FindComputerStuff

I resumed work today to find that my Pc wouldn’t stay on for more than a few minutes, after which it would just freeze. At first I started blaming windows again, and I decided to reinstall the OS (I didnt have any apps on the PC yet, anyway). The install process froze at the filecopy stage (deja-vu, the Windows XP bluescreen post!)

In a rage, I took apart the chassis, intending to remove the offending - or so i thought - harddisk, only to smell burnt-plastic near the processor. The processor isn’t plastic, is it? And the heatsink is made of metal (duh!), so i took a look at the fan. Sure enough, it was the culprit. It had either malfunctioned and got overheated, or something else. I put on the PC again, this time with the cover open, and i watched the fan. All i noticed was that the spin was erratic: sometimes ti would be slow, then pick up speed, then stop; sometimes it would stop completely [at these times the “PC health monitor” in the BIOS would record temperatures of 72 degrees C, instead of the usual 55]. When the temperature reached approximately 78 degrees, the PC would freeze. Gotcha.

I removed the faulty fan from the heatsink assembly, and tried to spin it with my fingers. It was stiff - it’s usually free-spinning. I called my local dealer and asked if i could get a cooling unit for my Processor, but i believe the guy must have misheard me or didnt know what he was doing, because he asked for N2000. I was mad. I started looking around for a PC to cannibalize. Sometimes being the resident geek can have a disadvantage - your stuff is so cutting-edge that you have no one to swap parts with, or to try new hardware on.

I eventually got a redundant P4 computer and took it apart. The fan was mounted delicately on the heatsink with springy metal, unlike mine which had been screwed down. I couldnt exchange. So the redundant Pc will remain so until i get to buy a new cooling unit. Too bad. But at least my own PC is up and running now.

The moral of the story: The Operating system you love to hate on is not always to blame when the PC hangs. Your hardware may be at fault too.