Damnit. My pc is on it's way out. I know it's at least 8 years old, but it was working fine until February when the pc fan would rev up to the point it would force my pc to shut down. I thought I fixed it with a dust cleaning. Worked until yesterday. Now I'm lucky if I can even get 10 minutes usage out of it without it being needed to be shut down. After doing some research, I'm not sure if it's the power supply or something else. All I know is that's an old Alienware Aurora R1.

And I have no money for a new pc. This is stress on top of stress on top of stress on top of stress on top of even MORE stress that I don't need any more of.

And now I lost my stress reliever.

This has been one crappy as hell week.

7 years ago

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imo get some cheap thermal grease, take the heatsink+fan off of the cpu, carefully wipe away any old grease from the top of the cpu & the bottom of the heatsink, apply a small amount of fresh grease, replace/reattach heatsink & hopefully enjoy another couple of years. ^^

7 years ago
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I'm going to second this. And if your CPU fan is going bad, you can get a good replacement for about $20-30 (such as the "Cryorig H7" or "Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO").

7 years ago
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I have a HYPER 212 EVO and I must say it is exquisite as they say it is!
Oh, and yeah, deffo sounds like an overheat problem. Like d3m4n said - new paste all the way!

7 years ago
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yeah, going on 8years old the current grease is likely dried and crusty and even preventing a decent contact between them. re-application & cleaning should do it but if the fan is bad i agree, just replace the hs+fan combo. ^^

7 years ago
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I've replaced years old thermal paste and it actually never was dried and crusty (always used some brand stuff though).

But also agree it being an overheat problem. ^^

7 years ago
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silver based compounds tend to dry out faster then normal white based ones. i've seen a few cases where silver dries up in small clumps and even made it rise a couple millimeters leaveing bare spots just left open, but the white stuff normally just dries up a hair but leaves the contact mostly in place.

i love silver cause it does allow a better transfer of heat, but in the long run it wears out and can cause harm.

7 years ago
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Having an old pc and no money for a new one, i feel you.

And yeah like d3m4n said.

7 years ago
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Does the PC work fine for a few minutes before abruptly shutting down, or do you hear your fans getting louder before the computer turns itself off?

If it's the former, do you need to wait a few minutes before the PC will even react to you pressing the power on button? I mean, will the system kind of attempt to boot with the fans powering on and spinning for a few seconds but not reach their full speeds before shutting themselves down again? And are you able to power up the system after several minutes of inactivity but it suddenly shuts itself off after a few minutes of use like before? If so, I'd put my money on a faulty PSU. Nothing you can do about that unfortunately, you need to get a new one.

EDIT: Somehow missed this part:

when the pc fan would rev up to the point it would force my pc to shut down

It's probably an overheating problem then like the one d3m4n described.

7 years ago*
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Hey bud, I believe your issue is dried out old thermal paste as well. I'd do the processor and the video cards heatsinks, this way you know theres no heat buildups. Let me know if you need help or anything to get you up and going :)

7 years ago
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And now it won't even turn on past the bioscscreen without crashing. I'm on my phone now. Parents offered to help me out but I have to wait 2 weeks. And then another week or so for the alienware I want to ship. This will not be a pretty sight.

7 years ago
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You have no money and yet can get an Alienware? What?
Did you try the suggestions above concerning the thermal grease?

7 years ago
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As I stated, the PARENTS are going to help me out with the purchase. I'm using an 8 year old Alienware Aurora R1 currently.

Actually, at a work force program tright now and am posting from their laptops. :P

7 years ago
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what kind of alienware are you thinking to buy (the replacement) because you may get a better value building your own (or checking other brands besides alienware)

7 years ago
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I'd LOVE to build my own but what I want would cost WAY too much, Dual 1080 TI's would cost about the same as buying a prebuilt.

And I trust Alienware. At least I got a good 8 years out of the old one.

7 years ago
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What plans you have with dual 1080 Ti exactly?

7 years ago
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High end 4K gaming, what else?

7 years ago
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  1. Why would you go for 2 1080Ti ?
  2. PreBuild PC cost WAY more than you buying the parts.
  3. If what you want cost way to much you can just scale down the parts ?
7 years ago
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You can buy a prebuilt one and save up considerably when compared to an alienware.
Though you may want a laptop rather than a tower PC

7 years ago
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Well, if you don't want to spend too much of your parents money there are other brands or PC builders. Alienware is expensive.

7 years ago
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that's cool your parents are willing to help you out. especially with an overpriced purchase. however, if you just run to a local pc shop and see if they have a tiny amount of thermal grease and offer them a buck they probably would be willing to just give you a small amount in cellophane or other plasticwrap.. they likely have a big tube of it and if they don't use it all up after a couple years it'll go bad anyways.

you're looking at like a $1-2 pc fix to at least run off something for the next couple of weeks till they can help you.

7 years ago
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stupid idea, but it works, so im not sure if its stupid,
fill water bottles with water, and place it around your pc, if possible, put a high quality one inside, make sure that its not easy to melt,or if it melted, it wont drip on anything

7 years ago
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I should say that, in an ironic sense here, I already do store my unopened bottles of water next to my pc. And I know if/when one opens and leaks. Which has never happened.

7 years ago
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mmmm try changing where it is? near a window might cool it? but not too near or sun will make it over heat

7 years ago
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To get a gaming fix while you wait,

Get the free Amazon underground app and download some free games for your phone.
There's some good stuff there.

7 years ago
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I bet the problem is what they told you above. Arctic MX-2 paste is good and cheapo. Worst case scenario: could be your PSU, but I doubt that. Replacing thermal paste, overall cleaning and It could work like brand new (maybe somebody can help you out).

Sometimes in HW forums there´s people willing to help If they´re close. Idk...you sound more like you want to "retire" this system.

7 years ago*
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Why would you buy a whole new pc if the problem is the heatsink or the power supply?
These are cheap fixes vs buying new everything..

Sounds to me like it's just an overheating issue which is even easier to fix.

Do you have any monitoring for fans? My bios has an rpm tracker for all fans but it's kind of newer I think.. ~2 years.
If you do, low RPM fans should be in the red. If you don't just take a look in the case while it's running to see if everything is spinning.
Fans die considerably faster than anything else in my experience, and 8 years is a super long time. I currently have one of my chassis fans that I have to "kick-start" with an allen wrench for it to spin >.>

New fans are like 10-20 dollars and that could be the easiest fix.

7 years ago
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