Help diagnose software or hardware issue?

[jsmalley12000]

Hello,

I need help diagnosing what is wrong with my computer. I just moved apartments and have been having issues with my computer ever since, but there wasn't any catastrophic event or new software installation. The only difference between the two is at my last apartment, I had the computer plugged into a surge protector whereby right now, it's just plugged into the wall.

Basically, any time I record on Audacity now, it cuts off after 12 seconds, and the playback is very staticy, and choppy, with fractions-of-seconds long pieces missing. If I reduce the sampling rate, it will record longer but will eventually still cut off. I downloaded the newer Beta version of Audacity and the same problem happens.

I have a feeling it's something with the hard drive or memory, because the computer has been noticeably slower. While the hard disk is nearly full (3 GB free of 100 GB), this never caused any issues with Audacity in the past.

My comptuer is a Dell Inspiron which was top of the line 2 years ago, and never gave me problems before. I am using an M-Audio 1/2 Firewire Solo preamp/interface. For this device, I reset all the setitngs to default, but I was still having problems. This device also used to be plugged into a surge protector, but is currently plugged straight into a wall.

Lastly, I just ran Ad-Aware and did not have any viruses or anything on the computer. So I am really stumped as to what is going on.

If you are familiar with what is going on, please help me out, thanks!

Cheers.

[yeti_07]

Dell Inspiron, so it should be an intel processor.
This is just a wild guess:
Check the fan of your processor and the cables leading to it. It could be that they have gotten loose. Intel processors general don't fry themselves when running without cooling, instead they just clock down when getting too hot.
Y.