PC fettling and repairs thread

[JoeyB]

Maybe try some dust filters in front of the inbound fans

 

[HMS_Dave]

Son's got water cooling and a big radiator, but daughter's was a slightly budget build out of my pocket rather than his ! It's got an ARGB cooler on the CPU, and 4 ARGB case fans so plenty of air flow (and looks very pretty). Even in the hot weather it's been running fine, so I suspect it's just dust build up. Once re-booted it calms down.

Worth cleaning and testing that.

My first and only foray into water cooling didn't go well for me. I had a Corsair AIO system on an AMD FX-8350 processor. I had it overclocked to something like 4.9ghz if i remember. But the cooler lasted 3 months due to pump failure. I got a replacement and that lasted 5 months, same problem. It did a good job of keeping the CPU temperatures under control, but the reliability was woeful for me. So i ditched water cooling and got a giant Noctua air cooler instead. My kids used that for years with no problems...

 

[DCBassman]

I don't overclock anything on my desktop. The GPU was formerly a superclocked version, but it's now tweaked downward slightly to keep it stable.
Six fans plus the two on the radiator: radiator plus one fan, top exhaust, all others intake. Front two filtered, need more filters!

 

[ColinJ]

I have done some fan/ventilation slot fettling recently...

This was on my fancy old microwave (+fan +grill) oven which can do really good baked potatoes in around 20 minutes. At least it could, but then it started overheating and switching off after about 15 minutes. I took the cover off and discovered that the fans and ventilation slots were clogged up with detritus. I cleaned it all out and the oven is working properly again.

Exactly the same thing can happen with computers. Keep them dust-free!

 

[HMS_Dave]

I don't overclock anything on my desktop. The GPU was formerly a superclocked version, but it's now tweaked downward slightly to keep it stable.
Six fans plus the two on the radiator: radiator plus one fan, top exhaust, all others intake. Front two filtered, need more filters!

Since i got my HP Z620, i have lowered the Voltage on my RX 590 GPU. I lose no performance or stability but things remain much cooler. In truth i had some trouble with that FX PC i mentioned, took about a year to get it stable with all the issues i had and yet wasn't really worth the outlay and time. I suppose you could say i scratched that overclocking itch and now i really don't bother but i have seen value in lowering voltages where there is no stability issues.

 

[DCBassman]

Dell XPS 1640 M, continued: annoyed for some reasons with Linux Mint, did a clean install of Windows 10 21H1, and bingo! the annoying pop-up has so far not re-appeared. Next, get RAM from 4 to 8 GB...
Anyone got any 4GB ddr3 1333 or better SoDimms they don't want?

 

[ColinJ]

I put Linux on my old Dell a year or so back and played around with it for a while. I then put the machine to one side and forgot about it. I plugged it back in yesterday to have another tinker with it and it isn't behaving itself now. I'm not sure WHAT it is doing, it just seems to go round in a circle and end up back at the boot options again. That is something to sort out when I have the time and energy for it...

 

[PeteXXX]

I have a Toshiba satellite laptop running W10.
I also have a W7 Dell PC tower and keyboard (but no monitor) that isn't working very well.

Question: can I connect the PC to the laptop via the RGB sockets and use the laptop screen and PC control to sort it out?
There's nothing I need on the PC so was thinking of booting it up with Ubuntu that I have on DVD

Or should I plug it into a 'proper' monitor?

 

[ColinJ]

I have a Toshiba satellite laptop running W10.
I also have a W7 Dell PC tower and keyboard (but no monitor) that isn't working very well.

Question: can I connect the PC to the laptop via the RGB sockets and use the laptop screen and PC control to sort it out?
There's nothing I need on the PC so was thinking of booting it up with Ubuntu that I have on DVD

Or should I plug it into a 'proper' monitor?

They don't work that way round!

(It would be for the laptop to use an external monitor, not an external machine to use the laptop screen.)

 

[PeteXXX]

They don't work that way round!

(It would be for the laptop to use an external monitor, not an external machine to use the laptop screen.)

That's how I understood it to be but wasn't sure it it was a two way thing or not.

Thanks 👍

 

[ColinJ]

The PC definitely wouldn't work very well without a monitor!

(Actually, it might do, but you wouldn't be able to tell... )

 

[DCBassman]

Next, get RAM from 4 to 8 GB...
Anyone got any 4GB ddr3 1333 or better SoDimms they don't want?

RAM on the way!

 

[DCBassman]

Dammit...the annoying pop-up re-appeared. So I've spent today messing with various vintages of graphics drivers, and after much too-ing and fro-ing, it now all works as it should. Despite this machine having no officail Win 10 drivers at all, I've managed to get everything up and running. The only thing, apart from the incomimg RAM upgrade, that I don't have is the TV antenna adaptor - this laptop also has built-in DVB!

 

[fossyant]

Daughter's gaming rig still noisy. Glass side cover off and its the bearing on the CPU cooler. Really dusty inside so out with a brush. Pulled the cooler off and disassembled the fan. Dribbled a bit of Finish Line wet lube on fan bearing, and put back together. Quiet now.😊

 

[HMS_Dave]

Dammit...the annoying pop-up re-appeared. So I've spent today messing with various vintages of graphics drivers, and after much too-ing and fro-ing, it now all works as it should. Despite this machine having no officail Win 10 drivers at all, I've managed to get everything up and running. The only thing, apart from the incomimg RAM upgrade, that I don't have is the TV antenna adaptor - this laptop also has built-in DVB!

How frustrating. I had a similar issue looking for drivers for my sound card, which is from 2007. I managed to find an old windows driver which worked in the end.

Just time consuming...