is my pc dead?

[poliomaldini]

hello all- desperately need some advice on exactly how broken my computer is- after a week away it is failing to work under any circumstance. what happens is as follows

1- turn on pc, get screen saying CPU or overclock fail- F1 to continue, F10 to enter setup/ save changes

2- whichever of the 2 options I choose (F1 or F10) desktop loads ok- at first

3- when I try any application- e.g. web/windows explorer (or even just leave for a few minutes) I get a total freeze then the picture distorts so all text becomes illegible, usually alternating with black screen. Sometimes the black screen is constant. At this point it obviously becomes impossible to navigate and I have to turn off without shutting down.

Any advice? Please tell me its fixable.

[Littlebr00k]

With the error of the cpu not being recognized correctly and it asking you to enter the bios, it sounds as if the the cmos battery is failing and cannot keep the info when the power is off. These are cheap and easy to replace and available from electronic shops, computer shops etc. Make sure you get the right one, perhaps take the old one with you.

It could also be that you have a dust build up inside the case. Open it up and clean it out, while you have it open it may be beneficial to remove and reseat every card attached to the mobo in case you have a dirty connection on one of them. Also clean the heatsink and fan on the cpu and ensure it is on correctly incase you have a heat build up and the cooling isn't doing its job.

[poliomaldini]

cheers for that- I'll give it a crack

[HyperHacker]

Video distortion implies a faulty video card, or possibly CPU/memory.

[CptMurphy]

Have you overclocked your system? What was happening right before this issue started? Did you add a new heatsink, processor? Was the system hanging previously or was this a sudden onset?