JHZR2
Staff member
Hi,
I know there are a lot of knowledgable people on here when it comes to computers.
I have a dell precision workstation 620. Built ~early-mid 2001. It has a single PIII xeon, 1GB RDRAM, 420W power supply, 2x 10k rpm scsi drives. Tightly integrated case.
On Saturday morning it was working 100% fine. I was doing work on it, printing stuff out, working online, etc.
Tonight I got home and started it up (I had shut it down). All of a sudden everything was at a crawl.
The system keeps loosing time, though the original battery checked out OK (3V). Replacement didnt help it.
The bios lost the processor speed. Reverted to 266 MHz. I managed to find the speed change utility, and set it to 933 MHz (underclocked).
The system clock resets every time. Once started up, I can use an online utility to reset the clock, but it looses a LOT of time while running.
The on-board thermal and fan rpm sensors show erratic readings all the time.
Everything is VERY jumpy. The mouse jumps in spurts when I move it, data moves slowly in spurts (Im backing up stuff to different drives).
Once I checked to verify cpu speed by opening sisoft sandra. All of a sudden, for whatever reason, the computer came back to life, and the mouse wasnt jumpy, etc. I started transferring files at that point, and then after maybe 5 minutes, the computer shut itself down, stating that there was a thermal event (the sensors are fluctuating wildly from 120F to 32F). I restarted, and are now transferring files again, without that being an issue (though the sensors are still fluctuating).
I dont know whats wrong. The time keeps resetting, my computer is more or less useless because it keeps operating in spurts, etc.
Does it sound like my motherbopard is shot? I dont really know how to diagnose this. I just dont want to have to buy a new computer, as thgis one operated great. I also hate re-installing stuff, working on computers, etc. I sure hope there is a solution.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JMH
I know there are a lot of knowledgable people on here when it comes to computers.
I have a dell precision workstation 620. Built ~early-mid 2001. It has a single PIII xeon, 1GB RDRAM, 420W power supply, 2x 10k rpm scsi drives. Tightly integrated case.
On Saturday morning it was working 100% fine. I was doing work on it, printing stuff out, working online, etc.
Tonight I got home and started it up (I had shut it down). All of a sudden everything was at a crawl.
The system keeps loosing time, though the original battery checked out OK (3V). Replacement didnt help it.
The bios lost the processor speed. Reverted to 266 MHz. I managed to find the speed change utility, and set it to 933 MHz (underclocked).
The system clock resets every time. Once started up, I can use an online utility to reset the clock, but it looses a LOT of time while running.
The on-board thermal and fan rpm sensors show erratic readings all the time.
Everything is VERY jumpy. The mouse jumps in spurts when I move it, data moves slowly in spurts (Im backing up stuff to different drives).
Once I checked to verify cpu speed by opening sisoft sandra. All of a sudden, for whatever reason, the computer came back to life, and the mouse wasnt jumpy, etc. I started transferring files at that point, and then after maybe 5 minutes, the computer shut itself down, stating that there was a thermal event (the sensors are fluctuating wildly from 120F to 32F). I restarted, and are now transferring files again, without that being an issue (though the sensors are still fluctuating).
I dont know whats wrong. The time keeps resetting, my computer is more or less useless because it keeps operating in spurts, etc.
Does it sound like my motherbopard is shot? I dont really know how to diagnose this. I just dont want to have to buy a new computer, as thgis one operated great. I also hate re-installing stuff, working on computers, etc. I sure hope there is a solution.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JMH