I have a Dell Dimension 8250 Probably bought in 2003 0r 4. I really cant afford to go out and buy a new computer right now---Maybe 6 months or so.

I posted a few weeks ago that the sound volume was coming in and out. Someone suggested checking connections. I pulled all cables, opened box and reset all cards. Sound seems to be working for now

New problems:

1..The curser is now flickering on and off. Sometimes more off than on (BTW-Windows XP with all service packs and upgrades)

2).. I now have a humming sound from the box. My guess is cooling fan.

Any suggestions or ideas out there?

Thanks

Cursor flickering unexpectedly is generally a symptom of a virus. You might want to check your antivirus software and if it is inadequate, get something more reliable such as Avanquest SystemSuite. Alternatively you can change your cursor settings in Control Panel (try a different cursor shape and see if your flickering is affected).

A Mac Mini is only $600, and you won't have to put with any of this non-sense. Macs are known for their long lifespans, and you could count on 3+ years of use from this computer.

While that is true I wouldn't recommend buying a Mac until after the MacWorld Expo in January. Many are expecting new machines to be released.

I have the same machine. Noises are very much temperature sensitive. Does it make this sound when you first power up? Does it make the noise after some amount of up time?

In any event, I don't think I'm going to get much more life out of this thing, so I BACK UP data files all the time.

You do that, right?

Box humming - Probably the fan on the power supply.

If you open it up and see any other fans, it could be those too, not really familiar with that model to know if they have other fans.

After a few years the bearings get shot and it starts to make noise. You could try blowing it out, it could be too much gunk around it or something, but it's usually the beginning of the end (though it may hum away for years)

Sometimes just moving it around may be enough to get it to seat right again and let you get some quite from it.

Flickering sounds like something has infected your system as mentioned above. Scan for virus and spyware to be sure.

If that doesn't work, check your video settings to make sure the driver has the right refresh rate for your monitor.

Is the cure for every Mac problem to buy a PC? Or how does that work?

(Don't Macheads know that the more Macs there are, the more tempting a hacker target they become? So why the ceaseless proselytizing?)

Every PC I have owned since 1987(Tandy, Packard Bell, Emachines, Dell (2), HP, and a Sager) has lasted greater than 5 years. 3 years doesn't seem too impresive to me.

As for the humming I would open it up while *NOT* on carpeting or anything else likely to make static. Make sure to touch the case before touching anything inside it. Look for dust buildup on fans. Once they are reasonably clean (a can of air works wonders) power it up and listen. Make sure all fans are spinning.

My sister has my 13 year old PC in London but it's obsolete because a 100MHz Pentium has long since hasn't made the grade for minimum speed (browser bloat/boggy javascript among other factors). I ditched my old Compaq Armada laptop this year as it suffered the same (125 MHz Pentium).

There are kits to stop humming on cooling fans. You can make your own by finding some thin (rubbery) material to stop metal rubbing on metal, or a big flat surface (like the casing side) from vibrating.

My new-since-Easter HP Pavillion actually came with 3 fans: 1 in the PS, 1 on the Core2Duo and 1 on the back of the case. Actually very quiet and don't have to worry about overheating like on fanless iMacs (since I've added a 500 GB Seagate to supplement the OEM 320GB drive) like my partner's old G3 where a 40GB internal was the limit otherwise it'll overheat.

As for the cursor, it may not be a virus or trojan but some other malware or stuff that's sucking too many computational cycles. Might want to use procexp and see what else is running.

Drive capacity doesn't really have anything to do with the heat produced.

Did a deep virus and spyware scan with both AVG and with Zone Alarm (not at same time) I always use Zone Alarm Pro AV and SW protection as well as Webroot Spy Sweeper..Update every day and scans nightly

Then I did an AVG anti rootkit scan.

All came up with nothing (other than a few cookies).

I will play with the fan this weekend