferred some movies from my computer to my iPod (for storage really) and when I opened it via My Computer to check on the files (using a Mac this time) I found a folder that said "RECYCLER"?

Is this a virus? How do I remove it? ;____;

It's not a virus.

http://ask-leo.com/why_is_there_more_than_one_recycler_folder_on_my_machine_and_why_dont_they_all_empty_when_i_empty_the_recycle_bin.html

Gives some info on this folder and why it's there.

I just realized it also can't be deleted. What's the problem now?

ALSO, another... every time I connect my iPod now to my computer via USB, it gives me the blue screen of death. I tried it twice, same prob. It happened earlier with a (clean) thumb drive, now it's my iPod. HELP ;___;

[Amplifier]

ALSO, another... every time I connect my iPod now to my computer via USB, it gives me the blue screen of death. I tried it twice, same prob. It happened earlier with a (clean) thumb drive, now it's my iPod. HELP ;___;

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2280 - check that. Maybe update Windows, if you've gone a while without.

[shadowstar]

^ Is it the same case for XP? Because that's what I have.

Or would un-installing and re-installing my Service Pack 3 work too? Is this guaranteed?

[Slack]

That article has a link to another article on what to do if you have the same problem on XP:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1502

[frblckstr1]

I have a problem.  Everytime I watch a video on my Windows Media Player 11 in fullscreen, after 5-10

Screensaver : When the screensaver wants to kick in, WMP will exit fullscreen..

If it is the screensaver, there is a setting in WMP that can disable it during playback.

[BigDnm01]

I did disable the screensaver during video playing.  plus I set my computer to not have a screensaver, and even when I do, I set to 30 min to an hour when not in use.  but this happens during the 5-10 min interval. 
I think it might be K-lite Codec pack since:
1) it started happening since I'd install the latest version on those 3 computer.
2) K-lite had many codecs and apps with it, that I thought maybe one of those, like the vobsub, ffdshow or haali apps, might automatically try to change something when I'm watching my shows, which btw needs those codecs in order to play the subs, audio, video, etc.  It's mkv or avi with hard/soft subs.  audio is switchable. 
3) When installing K-lite codec pack, during the settings, I didn't know much of it, but I did hide the tray icons on some of them and had some video/music players as default.  I might change something I didn't know. 

Still, the problem might not lie with K-lite, I did also install this Wireless HP printer software to those computers, it might've pop up when I'd watch my videos which makes it exit fullscreen.

still looking for a solution.

[~Dan~]

still looking for a solution.

Have you tried another video player rather than Windows Media Player?
Try media player classic and see if it has the same effect.

[BigDnm01]

VLC seems to have the same problem.  and now, on one of the computers that have the same problem.  when I play video games in fullscreen, it happens to which in this case, the game screen completely disappear and it went back to the desktop.