My PC is broken and I'm too stupid to fix it

My computer has recently starting crashing and I have no clue what's wrong, mostly because I don't really know anything about computers. If anyone can help I would be so thankful!

My computer keeps crashing on me. A blue screen comes up and tells me my computer is shutting down to protect itself. It gives me messages like IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL or PAGE_IN_NONPAGED_AREA or BAD-POOL_CALLER or KERNAL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR, etc. and then "dumps physical memory to disk". I get different stop messages each time, and occasionally a system file listed as the cause of my troubles. I've done viral scans of my computer (using AVG), tried unplugging my memory upgrades, dusting out my computer and keeping it disconnected from the internet/network connections. I have roughtly 2.0 GB of space and one day found only 183 MB left. I deleted some files and have cleared up 17 GB of space. Nothing seems to help. Also it has been making some aweful grinding noices, leading me to suspect my fan was broken. I did a check on the computer and the CPU tempereatures are in normal ranges although the "board" temperatures are a little high. If it's not a fan I have no idea what's going on... can someone help me please?

Thanx

That, my friend, will be the title of my first album, you know

Anyway, your hard drive is corrupt, probably, or your Windows installation is anyway. Is your hard drive making any new sounds> ? Weird noises or clicks? Or you have corrupt RAM. Anyway, its something bad, and if you know nothing about computers you will have to take it to someone who does if you want to save it. It might just be a case of reinstalling its operating system or replacing a bad RAM module.

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

The grinding noises you refer to in your post maybe a sign that your hard drive is on it`s way out.

Maybe that`s the reason you are getting BSDs (Blue screen of death).

The BSDs may also be caused by a driver or drivers problem in which case you may need to get the latest drivers for your hardwear.

If after getting the latest drivers your problem continues then I would suggest that you Reformat and reinstall windows as this might cure the problem.

Other than that you may have to consider a new Hard Drive.


I`m sorry I can`t be more specific but there are just to many possibilities for me to be precise.


I hope this helps Regards Howard :wave:

Thanks guys... you've confirmed my worst fears and ruled out any quick fix. I'm pretty certain the fan on my motherboard is the trouble. Is it possible to replace the fan or does the whole hard drive need to go?

Yes it is possible to replace the fan.

The fan on your mob is for cooling your cpu it`s got nothing to do with your hard drive.

Regards Howard :grinthumb

This is everything about my computer... temperatures and more. I have no idea what most of it means... but the board temperatures look high to me. Thanx again for all the advice!

< Temperature Sensor(s) >
Board Temperature: 90.0°C / 194.0°F
CPU Temperature: 53.0°C / 127.4°F

< Voltage Sensor(s) >
CPU Voltage: 1.76V
Aux Voltage: 2.46V
+3.3V Voltage: 3.31V
+5V Voltage: 4.92V
+12V Voltage: 12.11V
-12V Voltage: 0.15V
-5V Voltage: -5.61V
Standby Voltage: 4.95V

< Processor >
Model: AMD Duron(tm) processor
Speed: 1.20GHz
Model Number: 1203 (estimated)
Performance Rating: PR1744 (estimated)
Type: Standard
L2 On-board Cache: 64kB ECC Synchronous Write-Back (16-way, 64
byte line size)

< Mainboard >
Bus(es): ISA AGP PCI USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support: No
MP APIC: No
System BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG
Mainboard: SiS-730
Total Memory: 383MB SDRAM

You are right the board tempis not good.
Can you tell which fans are or are not running.
It sounds as though the power supply fan/s are not.
If you are not comfortable inside your case,I recommend you get that box to a pro or a good guru friend ASAP.

All of the fans are still spinning. The winding and grinding is the fan right on the motherboard, so I'm assuming that's the problem fan now. My power fan sounds alright, but I have no way of knowing if it's still good or not. I'm okay inside my box... just scared to touch anything really. I tried to pop the fan off to go buy a replacement, but I can't figure out how to get it off. Can anyone help me online for that one, or do I finally need to go to a shop?

"I'm O.K. inside the case.... I am afraid to touch anything..."
If you want to go ahead and try it!
There are many different types of CPU coolers,but most of them release with some type of lever(Should lift and fold back) on each side of the brackets that hold down the fan& Heatsink.
Keep in mind that often the release of the fan may cause a seperation of the heatsink from the CPU. Therefore you would also have to reseat the heatsink and cpu .Now we are getting involved in some critical stuff.Do you want to tackle this job?
What do you think so far?