Hello PC owners.
Here I am with another PC problem post, but not mine this time! This post has sort of 2 parts to it so bear with me. Also alot of this information for the moment I'm getting second hand. My brother has been having computer issues and has been texting/calling me for help. Not having a chance to get out and see him yet to try and help, I can't do too much. I'm hoping to stop by tomorrow to see him.
His system, not terribly elaborate, was built by me, the last change being maybe a year ago, probably sooner. Standard Motherboard, I believe the brand is ECS Elitegroup. LGA 775 cpu, a 2.4 Ghz P4. 1 SATA Hard drive, 2 IDE DVD drives, 1 player, 1 burner. While I am no PC expert myself, I know my way around the insides more than him.
The problem he just had, and has had way too often is a hard drive failing. Again. Again being the keyword. He, by our estimates changes hard drives about 2 times a year, though this last one did seem to last a bit longer, maybe a year but certainly no more. It was also his first SATA drive, if that should matter.
He has played World of Warcraft alot. I mean ALOT. Can one use a system so much it simply runs the components down faster than the normal lifespan? I use my desktop pretty extensively, for gaming, work, whatever, and the only time I've replaced a drive is because I wanted to, knock on wood. But his will just...fail. Usually begins with freezes, and resets, and eventually a clicking. I think last week he even told me he heard that dreaded cpu overheating alarm. I'm sure anyone who has heard it knows what I mean!
So his current drive has failed. This weekend he went to get a new one. Went to install it and the system simply will not see his new drive, at all. It only shows the 2 IDE optical drives. The system just wont awknowledge the new drive in any form. He knows it's getting power, he's tried both SATA plugs his system has, but no change. Even went back to the old drive just to see, and it's doing the same thing.
Any suggestions? LIke I said I'm going to try and head over there tomorrow, but wanted to get an idea of what could be going on. I realize this may be hard to do, all of this information being second hand.
To the original problem, what could be causing him to go through drives relatively quick? What are some common things that cause drive failure?
Here I am with another PC problem post, but not mine this time! This post has sort of 2 parts to it so bear with me. Also alot of this information for the moment I'm getting second hand. My brother has been having computer issues and has been texting/calling me for help. Not having a chance to get out and see him yet to try and help, I can't do too much. I'm hoping to stop by tomorrow to see him.
His system, not terribly elaborate, was built by me, the last change being maybe a year ago, probably sooner. Standard Motherboard, I believe the brand is ECS Elitegroup. LGA 775 cpu, a 2.4 Ghz P4. 1 SATA Hard drive, 2 IDE DVD drives, 1 player, 1 burner. While I am no PC expert myself, I know my way around the insides more than him.
The problem he just had, and has had way too often is a hard drive failing. Again. Again being the keyword. He, by our estimates changes hard drives about 2 times a year, though this last one did seem to last a bit longer, maybe a year but certainly no more. It was also his first SATA drive, if that should matter.
He has played World of Warcraft alot. I mean ALOT. Can one use a system so much it simply runs the components down faster than the normal lifespan? I use my desktop pretty extensively, for gaming, work, whatever, and the only time I've replaced a drive is because I wanted to, knock on wood. But his will just...fail. Usually begins with freezes, and resets, and eventually a clicking. I think last week he even told me he heard that dreaded cpu overheating alarm. I'm sure anyone who has heard it knows what I mean!
So his current drive has failed. This weekend he went to get a new one. Went to install it and the system simply will not see his new drive, at all. It only shows the 2 IDE optical drives. The system just wont awknowledge the new drive in any form. He knows it's getting power, he's tried both SATA plugs his system has, but no change. Even went back to the old drive just to see, and it's doing the same thing.
Any suggestions? LIke I said I'm going to try and head over there tomorrow, but wanted to get an idea of what could be going on. I realize this may be hard to do, all of this information being second hand.
To the original problem, what could be causing him to go through drives relatively quick? What are some common things that cause drive failure?
