Quote Originally Posted by DreadedHermie
Already cleaned. I've always run it with the side panel removed from the case for ventilation, too.

Not as good an idea as one might think.
If a "sheen is designed right, it "breathes" Mo' betta with the panel in places.

I see that coin cell in there, looks like it may be soldered in place, but that won't stop me... imp: What does that battery do besides keep an internal clock going? If I replace it, what'll I have to reset besides the time...what valuable might be lost is the real question, I guess. (I can hot-swap it if that's necessary.)

Zachary!
Replace the cell with the power on.
Though there is usually a backup capacitor that gives you >15 minutes to change the cell.
And it's the holder that's soldered in.
The coin cells lift and slide out of it.
(The only ones soldered in were the rechargeables and the mega-caps.)
But, they're kinda rare.

Not that big a deal really.
Besides the clock, the Battery holds the CMOS setup info.
Worst case?
It resets to the defaults and you have to reset the clock and the drive geometry. BFD.
Even then, they default to "query the drive".

When I looked at CPU coolers as a possible LED platform it became clear there's a new generation (or three) of stuff out there. Nothing readily available to replace this part with, that I saw around. And the local parts-hoarder repair guy's closed his shop. But I'll be able to hear the blissful silence if that fan croaks, so not an immediate worry.

Actually, it's more often the Video card cooling fan that gets "gummy" first
(Pot smoke is gummy stuff.)
Slows down enough to let the card overheat and crash the system.

Symptoms...Well, about a month ago I started getting a "cannot find login.exe" dialog box when it starts up (I guess that's a monolog box ),
That's prolly network login.
but I can just push through that and it runs okay. Freezes up a tad more frequently than usual, but still workable. Trying to keep multiple apps open is a bitch, though--runs slow and glitchy.

Within the last 3 days or so, though, it's been shuting itself off, suddenly, and restarting. When it comes back it's got a "Your system has recovered from a serious error" with some available codes, looks like short hexadecimal strings. Can probably save the message somehow...

Also see the "blue screen of death" flash on-and-off too quickly to read as the thing's crashing. Doesn't look good, though.

Happens generally after it's been running a few hours, maybe thermal's a factor(?) Cooler ambient operating conditions lately, though, thanks to the nippy weather.

From your symptoms, I'd suspect the hard drive is having senior moments.
Let's find out.
Goto <Start>, <Run> and type "Command" or "CMD"
in the box.
That will get you a DOS command prompt (The dark place).
At the prompt, type in "CHKDSK C: /F"
It will whine about files being in use and ask if it can run on the next startup.
Type "Yes" and hit return.
Type "Exit" to leave the Dos window and then re-boot.
This will perform a thorough test and repair of C: at the next boot.

I remember upgrading the RAM years ago, from half to a gig (total), and this motherboard won't take any more, seems like the shop that sold me the memory thought I was silly to 'waste' it in this machine back then.

But getting a Mac's (laptop) gonna be inevitable, just cause of the program I need to run. It's not like I've ever been nuts for the PC platform...but I've never used a Mac. But how bad can it be, comparitively?

I think you'll be pleased.
I made a good living trouble-shooting PCs.
Why? 'cause they have more trouble to shoot.

You gotta pick between the (newer) Macbook or the (older release) Macbook Pro?
Ah dunno!
Never owned one.

Though I did have one of the prototype Lisa cases that my buddy dug out of Apple's dumpster.
I stuck a Green/black crt in it and hooked it to a homebuilt Xerox 820 16 bit CP/M motherboard.
Built that into an ornate wooden case cobbled from an antique radio that also held 2. 8" floppy drives.
Looked like a fat Mac sitting on a baroque chest of drawers.

But, I digress.

Aloha.

Da Zard
Weezard Reviewed by Weezard on . Calling out to DreadedHermie for a game of "stoner chess" P - Q4 For all who wander by, kibbitzing and commenting is encouraged.:S5: Weezard Rating: 5