i bought a refurbished laptop on eBay, and i was having trouble getting it to start up (it would open to the main windows xp page but then freeze -- it'd take 2 - 7 restarts to get it past that point), so i came to the windows XP forums. we did a couple diagnostic things and the start-up trouble went away, which was good. but then the computer twice in one day made a loud "pop" sound and the screen went black. it didn't turn off, it just went black and stopped acknowledging the keyboard input.
i then ran a program called "speedfan," and the person that was helping me suggested i come here, 'cause my computer's running hot.
here's a link to the old forum, if this sounds confusing:
www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=109131&hl=meddle
my main thing is figuring out why my computer would have done that twice in one day, and not at all since. also, how do i clean out the hard-drive? the last geek i worked with suggested i do that.
the computer's a compaq evo N610c with a pentium, if that's relevant.
thanks!
-- meddle