About Tom Guertin Expertise I can answer Desktop and Laptop hardware questions as well as software questions. I have worked as a programmer 9 years, test/QA 9 years, and system administration 7 years. Having a diverse background helps in diagnosing computer problems.
Experience Rocket Software Oct 14, 2002 – Present
Senior Systems Engineer: Responsible for all software and hardware installations, analysis, and support on all desktops and laptops. Support 200 remote employees along with 5 remote sites. Build servers, test, and build systems. Manage Active Directory, Exchange, Call Manager, and Unity accounts.
EMC Corporation Dec 31, 1999 – Nov 11, 2001
Senior Software QA Team Lead Engineer: Responsible for full software quality assurance of EMC's SymAPI and SymCLI software for Base and Control functionality.
Created full regression test suite in perl.
Peritus Software Services Sep 4, 1994 – Mar 30, 2001
Senior Software Engineer: Maintain outsourced code for CV, BULL, DG (UNIX), and Stratus (UNIX). Assist Y2K renovation team as project leader and COBOL renovator for Y2K compliance.
Team leader for as many as 21 engineers.
Supported DG AOS/VS II and AVIION (UNIX) communications products and AOS/VS II Databases. Maintained DG’s patch download website by modifying the XML web page, making each fix available.
Sys admin for both DG AOS/VS II and AVIION (UNIX) platforms.
BULL Worldwide Information Systems Inc. Aug 1988 – Sep 1994
Senior Software Engineer: Designed, Developed, Maintained, and Component Tested File System, Printer, and Device Utilities in an ISO 9000 environment using Assembly and C.
Maintained 21 utilities, fixing all problems within company wide goal.
Re-wrote 5 utilities in assembly with only 1 reported problem since 1989.
Maintained a Dump Analysis Utility, which enables users to follow system structures, dump group information, and analyze memory.
SQA component tested all DPS6 utilities.
KRAFT Inc., Dairy Group Oct 1986 - Aug 1988
Computer Programmer: Designed and developed a program that accounts for all maintenance parts, repairs, and moneys using DBASE III Plus.
Purchasing agent for all building and machine maintenance.
Education/Credentials EDUCATION: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Major: BS. Computer Systems Engineering
I recently received a Dell Optiplex GX260 from my father and so I set it up and everything was working fine. I then installed a wireless PCI adapter, after which everything was still fine. I then upgraded Internet Explorer and removed some programs he had on there to view legal documents, and when I restarted it froze up. I couldn't move the mouse and ctrl alt delete didn't work, even when I push the num lock key on the key board the light didn't light up. So I had to hold the button down to get it to shut off, and then tried it again. At first I couldn't get past the logon screen, but then I noticed that it seems to be a certain amount of time before it freezes and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with at what point the startup is at. So I quickly logged on and it got to where it was about to come up, but then it froze again. So then I tried to start it in safe mode, and I can get to the menu, but it freezes before I can arrow up to select it. I checked the fan, and although the computer is older, it is quite clean. The fan seems to be working and is quite cool. I've tried it a couple of times since the day it first froze and the same thing happens. I don't have the XP cd so I haven't tried that, but I'm not sure it would work either since it keeps freezing. I'm not sure if there is a problem with the hardware or software, and I'm not really that computer savvy, so I don't know what to do. Please let me know if you have any idea what it could be so I know what to do next!
Thanks,
Melanie
Answer Melanie,
It sounds like it could be your motherboard. If you have a Windows CD or a recovery CD, boot with it in the drive (boot from it). If you system comes up and stays running, it may be something on the hard drive. My guess is, the system will not stay running long indicating the motherboard is bad. It's probably cheaper to get another cheap laptop over replacing the motherboard in the one you have.
Another thing to try if you have another hard drive: install it and boot from the recovery CD. Build the temporary drive. If you are able to do all that, the motherboard is good and the problem exists with the hard drive. Complete the rebuild and test it out.
