Bloody computer! Argh (help please) And any PC deals?

[Graz]

So I posted this the other day

http://talkingballs.co.uk/showthrea...nd-now-sound-won-t-work?p=1029091#post1029091

and it's now pointless.

About 6 weeks ago, my PC fecked up. I cou;ldn't wake it up from sleep mode, no matter what. I turned it off at the wall, left it unplugged for a couple of days, held the power button after unplugging it to use up any leftover charge, I took the RAM out and tried it without that, took the graphics card out and tried it without that, I took the battery out the motherboard and tried resetting it that way, but no matter, it wouldn't work.

Stuck in a sleep cycle. Nothing would appear on the screen. When trying to turn it on, the fans would kick in, but it would just never come out of sleep. Even after leaving the PC unplugged for days and then trying again, I could even get it come on (in sleep mode) by pressing a button on the keyboard!

My PC company (PC Specialist) told me that it sounded like the motherboard was stuck in a sleep cycle, and that since my motherboard (but not the rest of the PC) was under warranty, that I could send it back to them and get a new motherboard (which took a month!)

New motherboard came (as per my other post) and seemed to be working fine.... for a week. A week after I'd got all back up and running, it's gone again with the exact same problem.

I phoned PC Specialist up again, and they said I could either send it to them to have a look at and try to diagnose, or take it to a local repair shop.... but they actually told me the local repair shop was the better option.

Unfortunately my local repair shop is shit, and it took them a week to take the motherboard out, then another week to put it back in (and cost £50!). Since PC Specialist AND the local repair shop both told me the first time that it could only be a motherboard problem, I'm not rreally sure I trust either of them to sort it out again this time!


So.... anyone got any suggestions? The PC is just over 2.5 years old, so part of me is thinking is it even worth spending more money on trying to get it fixed when it could just go wrong again straight away, and should I buy a new one instead? Hmm. Thoughts?

Anyone know any good PC deals at the minute?

 

[lanxfox jnr]

Get a new one?

 

[Joe_Fox]

Sounds like a jumper missing on the system bus frequency jumper.
No idea how to fix it though but google around and see what you can find.

2.5 years is pretty old so I'd fork out for a new laptop in all honesty - you'll never look back.

 

[Graz]

I am thinking of getting a new one... although part of me is wondering if I'm being a bit hasty on a computer that still works well (when it is working) and might be something that could fixed easily.


Anyone know any good current deals on PCs? Would prefer a desktop over a laptop

 

[SJN-Fox]

What's your budget?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compaq-sg3-350uk-desktop-pc-with-20-monitor-09885841-pdt.html

 

[Graz]

Budget of about £600.

That Compaq one doesn't look too bad, but I think the processor is probably a bit slow?

I'm always skeptical about PC World, because I've found them to be expensive in the past so always assume there is a better deal to be found elsewhere!

 

[SJN-Fox]

They always used to be expensive but I think as time has moved on, they've had to become more competitive. There probably is a better deal to be found elsewhere, especially among the Internet box-shifters. At least with PC World, there's someone you can go and thump if there's a problem rather than being at the mercy of an Internet based firm. One of the things I have found about PCW is that it's that often you can take advantage of a cheap website price and then collect the product from the store and save quite a bit.