OMG DO I NEED A NEW COMP?!?

[JavaMomma]

2 power outages in the last 2 months...after both times my Windows install has become corrupted.
Yes I have a UPS and yes i shut down properly both times.

In the last 2 months:
(Early August) Power Outage - Shut down, etc, no problems. Next bootup got a "hard disk failure" powered down, restarted to a corrupted Windows
Reinstalled no probs
(Early this month) - Unplugged my machine & moved it - restarted, "hard disk failure", restarted to a corrupt Windows install.
Tonight Power Outage - Shut down, no problems. Restart enter Windows, Win2K CheckDisk detected / repaired problems, User Data seems to be lost.
Every reboot looses all settings, can't seem to be able to log into my admin account.

I dont get it this machine has run so good for 1.5+ years. Maybe its time to retire it... 🙁

Current Machine is 2 years old next month
Abit KT7
TB 800
256MB PC133
WD100BB (1 year old)
250Watt generic P/S
APC UPS

Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking perhaps the powersupply...think i may see if i can do some testing to figure it out. Eg. Unplug the UPS from the wall, and try simulate a powerout, and things like that.

If you dont have any ideas, perhaps some suggestions on a new PC. Thinking of going for a P4 should i wait for Granite Bay? I was kinda wanting to wait till next year for SATA/DualDDR333 but if i have to get a new PC now then...so be it.

Thinking of:
P4 1.8A or something that will O/C good (What is the best P4 for O/Cing????)
Some Granite Bay board...when they do? next month right?
2x512MB Samsung DDR
Radeon 9700 (maybe something less, because I'm not a hardcore gamer, but would like something capable of dual display)
LiteOn 48x12x48 Burner
Pioneer Slot Load DVD
NEC 22" FP1355
A good PowerSupply....?? 300W+
Keep my current hard disk...hopefully it is not the source of the problem

I'm so frustrated right now...I need something thats stable, reliable.
I'm not a big FPS guy (just a little CS sometimes) play mostly RTS, RPGs, etc. I want to have the option to upgrade to dual monitors later.

Thanks so much for reading all this, and for your time. I Would love any suggestions at all.

 

[ai42]

wow... sounds like a hard drive problem (perhaps windows) more so than the power supply but you can't really rule it out.

Seams a bit extreme to just toss it and get an entirely new system but thats your choice. Also seams to be a rather powerful system for the occasional CS player.

 

[amdskip]

Get a better and larger power supply now and you can always use it later down the road when you upgrade the whole system. Get something in the 300-350w range thats namebrand and not an el cheapo. Expect to spend around $50 or more.

 

[JavaMomma]

Looking at one of these three:

ENERMAX EG365P-VE 350W W/ 2 FAN $72.96 CDN
SUNNY ATX 420W CWT-420ATX12 POWER SUPPLY $76.70 CDN
INWIN IW-P300A 300W P4 READY POWER SUPPLY $70.56 CDN

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: JavaMomma
Looking at one of these three:

ENERMAX EG365P-VE 350W W/ 2 FAN $72.96 CDN
SUNNY ATX 420W CWT-420ATX12 POWER SUPPLY $76.70 CDN
INWIN IW-P300A 300W P4 READY POWER SUPPLY $70.56 CDN

Go with the Enermax

 

[Insane3D]

If you do decide on upgrading, here's a AMD system suggestion...

Epox 8K5A2+ - $100
2 x 512mb Samsung PC2700 - $260
Lite-On 40X CDRW (can be flashed to a 48X) - $60
Athlon XP 1600+ - $56
Lite-On 16X DVD - $39
Radeon 9000 Pro 128mb Retail - $160

Total : $675

The 1600+ (1.4ghz) will run @ 166mhz FSB and 1.75ghz with no extra voltage or anything, and the 40X Lite-On can be flashed to a 48X. Also, do you really need 1GB of ram? If not, the total would be under $600.

Just an idea...


Edit: And yes, of those three, go with the Enermax.
🙂

 

[JavaMomma]

Just did a chkdsk it reported "volume has one or more errors" - 😕
Ran Western Digital Diagonstics disk - it said no errors found.

I'll go with the Enermax PS for sure.

Insane3D - Do you like your AMD systems more then your northwood? yes/no why?
I was just thinking of going Intel this round...everyone seems to be having such good success with O/C thier 1.6A & 1.8A
Remember the 300A@450 🙂 I loved that machine so much, at the time i was waiting for the delayed K6-3 to come out & you anandtechers showed me the light. I like both AMD & Intel I'll buy which ever one is better at the time.

Also which of these is better:
$259 ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB DDR AGP w/S-Video & DVI-I Box
$269 MSI (MS-8870) G4Ti4200-TD 128MB DDR AGP w/TV & DVI