How do I diagnose hardware issues?

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Michael Zhang

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Jul 8, 2013
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My parent's old Dell from 2011 has been freezing almost every day now. When it freezes thin, colored lines appear on the monitor and I can't do anything but restart the computer. Restarting right after usually doesn't get it running again but if I wait a few hours it starts working again.

I have a feeling it has to do with the graphics? The computer is a fairly low end model so it has an integrated graphics card, intel pentium processor, 250 watt power supply.

So how do I figure out what part is broken? It shouldn't be the HDD, RAM or CPU I'm assuming based off the symptoms. Is the motherboard broken?

Thanks for your help in advance. I don't know too much about computers.
 
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O
i would say you've already diagnosed succesfully, 9 times out of 10 a corrupt picture in an aging system is due to gpu issues, as the graphics chip is integrated, i.e. soldered onto the motherboard, it essentially means a faulty motherboard.
When the gpu heats up it can affect the picture, you could try cleaning out the case of any dust and even cleaning the mobo with an old toothbrush (don't be scared to give it a good scrub-dry tho of course:)
This may help keep the pc on for longer before the picture corrupts, but ultimately if this is the issue then there's no turning back and it will only get worse over time.
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Oldboy05

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Jul 6, 2013
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i would say you've already diagnosed succesfully, 9 times out of 10 a corrupt picture in an aging system is due to gpu issues, as the graphics chip is integrated, i.e. soldered onto the motherboard, it essentially means a faulty motherboard.
When the gpu heats up it can affect the picture, you could try cleaning out the case of any dust and even cleaning the mobo with an old toothbrush (don't be scared to give it a good scrub-dry tho of course:)
This may help keep the pc on for longer before the picture corrupts, but ultimately if this is the issue then there's no turning back and it will only get worse over time.
 
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