PC Problems

[Keleez]

Ok to cut a long story short, i have a custom built gaming pc, and recently it is constantly freezing then crashing and refusing to loads windows for days on end, then suddenly kicks back into life and acts like nothing has happened for a few weeks then does it all over again...i have had everything inside replaced except for the hard drive...when i turn my pc on, until windows has loaded it sounds like a helicopter landing in my living room...but ive come to rely on this sound, because if it starts quietly (like its supposed to) it means windows wont be loading.
Does anyone have any ideas, as im beginning to worry that one day my pc will never load again.

Many Thanks in Advance

[VHG]

It could be overheating.

Is it in a tight corner where cold air cant get in and circulate?

Are the fans or vents clogged with dust or fluff. Have you cleaned out all the dust from inside the case recently?

Are all the fans working?

[Keleez]

Hi VHG, no its not in a tight corner it has plenty of air space, it also has 6 fans that are all working, no dust inside as it gets cleaned out every few weeks.

[Old_Geezer]

Crashing out and needing to be unplugged and then reconnected again turned out to be overheating on my woman's PC. Didn't mess up for days on end though. A few minutes cool-down, and it would come back on.

I note you have not checked the hard drive. I suspect it is unlikley to be that but why leave one thing unchecked?

Do you know what the noise is? Is it a fan having problems, or the hard drive?

[Old_Geezer]

How much of a cleanout? Unscrew the CPU fan (when the PC is unpowered of course) and see if owt is built up next to the heatsink, that you can not normally see.

[scotman]

Does your machine have any utilities that can display the various temperatures of components. If it does I would keep an eye on these for starters.

[Keleez]

Hi Geezer...the noise comes from the main fan which i have had replaced 3x, and it still does the same thing, its almost like a vibration sound, and yet all fans are firmly in place, the only reason the hard drive hasnt been changed is due to the cost, as its a custom built gaming tower, so in the beginning no expense was spared, when it refuses to load windows, i dont need to unplug anything, i just turn it off and have to leave it alone for several days, it can take up to 7 days (this includes trying daily) then suddenly kicks back into life, ive learnt its best not too turn it on for about 3 days and then its fine again...but this only lasts 2-3 weeks maximum the the whole thing starts all over again, i have taken my pc to many experts who say they have fixed the problem even though none can actually say what the problem was/is but within a few days i am back to square one again.

[Old_Geezer]

Starts quietly? You mean the fan's aren't turning, or the hard drive isn't rotating? Does the thing power up at all, in which case check the power supply.

Download speedfan to check temperatures. Worked for me.

[Keleez]

Hi scotman, yes it has software that keeps and eye on the temp, and it never reports a problem

[Keleez]

Hi Geezer, the pc is cleaned within an inch of its screws lol, ive even had experts tell me i do such a good job the inside of my pc looks brand new

[Keleez]

Hi Geezer...no it never starts quitely thats the problem, its meant to start quietly but when it does windows does not load...when it loads like a helicopter next to me then windows DOES load

[Old_Geezer]

You can get non-destructive dick checks that you boot into before Windows gets control. Been a while since I used one so can not recall them now. But if you wish to buy a good utility I have used spinrite in the past to good affect.

[Old_Geezer]

May even be a loose connection / dry joint somewhere. Ssupect you've not replaced the motherboard :-) Try unplugging, checking, then replugging all the internal cables? Remove any non-essential boards, see if they are dragging the PC down somehow.

[mungbeanz]

I'm intruiged as to what a non-destructive dick check is.

[Keleez]

Hi Geezer will give that a try as all else has failed

[Old_Geezer]

One that has left any existing data on the disk in place when it has finished. Some simply write and read all over your disk, and you lose anything that was already there.

[Old_Geezer]

sans obligatory typo of course.

[SlackAlice]

Motherboard bios up to date?

Your saying fan? Which one, case fan, Graphics or CPU fan?
What O/S you running?
Personally I'd say HDD problems, What HDD you got?

[Keleez]

O/S windows XP pro..noisey fan is the the fan attached to my PSU, motherboard bios is up to date, not sure which HDD i have until i open up the machine as it was changed about 6 months ago

[Keleez]

fender62 you could be right as its only a winpower450w, but except for what is inside my machine i do not have anything on the outside connected to the pc except a web cam, the pc started sticking 2 days ago, basically the screen freezes for about 30 secs then frees itself, now over the next few days the freezing with become more and more frequent lasting longer and longer each time until the pc crashes completely