Hi Theresa - no worries about taking too long. :-) And yay for David
for not charging you!
Intermittent probs like yours are not unusual at all. You can stop
worrying about a virus - a virus would never cause the beeps. The timing
of the beeps is a code, but basically you can be sure you have a major
hardware problem. Could be the ram sticks. Could also be many other
things - a defect somewhere on the motherboard. Could be the processor.
Could even be the hard drive.
If it were me...
First thing I would do the next time I was able to get into windows is
quickly back up my personal data. My Documents folder for sure. For
Thunderbird you can copy your whole profile folder to your backup device
- with you I imagine that folder will be pretty huge. :-) Here's how
to find the profile folder:
On Windows 7 & Vista Thunderbird data is stored at: C:\Users\<user
name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\
On Windows XP Thunderbird data is stored at: C:\Documents and
Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\
If it turns out to be that your hard drive is defective you want to get
your stuff copied from it now!
Second thing I would do is run a check of your hard drive.
Right-click start button and choose "Computer".
Right-click the C: drive and choose "Properties".
Click the Tools tab and click "Check Now". Put a check in both boxes
and click OK or Start.
You might be told it can't be checked until a reboot - if so just say ok
and reboot. The scan will auto-start.
It could take quite a while - maybe up to 2 hours. You'll eventually
see a report saying "no errors were found" (we hope, haha).
I should warn you that often, if a drive is failing, running a check
disk will be the final nail in its coffin. That's why you should backup
FIRST.
To sum up: It's almost certainly a hardware prob (not a virus or
software program). If it's the hard drive you can buy a new one for
less than $100, reinstall windows, restore your backups and programs,
and be 100% fine. But if it's another piece of hardware, and you can't
figure out which, a new pc is likely in your near future.
If you get a new PC, and your old hard drive is healthy, it's not
difficult to "clone" your old drive onto the new one. The new one will
come with software to do just that.
Good luck,
Donk
On 8/7/2013 6:17 PM, Theresa Ramseyer wrote:
> Hey Donk,
>
> One of the most hair pulling things about this is that I had Thunderbird
> pretty much cleared out. My bad luck strikes again, I guess.
>
> The strangest thing is that I don't have anything on automatic updates, so
> there should have been no software changes either. Every early Tuesday
> morning I have diagnostics scan everything, and I have daily and weekly
> Avast scans going, plus I have run Bitdefender's online scan.
>
> Empire Electric did have a brownout over last weekend, but as far as I
> know, my computer wasn't plugged in at the time. We are having our
> summer-into-fall weather with big thunderstorms, why so early I don't know,
> and usually with those I unplug everything.
>
> Theresa
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 10:06 PM, Donk <d.knier...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi Theresa -
>> If I recall, your biggest problem was with your email. Couldn't get
>> Thunderbird to sort your messages correctly, etc. Sorry you couldn't
>> get that fixed. I don't know what else might have happened to your PC,
>> but here are a couple thoughts:
>> I don't think most people consider PC's "disposable". Maybe what the
>> Best Buy guy meant was that since new computers can cost as little as
>> $500, you have to think twice about paying a shop $300 in repairs -
>> especially if the PC is 4 or more years old. I think Best Buy charges
>> WAAAAY too much for repairs. It sounds like your tech guy charges a lot
>> too. I think most people have a techie type person somewhere in their
>> orbit who will gladly help out. Is there anyone of your friends or
>> family that knows a friend of a friend who is tech savvy and can help
>> for free? Just a thought. I help all my relatives and friends gratis.
>>
>> Anyway... not knowing what your PC is doing at home but not at the shop,
>> it's hard to suggest a fix. One free thing that would be a last resort
>> before paying a shop money would be to reformat the hard drive and
>> reinstall windows from scratch. Lots of times computers get soooo
>> messed up with conflicting software that the only fix is to erase
>> everything and start from scratch. In order to reformat you'll need at
>> least a little tech savvy and a Windows disk to reinstall windows.
>> There are a zillion good step-by-step sites that explain how to reformat
>> and reinstall. That is the route I'd take before paying anyone anything.
>> Most major brand PC's (like Dell, HP, Sony, etc) have an easy way to
>> reformat and restore the PC to factory settings with a few clicks. If
>> you provide the brand and model number of your computer we can check out
>> if it has an easy restore function.
>>
>> Good luck,
>> Donk
>>
>>
>> On 8/3/2013 6:39 PM, Theresa Ramseyer wrote:
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Theresa Ramseyer <tlr28...@gmail.com>
>>> Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2013 17:29:39 -0500
>>> Subject: 4 year compaq & service rant/question
>>> To: a-1_computer_t...@yahoogroups.com
>>>
>>> I have a Compaq, about 4 years old, that has practically died. Thought
>>> it was memory or motherboard. Will work at the tech's office fine now,
>>> but not here.
>>>
>>> Both of us are baffled, so I stopped at Best Buy this morning and
>>> asked what they thought. He agreed, but from some of what he said,
>>> companies see computers as throwaway items now. Why?
>>> I don't anyone who can afford $300+ every year and/or $200+ for their
>>> service subscription. I know a lot of people! Not to mention that
>>> almost every computer will be sent to a service center.
>>> I'm not asking for a $100 computer, and I understand BB's reasoning.
>>> I'm just stuck between a rock and a hard place, and sick that it costs
>>> as much as my computer to see if it will act up for them - with a good
>>> chance I'll end up needing a new computer anyway. $300+ before
>>> purchasing a computer, and then when it breaks just buy a new one? Not
>>> for me or many folks I know. Thanks for listening. Theresa
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
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