Dying Hardware?

Lately, my computer has been going increasingly slow... It takes 2 minutes or more to get to the firefox homepage, it takes several minutes to do many regular tasks, and it sometimes takes a while to find and display files when I got to "program files". I try to play WoW (which it has been running just fine for the past month), and, now, it can be difficult to even get to the login screen, because it says that it can't obtain patch information from the internet. It is my fear that this computer is on it's last legs. It's a windows XP, from '02, this one, to be precise. I haven't added any ram, graphics cards, sound cards, anything at all. It's just running SP3.

I recently went to an emulation forum (don't worry; I own the games I emulate!) and I was having trouble running a new emulator. After going to a support site, they told me "You need a new graphics card. You computer is a dinosaur. It came out in 2002, and, even back then, it wasn't that good."

So, my question is... should I be looking for a new computer? I know my screen that I got with it, a "Junk-Chunk" CTR is going bad... I can easily tell.... so is it the same for the tower?

 

Hi

It's possible, even likely, that your computer's starting down the path toward the electronics recycling point. However, a few questions:

Have you tried reinstalling Windows and all apps (saving your important data to an external hard drive/thumbdrives first)?

Have you cleaned out the dust from your tower (including inside the heatsinks, fans, etc.) with canned air?

Cleaning out the installation and the physical tower are often enough to rejuvenate a computer. If those things make little/no difference, then it's likely your hardware is going downhill. At this point, it would be a much better use of your money to get a new machine, instead of buying outdated replacement parts for the one you have.

 

Also junk can slow down a PC, have you used CCleaner and let it clean all that it finds in both junk files and registry.

http://majorgeeks.com/CCleaner_Slim_d4191.html

 

Since dust and junk have been covered, have you got any weird things happening normally associated with malware? You can also check your hard drive by getting their testing app from the makers website.

 

I will try all of those options... though, I don't know where to get those cans of compressed air for cleaning my pc... would I be able to find them in general stores like walmart, or would I need to go to an electronics store, like Circuit City or something?

Also, how would I re-install windows? Is there a link or something? Or do you mean like a system restore?

One more thing, earlier this year, near the beginning of this summer, if I recall, I got some malware removed from my computer... that's not to say that I couldn't have picked it up from somewhere, but I've had Comodo firewall, and Avira antivirus... which is why I'm leaning towards time just taking it's toll on my pc. I'm already going to buy a new monitor soon, and, mainly, I want to know if I should just replace the whole desktop... Needless to say, I haven't seen anything malware-esque going on... though, this would probably be the first place I'd post if I see anything.

 

Wal-Mart should stock it but Circuit City will definitely have it.

 

Hope I'm not necroing here, but there's been an update on the status of my computer. I didn't do any of the steps before, I admit, though...

this morning, I hit the button on my PC, then it sounds like it's going to start, making a high-pitch whirring sound, then I heard a loud "click!" and it repeated, over and over... I came home later today, and it started normally. Is this a good sign that I need a new computer? :/

 

It's a good sign you may need at least a new fan and/or a new hard drive. I'd start looking for a new machine. While your PC still works, back-up everything you need, just in case.

 

Maybe your fan died, and the HD is overheating. Can you hear the fan when you turn it on?

 

OK, I have backed things up onto a flash drive, and I will listen next time it doesn't work for the fan. I was (ironically) trying to get on here this morning to check for new posts, when it did the same thing. Then, I noticed something... the times it didn't work were all in the morning... when it's chilly in the house. Then, when I come home, it's warmer out, and the computer starts just fine. Could this have something to do with it? I thought that it would be silly that it was just the time of day that was a factor, so I figured the temperature could be a relevant observation....

 

Interesting and a good observation. I'd bet it's your HS/F fan. Lubricants tend to gell when cooler. Use a paper towel tube to isolate the cause if you can. The HS/F might be spinning slowly when booting in the morning, to corroborate my thinking.