Thank you again for the detailled answerd, this is great. I hope you don't mind if i ask some more as i'd like to understand and not make any mistake. These maybe stupid question but, this is an area i never had good advice for and despite using computers a lot for 11 years now, i still don't understand some of this.
The bios:-What do you mean exactly by "reseting" the date, is there a "reset" option i'll have to select, or should i set it myself to a random date, or which date ? Will it have any side effect on the computer, like windows calendar or something ?
-As far as i understand the bios is controlling the motherboard, right ? So i fear if i screw up something, the computer won't work at all, is there any security against that or a way to restore the bios to the previous state if i mess up somehow ? I'm quite scared by this as i tend to consider it as the "do not touch that !" thing.
The damage done by the current card:-Does that mean all the components currently affected will have a lower lifetime overall and that i still have some time to go, or that they may already die at anytime ?
-if the PSU is a bit better than you first thought, does it sound better for them ?
-I saw Win 7 has some power management options, with economic mode, and things like that, would that do anything to ease the pain on the components ?
I'm trying to understand it as, basically, right now i'm scared to do anything on the computer (starting a game or something), thinking it could damage it too much, as if any components dies right now i will be in big trouble. Am i worrying too much and can i still expect it to run for a few months just fine, or is it like a huge axe over it ready to fall at any random given time ? I'm especially asking that in the case i could not make the Nvidia card work, i'd be stuck with the ATI one and staying for weeks like that doesn't sound relaxing at all.
I'm trying to consider as well if it's better to buy a PSU for this computer, considering all the components might be already weakened and i'll have to change them at some point, or if i should save for a whole new computer in several months. I mean, it doesn't sound overly exciting to invest in a PSU if the motherboard dies in 3 weeks. I know you probably can't give any serious estimation like that but, as a rough feeling, i'm not sure if i have to go into "panic mode" yet and look every 2min at the computer in fear it's going wrong, or if i'm relatively safe and can plan for some long term (6 months+) solution. I tend to be overly paranoid about it as i have no back-up computer and i need that one to work for some time.
That said, i'm on a night schedule so it doesn't help doing much every day, as i have only a few hours in the end of the afternoon (not gonna do that in the middle of the night). Sorry if you feel it's taking forever. I will try to make the pics tomorrow and look inside the Bios to see if i can locate the date and how it looks in there, as well as check again if i can locate the motherboard battery. I'll probably update here in mid/late afternoon.
Thanks a lot for your time and dedication, i really hope i'm not annoying with all the questions.
Edited by Celidya, 23 January 2011 - 09:17 PM.