My pc just blew up

You should just switch over to the Mac and make it your permanent computer. Unless you are some computer genius, Mac is superior to Windows. I know a computer genius who hates Macs because they are too simple. :eusa_eh: Unless you are one of those people, just switch to the Mac.

 

Lol random! It's not Windows' fault though. It's your computers (and Dell's).

I <3 Vista and my Dell XPS M1710 laptop.

 

If you're a computer genius, there's a good chance you'll be using Linux.

Windows really annoys me, but I have some software that only works for it. Mac, well, I've never used it, so I'm not going to say anything about it, one way or another.

That does sound like a hardware issue, not a software issue. If you want to try to recover whatever was on the hard drive, I'd suggest bringing it in to a computer store and seeing if there's any way to recover it.

 

Have you considered switching them? Or is the mac your family computer?

 

The hard disk failure is nothing to do with Microsoft or Windows. Hard disks are hardware and will fail sooner or later regardless of whether they have Windows, Linux or OS-X on them. The hard disk in your Mac is exactly the same technology as the one in your Windows PC, and will be made by one of the main hard drive manufacturers.

So the problem is a faulty or worn out hard drive, and the blame goes to the hard drive manufacturer. It is not the operating system publisher. It annoys me when people blame Microsoft whoever for things that are clearly not their fault. They didn't make the hard disk, Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital or someone did.

It is also not really the PC manufacturer's fault. If it was a budget priced PC (such as Medion or one of the PC World own-brands) you would expect it to be made with budget components which could be less reliable. They often have Samsung or Fujitsu hard disks for example, whereas better brands tend to go for Seagate or Western Digital.

If the PC is almost three years old it is probably out of warranty (normally one year) so you'll just have to buy another hard disk and reinstall everything.

Whatever computer and operating system you use, BACKUPS ARE ESSENTIAL!

 

Hear Hear!

It's amazing how when Mac uses a Seagate drive some people apparently think it could do no wrong, but once that same drive is in a PC, oh then it's obviously Dell or Microsoft's fault. It's the same hard drive!! If the hard drive goes, it's the hard drive manufacturer's fault.

If the computer is three years old it might not be covered under warranty, but new hard drives are ridiculously cheap.

And I'll reemphasize Paul's point to make backups.

 

I disagree. I used to work in corporate IT looking after over 100 PCs, many of them Dell. We had no problems with reliability of them beyond the odd component failure that you'd get with that quantity of any brand of PCs. Tech support were always very helpful and accommodating with replacement parts and on-site repairs too.

Most of our home PCs are and have been Dell, including both our current laptops and the "office" PC I am using now. My sister also has a Dell which is a lot more reliable than the Medion thing she had before. So I have no problems recommending Dell.

The only area where I would have reservations is Dell laptops for people who travel a lot. The cases are not as solid as some other brands (such as Sony or Toshiba) and do tend to get a bit battered. Compare the prices and specs with Sony and Toshiba though, and you'll see why.

 

Why not just buy a new hard disk for the PC (it shouldn't cost more than £50), then see if you can get the laptop as previously planned?

 

Maybe....

In that state it should boot OK from cold but will soon slow down as the CPU heats up and the clockspeed slows to prevent it overheating. That happened to one of the no-name Celeron PCs at my current work, and it continued running but very slowly (CPUz said the clock was 400MHz though the CPU was 2.4GHz).

Some older CPUs will just die if operated without a heatsink (AMD tended to do this more than Intel), but your 3 year old PC would be new enough for this not to happen.

Check the CPU is fully seated then refit the heatsink and fan (you really need some heat conductive paste but a thin smear of vaselene will do if you don't have the right stuff), and see what happens. The messages on the screen as it goes through the BIOS part should tell you if a hard disk can't be initialised.

 

One of our PCs has been on for 9 years continuously. Very hard to damage a PC by leaving it running.

I'm under the impression that business Dells are built to a higher level of quality (and price) then their consumer counterparts. I know in the Dell PC labs at school I've seen very few break down. I've also purchased some surplus optiplexes and they've been rock solid. Also I hear from IT guys that Dell have very good service plans for businesses, which is important when downtime can't be tolerated, for example servers.

Also as far as laptops, look into Dell's business lineups like Latitude or small business Vostro. My dad's Latitude feels quite solid and has a metal lid. My brother's Vostro advertises metal cladding over the screen, metal hinges, a spillproof keyboard, and a bit more metal underneath. The price was very competitive with HP and others. Plus you get the advantage of some customization, and the availability of a non-glossy screen.

It really is a cheap way to solve the problem. No sense buying a new computer when £50 will fix it.

Last summer the above mentioned 9 year old computer with a Pentium II would overheat under a moderate load. When the CPU went above 45 or 50C the speed would drop DRAMATICALLY and the BIOS would alert you by flashing the power light. That was a very obvious and useful alarm.... Anyways I took the case apart and the CPU heatsink was jammed full of dust. I vacuumed it all out, cleaned the fans, power supply, and the rest of the case and it's much better. I also noticed some of the capacitors were bulging or blown, but the system is still rock stable, why fix what's not broken?

Maybe you just had a loose power or IDE/SATA cable?

 

there you go, there's your problem, get yourself an alienware. i had mine running in al sorts of environmental conditions from +60 celcius to minus 20 celsius with zero problems.

Seriously, you get what you pay for, and the components matter. I realise that anexpensive machine isn't always financially possible, but save up. they're worth it. Mine was.

Took me months of saving to get this and I'm glad i did.