What might this computer fan problem mean? Is it resolved?

July 23, 2009

One of the two fans underneath my laptop computer began making some TERRIBLE grinding noises, so I unscrewed the laptop’s case, and vacuumed out a big clot of dust and debris from the fan’s housing.

This did not actually solve the problem entirely; it was still making loud whirring noises whenever it was rotating quickly (though it was largely quiet before its high-speed setting kicked in).

Then I simply shut the computer off for 24 hours. When I restarted it, it made the same terrible whirring noises, but after about four hours of operation, the fan suddenly returned to its normal noise levels.

The fans are still operational and my diagnostic software says the computer temperature is at normal levels, so, it seems to be operating correctly.

What happened? Is it possible for a fan problem to linger after an obstruction is removed, then spontaneously resolve itself later on?

This particular laptop is somewhat older (about 4 years of age).

Getting files and operating system from dead laptop?

July 14, 2009

My first Toshiba Satellite laptop won’t boot. The power light & fan switch on but the screen stays blank. It was my only computer & I didn’t have time to wait for it to be serviced & I thought it might be the motherboard, so I bought another. They don’t make that model anymore, so I bought a low-end new Satellite, but it has Windows Vista. Can I get the XP from the old laptop? If I can do that, can I put the old hard drive in the new comp to retrieve the programs that were installed? Both computers have 2 512m ram, so how do I accomplish getting the info from the old computer? It seems to make sense to me that I can do this, but I’m afraid of frying the new laptop so I need the advice of people who really know what they’re doing. Plus, do you have any idea what might be wrong with the original laptop? Are there any simple ways for me to try to diagnose the problem myself? Is there diagnostic software available so that I could connect the new to the old & use it to diagnose the problem?

Computer makes a large whining sound, freezes, and then restarts. Is my power supply going?

July 5, 2009

I was in the middle of working with MS Word on Sunday when my computer started to make a loud whining sound. It then froze for a few minutes, the screen starting making these odd waving ripples, and then the computer shut down. When it tried to start up again, it said "error could not load OS" (or something to that effect). I tried hitting the restart button, but the error message popped up again. I then shut down the surge protector and restarted, and everything was fine. I was just sitting at my computer (Friday), and it started to whine and froze once again. However, it did not shut down, and unfroze after about one minute. I have heard this whining noise in the past, but it was always at night while I was going to sleep, not on the computer (i.e. there was no computer activity), so I never realized that there was anything to be worried about. Is my power supply going, or does the fan just need a good cleaning, and is there any diagnostic software that will let me know?

I’ve got a nice Sennheiser headset, but the microphone part suddenly stopped working; how do I fix it?

July 1, 2009

All of the diagnostic software on my computer completely ignores the mic portion, which is plugged in through a separate cord. The cord is in prime condition and the headphone part works perfectly.
BTW, I’m using Windows XP on a Dell PC.
Well I tried it on another computer and it didn’t work. Do microphones usually just die like this of their own accord?

I just reinstalled windows XP. Now one of the hard drives won’t show up in My Computer?

June 24, 2009

I can see the drive in the device manager and it shows up in the BIOS when I first boot up. When I run the Western Digital diagnostic software it detects the hard drive as well but it wants to erase the data in order to install it. Is there a way to get the data off the hard drive before it is installed or otherwise get My Computer to recognize it?
Thanks