Cleaning up an outdated PC

Rob.S · July 13, 2016

Hi all.

My Dad has an pretty old HP Pavillion computer. It's the whole family's daily driver right now, and is rarely switched off. I haven't got the full specs yet but here they are:

CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz (Keep in mind the CPU clock very rarely goes below this)

RAM: 3GB DDR2 @ 800Mhz (For some reason I saw 4 sticks of samsung ram in there)

GPU: A very dusty GT 610

HDD: SATA 2 Hard Drive (Maybe Toshiba). It's the loudest part of the system, clicks very loud and it has probably reached the end of it's life. Sensitive data on it.

Motherboard: I am unaware, and couldn't find a spec-sheet or model number anywhere in my house.

PSU: I am not sure, but it's a non modular 250 / 300W

After booting it up and opening chrome to watch a live stream of news, this is the situation:

> The video is stuttering

> CPU is at full clock speed, and tempuratures hit 70 Celsius

> GPU is at 50 Celsius

> All fans are blasting full speed.

> BSOD after 5 minuites for nvlddmkm.sys (display driver, yes it is a hardware issue)

Of course action needs to be taken here.

The other day I took the system into the garden, took of the side panel and there was lots of dust buildup on all fans (including PSU) I/O ports, the CPU fan was riddled with it. I didn't have anything at the time so could only blow some of it out.

Now let me tell you : For specific reasons, I can't build a new PC for him. I'd love to though. And we cannot afford at any cost to have it go out of order right now. So I have to improve this one. Yesterday I used ADWCleaner, CCleaner, put everything on desktop into a folder, Change or Remove a program in control panel, removed 20 un-needed programs that my family can use my PC for instead.

PLEASE READ:

Now, please suggest anything else I can do on the software side. I think I am done now.

Before I continue, let me say I am young (13-14) and my parent's can't help. I took a tug at some of the cables and it seemed very tight. I had to practically wreste with the RAM for it to go back in. There were so many cables littered everywhere, and everything seems solid / pinned down. TIL it's not as easy as shown in this video:

Let's cut to the chase. It seemed hard to put stuff back in the PC back as it was when I took my first look at it - that's a major worry. I can't afford to not be able to do that, and we don't have the time for anyone from tech support to do a full cleanup of it either right now.

Here's what I want to do. I would love some guides for this and what I will need for it in the comment section.

Take off the CPU cooler, clean up the heatsink, replace thermal paste, and put the heatsink back on safely. The socket is LGA775 on the mobo. (Correct pressure to apple, specific screws, tools needed, yeah a screwdriver of course...)
Clean up fans, motherboards and other stuff in there (which tools do I need)
Replace the hard drive, after conducting a full backup of the files. (How do I clone the hard drive, is a WD Blue 500GB SATA 3 compatible with the SATA 2 platform on the PC)
Clean up some cables using cable ties.
I don't want to install a new OS as there is very very little bloatware on my Dad's PC, and an antivirus / adwcleaner run should do it. I just want to clone the whole OS onto the new one.
Basically do what Awesomesauce did in his video in the spoiler above but take note the my above point.

Remember that ALL of your help is widely appreciated. Put it all in the comment section below. Also, please try to not start a flamewar - I'd love to get this done ASAP.

Droidbot · July 13, 2016

1. All heatsinks are different, and it's up to you to find out what pressure to apply. You shouldn't need any new screws, and just apply a little thermal paste, like maybe a pea-sized dot.

2. A vaccum cleaner is fine to clean fans and the case, but not sensitive parts.

3. Use a program like Acronis True Image to clone the HDD. It's easy enough.