<p>Ok, I just wanted to give an update since everybody was so helpful. I think the problem may have been with the fan as some of you suggested - but all we did was dust off D's tower and ever since then, the computer has been working fine! I really didn't want to spend any more time talking to Dell, and it was the worst possible time for us to have to send her computer away, so we got very lucky.</p>
<p>So, thank you all again. Your advice was much appreciated!</p>
<p>Next time you have to call Dell, ask to speak with a supervisor and then ask to speak with his supervisor if that person is not listening are seems to be reading off a script. Do not take no for an answer. Keep going up the chain. It is easier than you think once you insist. And if you are speaking with someone you cannot understand well, ask immediately to speak with someone else. It works.</p>
<p>Reading this, I am</p>
<p>1) Glad the problem seems to have been solved.</p>
<p>2) Concerned that back-up might not be a routine procedure for her/you. It's really critical that she back-up continuously, especially when she has big projects in the works on time deadlines. Emailing a copy to you each time she adds to/edits a paper/project is a quick method. Or, of course, using whatever back-up drive she has. More often than daily while she is working on such projects, imo. At least daily otherwise. Weekly if she is a light user.</p>
<p>Some of us learned the hard way years ago about not being nicely backed up and losing a lot.</p>
<p>just want to add that when you back up make sure you save your bookmarks and cookie files. And if you use Outlook or other non-web based email, back that up too.</p>
<p>I back up all my data files religiously every month. You can burn a cd, use a flash drive or some other online storage place. But just do it. Emailing important documents to yourself is also a good habit.</p>
<p>jmmom and sueinphilly - thanks for the reminder about backing up - D does put everything on her flash drive (hopefully that's good enough for daily use). She also copies it to her email and sends it to her email at school as well. She is very nervous about losing her work. Our problem that week was that the computer often wouldn't work long enough for her to save the information. Somehow, she only lost a little bit of her work in the end - especially considering how often it happened.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida - I think your suggestion is good, and if I have that problem again, I will do as you recommended. Luckily, I haven't had much of a problem understanding the people I spoke to - they just weren't really very helpful in the end.</p>
<p>delete system32</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>you can buy a case for the hard drive that turns the hard drive into an external harddrive temporarily. You can then plug it in to another computer via USB and move all the data that way.<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>My thoughts, too, ec1234. Our Dell desktop gave the BSOD--Windows refused to load. I went to the store and bought a laptop to replace it. The nice computer guy told me to transfer files from the old hard drive to the new laptop using something called "EZ-Connect"--a USB 2.0 to SATA & IDE Adapter for 2.5" and 3.5" Hard drives (I typed it right from the box).</p>
<p>I removed the hard drive from the desktop (had to ask a neighbor which one was the hard drive). The kit comes with a power plug and a plug that attaches to the hard drive of the desktop. You attach the other end (which is a USB thingy) to your laptop (or other computer), and the new computer will read the old hard drive as an external hard drive. You can then transfer over any files to the new computer.</p>
<p>But the weirdest thing is that when I plugged the old hard drive into the new computer using the EZ Connect, the new computer asked: "Do you want me to clean up the hard drive you just attached?" Sure, why not...I clicked yes.</p>
<p>And I'll be hornswaggled if the new computer didn't fix the old hard drive! I put the hard drive back into the desktop and now it works just fine. (I also insisted that the kids offload all of their music files...one third of the disk space was their music!)</p>
<p>Computers are weird...I wouldn't have messed with the inside of my desktop except that I thought that it was basically trash. But now that I've done it, I don't feel as scared of computers as I once was.</p>
<p>Heat can cause shutdowns as others have said, can be the fan, or ciruit boards with cracks that are expanding. Unfortunately, viruses can do the same. </p>
<p>The Dell techs you are reaching are probably the lower level techs. And they just go through a script like "is the computer turned on". You should demand a higher level tech (by going for a supervisor to get you to a highlevel tech). Simplistic problems can be gotten out by simple scripts, but anything tricky needs a good tech. Good luck. I would also move the data to a usb drive (relatively cheap -- possible could use your other comuputers as a temp solution).</p>
<p>OP: These are classic symptoms of the power supply problem. You may need a new power supply. Many parts of the computer actually works on different voltage levels, in order to save power. Many time the voltage regulation problems with in the power supply causes spike in some part causing the defense mechanism to shut or reboots.
Changing power supply should resolve the problem in > 95% of the cases.</p>
<p>good luck with that</p>