Thread of PC Woes, Troubles, Problems, and Issues

Hah ... yeah ... and while you enjoy the blazing speed of your clean install you spend the next 4 - 5 hours installing all your applications again. If there was a proper way to speed that up I'd format every 6 months or so.

CloneZilla :)

Just do it once, clone your drive then next time just format and restore the cloned image, update as necessary and reclone.

Easy-peasy.
 
CloneZilla :)

Just do it once, clone your drive then next time just format and restore the cloned image, update as necessary and reclone.

Easy-peasy.

I've always wondered about that though. If you restore a cloned image, aren't you just restoring all the problems you were possibly formatting for? I'm referring of course about formats to clean things up, and not just replacing a drive.
 
I've always wondered about that though. If you restore a cloned image, aren't you just restoring all the problems you were possibly formatting for? I'm referring of course about formats to clean things up, and not just replacing a drive.

*nod*

Which is why I was trying to suggest format and install the basics as normal and then before bloating it all up again, clone it. Then in future when you want to format, you just plop the cloned image back and your basic installations and OS would be available. Things like graphical drivers, antivirus/Windows updates would likely need to be updated so just clone it again at that point for next time.

I'm not articulating this very well, am I? :p
 
ah good ol cloning, a highly misunderstood and temperamental fellow

Cloning drives is good, make no mistake, just recently when i brought a new HD i wanted to transfer all the files from the OLD HD to the nEW HD and so cloning was great for this, however..cloning and using the cloned image on a new setup is a not good idea, yes it will work, i have tried it, but then theres endless amounts of drivers left behind taking up space etc, poor old driver sweeper seems to miss 10% which gave me headaches

If its a new setup, do not restore froma cloned drive

Same setup mobo etc, bring on the cloner.

last point, as Wolfie said :) make the clone first thing when there are zero problems.....works like a charm :)
 
*nod*

Which is why I was trying to suggest format and install the basics as normal and then before bloating it all up again, clone it. Then in future when you want to format, you just plop the cloned image back and your basic installations and OS would be available. Things like graphical drivers, antivirus/Windows updates would likely need to be updated so just clone it again at that point for next time.

I'm not articulating this very well, am I? :p

Nah ... I completely get where you're coming from.

In my case the problem is associated with the various bits and pieces of software I have running on my system at any given time. But cloning your basic Win installation sounds like a splendid idea.
 
One of the best pieces of software I've come across for creating images of drives is Acronis True Image. It allows you to create images while in your OS and it can do incremental images. It also has the option to create a small recovery partition which you can boot from before the os loads which allows you to restore an image without needing the bootable recovery disc.
 
My brother is having a bit of Sh!tty luck with his PC.

Firstly his power supply went "bang" so his computer sat broken for about 5 months.
So he recently bought a new power supply (450W) and installed it himself.
Everything worked, for a day, then the monitor seemed to have popped (it was an old crt monitor). so not to worry he went off and bought another monitor. AOC lcd.
Everything worked, for a day.
Now when he turns on his computer, there are lines going through the monitor. I can't think of how to explain these lines, its probably 2mm lines of varying light differences going from left to right.
Does anybody know what the problem is?
 
My brother is having a bit of Sh!tty luck with his PC.

Firstly his power supply went "bang" so his computer sat broken for about 5 months.
So he recently bought a new power supply (450W) and installed it himself.
Everything worked, for a day, then the monitor seemed to have popped (it was an old crt monitor). so not to worry he went off and bought another monitor. AOC lcd.
Everything worked, for a day.
Now when he turns on his computer, there are lines going through the monitor. I can't think of how to explain these lines, its probably 2mm lines of varying light differences going from left to right.
Does anybody know what the problem is?

Sounds like he has power spikes since the problem now is the GPU.
And well for things to pop so fast is not very common unless there are spikes in power.
 
it could also be refresh rate, drivers, or bent pin.....test with another screen if possible first, and also the screen to another pc...
 
Both of them go on "rest" mode when not being utilized.. IT will jump to the intended GPU and CPU speeds when they are being used.
 
Both of them go on "rest" mode when not being utilized.. IT will jump to the intended GPU and CPU speeds when they are being used.

So not to worry about it then?
The computer was being defragged and I was converting some files to mpeg4 while this screen shot was taken, so I presume then that the cpu wasn't being utilized enough at that stage for it to really make a noticeable impact?
 
I just wanted to say that my PC has a woe. He's crying right now as we speak. He knows that I have a BF3 disc on me, but he can't have it installed on him yet. He's just called to say that he's very, very sad :(
 
I just wanted to say that my PC has a woe. He's crying right now as we speak. He knows that I have a BF3 disc on me, but he can't have it installed on him yet. He's just called to say that he's very, very sad :(

Hahaha, meanwhile my computer is thinking please don't install that Battlefield game on me, let us rather play a game about elves and orcs and stuff lol.......
 
Okay, seeing as Skyrim is going to require me to plug my graphics card out to be able to plug my DVD Rom in, I might as well see if I can't resolve the issue before then.

Something in my PC is causing issues, and I have no idea what. It's been doing it for years, all the way through upgrades and overhauls, and it's got me stumped.

Often after my PC has been in transit, or when I install a new graphics card, I have issues getting the PC to work. I'm not sure if it's my PSU, motherboard, or what, as it's been doing this since 2009. Since then, I've had two new graphics cards, a new motherboard, new CPU and a new PSU, and the problem still persists.

What happens is that I'll install the GPU (or try to switch the PC on after bringing it home), and then the PC receives power, but doesn't do anything. It powers up, the fans start spinning, but the hard drives don't initialize and it doesn't seem to POST. The screen goes into Standby mode.

When I remove the GPU and use the on-board GPU, there's about a 90% chance it doesn't happen, and when I replace the GPU, it more often than not happens again. Now I know this sounds like it's an issue with the GPU or PCI-E slot, but I'm not quite sure, seeing as the exact same thing happened with two different GPUs and another motherboard.

I'm not sure I can blame the PSU, because it's a 550watt PSU, and my HD6870 requires only 450, so there's enough output for the system. I'm very hesitant to blame the PCI slot, because once you get the card working, it stays operational until you move the PC again or remove the card.

The only solution I've found so far is to unplug absolutely everything in the PC, and plug it back in, then try again until eventually the PC starts up. As you can imagine, this is highly frustrating due to the fact that it's not a set solution and when I had to install my GTS250 in December it took me about three hours to get it working.

Skyrim is coming on Friday, and my HD6870 is such a large card that it obscures all my SATA ports, leaving me without a DVD Rom unless I remove the card. Unless my flatmate is there to make an image of the disk for me on his PC, I'm going to have to unplug my card to get it installed, and I'm probably going to spend the next three hours after that trying to get the PC to work, which will kill me.

Anybody have any idea at all what might be causing this?

Edit:

Just put in an order for one of these;

http://www.takealot.com/electronics/vizo-sa-60-60cm-24-inch-sata-cable-uv-blue,3695358

But it's still going to require me to remove the card to install it first, and it might still protrude too much.
 
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I plugged my GTS250 into my brother's PC once, and it gave no issues. Haven't tried the 6870 or the PSU yet, because it would require me to bring my entire PC with. :P

As for the type of PSU, aside from it being a 550watt, I'm not sure. I got it from the Matrix Computers in Vredenburg last year, and I told them I don't want a generic PSU. I'll have to go check the manufacturer and model once I get back to my flat tonight.
 
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