Weird? please help

[Saeo0901]

Hello,

I have a weird question. I have no idea why, where, or how to start of boggling my head about why it did this. Here goes:

I am not exactly the most knowledgeable of people when it comes to computers, but im not exactly a noob at them either. I built my pc, the specs I will tell later. Well, one day I decide it needed a clean, so I took it all apart and gave it a thorough clean. Mostly damp dusting the case, and using a paintbrush/Hoover (vaccuum? ) to get rid of the dust on the gfx card, sound card and network card. Motherboard and other circuitry. Well I waited for an hour or so so it was properly dry before I sloted everything bank into place. Everything looked fine and I went through all the checks I was taught. Okay, now comes to turn it on. It turned on for all of half a second. So I checked to see if there was anything that could have been shorting it out. Nothing, so I tried again. The same. So I took out everything and placed it in one by one to see what it was and it did it to everything.So weirdly enough I left it for an hour just incase it was me being a bit of a weirdo. Turned it on and whala. It worked, yet I did nothing to it. Low and behold, no visual display so I turn it off and check my gfx card was inserted properly and it was but there was still no graphical output. I turn it off and ponder why it would be doing what it is doing, then I rememberd that it might have been the gfx card that could have shorted it out, so I wiggle it a little, plug the power in and it sparks a little fire on the motherboard. Turned off the power immediatly and let it rest for a while. I go to order a new one and shove my old pc on the net. This is where it gets weird. Today, i turn it on just to make sure... and fine. Nothing seems to be wrong. I am actually typing this on the pc that set itself a mini fire. Infact, it seems to be runing faster and cooler, and yet I did nothing to it. My question is, why?

Sorry for the long message, I did want to go through it all just incase there was something you needed to know. If there is any other info that you think I might have missed please do say.

My specs are:

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 2.2GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
GFX Card: Radeon X1650 Series
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Network Card: Sorry, I have no idea.
HDD 1: 114GB (Windows Drive)
HDD 2: 149GB
HDD 3: 372GB (External)

Thank you again. I really appreciate your help in puting my mind at easy of why it would do this to me.

~ Karl.

 

[raybay]

Thank your stars it is working.
Vacuum cleaners, particularly with the brush wand, are a major cause of permanent computer failure. They introduce static electricity into the system... and various computer chips can be easily wiped out for good.
Otherwise, unplugging and reseating devices on a motherboard are a good way to increase performance a bit, as long as you do not handle them with bare or ungrounded fingers. Try to use a plastic or rubber glove until you are thoroughly informated on grounding techniques.
It appears you have some good hardware installed. But I would add another gigabyte of memory, as 1 gb is barely adequate these days.

 

[Saeo0901]

Yeah, I do thank my stars its working.

I used a paintbrush, as weird as it sounds. When I clean it, the slippery thing gets in all the grooves
However, I bought a mini pc cleaning and tool kit to do the job now, which has a small vacuum and an attachment brush on it. Anti-static I presume.

Thank you also for complimenting my PC, however it seems its not enough these days with Hi-Res gaming, and yeah, 1gb is hardly enough.

There is another problem that has occurred though. When I finaly got my PC runing, it was very slow loading past the splash screen. I think it gets stuck loading a sys file called SPTD. But when I try in safe mode and it asks me if I want to hit esc to stop loading SPTD.sys, it still takes about 10 mins for windows to actually kick in, but with normal mode it takes about 15/20. Any ideas on how or what is causing this problem?

Sorry for the bother. Thank you for any response.
~Karl

 

[raybay]

" I bought a mini pc cleaning and tool kit to do the job now, which has a small vacuum and an attachment brush on it. Anti-static I presume."
Presume nothing. They make those things to sell, not to use. How would you make it antistatic when it is the rush of air and dust that creates it?
Significant slow-downs are caused mainly by corrupted installs, bad hard drives, infestations, and bad memory... primarily... sometimes a failing power supply. Some will tell you too many processes, but have not found that in our experience.
I would start by increasing your memory to 2GB, and note carefully if the additional memory makes a difference.
What do antivirus and spywar scans show?
If the scans show nothing significant, your best choice would be to install a new hard drive to see how it goes... that protects your data... and gives you a backup later.

 

[Saeo0901]

You have a very valid point about that, I hadn't really payed attention to that. I guess I am too gullable.

Virus scans show nothing now, considering I did a full re-install of Windows, no repair. I have placed an order for an extra 1gb RAM memory, and I tried 2 hard drives. As for the power supply, I hope not. I have only the 1 and not really enough money to buy another.

My new gfx card came today, and it is installed now. Most defonatly a great improvement. I also have orderd a new motherboard (I thought, well that mini-fire on it might have caused it to make it a slow loader) - which it stil does now with a new OS install, gfx card. I will see either tomorrow or saturday weather or not it is a RAM issue, and probably tuesday if it is a motherboard issue. I will somewhere find a way to get a new psu if it is still happening.

It is just on the splash screen loading. Before that and after that is really quite fast.

I appologise for my pestering, I really do appreciate every little bit of help or sujestion you give to me. Thank you a million!
~Karl

 

[Saeo0901]

RAM has no effect. I took out the old ones and placed in the new ones and it still does the same. I placed the old ones back in with the new ones and no joe

I will report back on if it is a Motherboard issue, when my new Motherboard arrives. If it is not that, then I guess a new PSU is in the checklist?

Take it easy,
~Karl.

Edit: By the way, I know its not my hard drive. I already thought of that and put in the hard drive from my other pc and did a clean OS install. Still no avail.

 

[Saeo0901]

It was the motherboard. The new one I installed worked fine, but I had to send it back because it kept on malfunctioning -.-

Only my luck to buy a faulty motherboard.

Ah well. Thank you anyway for your help. It is much appreciated.

Take it easy,
~Karl.