hp 9680c

[halidaee]

hi i've had a hp 9680c computer for a couple of years now and i keep
experienceing errors even after i reformat the harddrive. anyone have any
ideas how to get my computer back to new? or should i just save up and buy a
new comptuer if so which is better hp or compaq and is pentium 4, celeron or
AMD athalon bettter

[Ben Myers]

Without any specific information as to the errors you are encountering, I can
only make some general recommendations:

1. Open up the chassis and use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust
inside with particular attention to fans in the power supply and on the CPU.

2. Determine the manufacturer of the hard drive, then download the
manufacturer's diagnostic software from their web site, and run it.
Manufacturer's diagnostics generally give very accurate info as to the health of
a hard drive. If there is even ONE bad sector found, the drive should be
replaced.

3. Likewise, go to http://www.memtest86.com/ and download the best and free
memory tester, then run it.

4. If you've gotten this far without finding serious errors, reinstall Windows
98 from the CD that came with the system. Then go to the VIA web site and
download the latest drivers for the Via Apollo 133 chipset on the motherboard.

5. Next, consider replacing the nVidia Riva TNT Vanta AGP card. Why? nVidia
chipsets have a habit of wearing out after 2 or 3 years due to excessive heat,
poor ventilation, and who knows why else. When an nVidia card becomes
defective, it either leaves strange artifacts on the screen or causes BSODs and
other Windows errors.

6. If you decide to keep the system, upgrade the system memory from its original
128MB to 256MB, if you haven't done so already. Any release of Windows runs
better with more memory.

Or, instead of going thru all this, you may just decide to replace the system.

.... Ben Myers

On Sun, 1 Feb 2004 17:39:37 -0800, "halidaee" <halidaee@cox.net> wrote:
hi i've had a hp 9680c computer for a couple of years now and i keepexperienceing errors even after i reformat the harddrive. anyone have anyideas how to get my computer back to new? or should i just save up and buy anew comptuer if so which is better hp or compaq and is pentium 4, celeron orAMD athalon bettter