Posted: 8/8/2001 5:29:43 PM EDT
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Okay, this is an old computer. Comp info: * Hitachi E133T Notebook * Pentium 133 chip * Windows 95 version A with some B upgrades... Kernal files have been updated * 32 MB ram * 1.0 Gig HD .73 used * factory provided plug and play CD drive * 100MB Zip drive (via printer port) 8/3- I update the Norton Virus stuff. All is fine. A few days later I defrag using the Norton Speed Disk. Normal operation. Now, when I try to log on to my Netzero account, the settings are gone and the program (Netzero) freezes up on me. Multiple times. I figure, okay, must have gotten 'damaged', so I uninstall. Unistall Wizard does a 99.9999% job. I pulls it .... well, tries to then freezes up. I manually remove the Netzero folder. Now, I try to install using a zipped copy on my zip disk. The install wizard gets to a certain point and freezes. Now, I figure, okay, I'll do some typing on MS Word. Guess what, the program freezes after it loads. And when I try to restart..... nothing. I click on the icon and nothing. All I get is the intro screen saying MS Word. I go use MS Works and well, it runs, but when you try to save a new file after remaning it, it freezes...... or sits and does nothing. Now, most of this stuff started when I last defraged my hard drive. This was All sunday night. I left it for a while. Yesterday I was able to reload Netzero (so the installation Wizard was working). But MS Word was still freezing up. I was able to get online, but the intro screen on Netzero did not go to that ad bar. My question is, what's going on? Did I get a virus? Norton didn't say anything? Is my HD going dead? I've lined up a replacement drive for about $250 (6 gig). Okay, I know I should get a new one, but I can't 'afford' to put in 900+ at this time. I'd like to salvage this old laptop. Is the drive going? Can a new drive solve the problems (assuming the programs are still entact on the old drive). Comments, suggestions to id problem and solve. (And I know that replace the whole thing is going to be the most common answer...) Thanks. Kaliburz (using friends computer) |
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It's really difficult to answer this type of question without having the machine in front of you to do a bunch of tests. Given the age of the machine, the hard drive is the most likely cause, but other things could easily be wrong. RAM going bad, power supply, etc. Myself? I'd back up all my data, FDISK and FORMAT the drive, and re-install Windows. Then, add a few of the major applications, and run them for a while. If no problems are encountered, it's a software problem. If you have problems, it's hardware. -Troy |
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I would agree... A computer that old is probably due for problems like that. I would suggest backing up your needed files, and formatting the drive and doing a clean install. I do that at least twice a year, and I am not running old equipment, but a 1.4Ghz TBird rig... |