Win XP & Dual-Core Problem

Since we upgraded to a new computer a little over a year ago, we got the possible best we can afford. It has Intel Dual Core or Pentium D with Windows XP and RAM of 512. Our previous was a Dell with Pentium II only and Win2000 but it worked perfectly well and did not have problems at all. It was not upgradable to even just Pentium IV and higher RAM than 256.

In 4 months, our brand new PC started to have problems. It started showing black screens then blue screens. It was dying in such a short time! Being under warranty, we brought it back to the shop where we purchased it. We and the technicians thought it needed reformatting and re-installation of the Windows XP and other softwares. The technician said it would take at least four hours to do that. Before leaving, the case of the CPU was opened for cleaning. To our and the technician's surprise, the fan and heat sink of the Pentium accumulated very thick dust compressed on the heat sink fins! In short, it did not have enough cooling causing the computer to go bonkers! Anyway, even if it operated smoothly after cleaning, we had the computer reformatted and operating system re-installed, just to make sure, because some files might have been corrupted. Another thing the technician did was to reverse the PC fan from intake to exhaust. I did not bother asking, but could manufacturers or assemblers make that error on installing fans?

Some time in December of 2007, the computer started to hang or just freeze in the middle of surfing or viewing on the internet. I needed to re-start whenever it happens. With the proliferation of viruses, malware, spyware and adware, I always scanned the PC three or more times a week with antivirus, anti-spyware and registry mechanic. Seeing a good number of viruses detected by the anti-virus, it may be the cause of those 'hanging' problems. The problems persisted though even after scanning and defragmenting. All of us in the family using the computer are experiencing the same thing until it became unbearable a couple of weeks ago. I even suspected that it was the online game downloaded by my son which had frequent trojans. The PC started to show black screens again and warning of possible issues. The NVIDIA graphics and video card started also to have problems. It was not able to balance display colors, 3D and video settings any more! Re-starting the computer almost every 30 minutes became a pain in the neck. I even complained to some web sites that my PC hangs whenever I get to their sites. I never realized that it was my faltering graphics and video card that was causing it! Who would have thought that, anyway?

So, I told my son who uses the PC more than I do, that we need to have it again reformatted. After disconnecting the CPU, I decided to check inside and clean it first. And, to my disgust, the same thing happened as in the first instance. Compacted dust was stuck again on the chipset heat sink! The reversed fan did better and was complimented by a dust filter I put outside the breathing holes of the PC case. The dust filter I made was an old stretched stockings of my wife supported by bronze wire frame around. (I kidded my wife if she washed the stockings before donating it for the cause . . . hahaha). To make this already long story short, I confidently cleaned, brushed away all the dirt and dust. Another thing that surprised me was the NVIDIA video card, it also has a small fan attached to it and has accumulated thick dust too!

Why did I mention Windows XP here? It has been showing errors which are actually not concerns. So, if you have XP as Operating System and warns you of alledged software or setting errors, just check if your PC has also accumulated dust inside. I have been sending numerous error reports to Microsoft but they never responded. Their support people, and probably those of Intel, might not even be aware of this.

My being a person who wants to fix things or do remedies on just about anything pays dividends. It would have cost us a fortune for consultation and that kind of service because the computer is now past its warranty period.