Newly developed problems on previously reliable edit PC

[Highlander]

Hi there, I have a problem. I have an edit PC built by REDSUB, I've had it for a number of years, and it has been great. Problem is a few months ago we had major work done on the house which resulted in it being left off and unplugged for over a month. Now since restarting it video playback is choppy, Nero won't burn DVDs (seems to run the read buffer at 100% around the 6% process status mark and just hangs there.

I haven't installed or changed any settings, although I think i did see something about "overclocking failed", when i initially booted up. Could this be it?

Any help greatfully received. A couple of other problems that may or may not be linked, but might give a clue to someone more knowledgeable than I...

Sometimes Nero won't even launch the "Burn image to disc" pop-up when the link is clicked.
I have a "video not available, a=cannot find 'vids:dvsd'decompressor" when I try to play video using NeroMediaPlayer.
Video plays okay in Quicktime but the same video is choppy when played in Windows Media Player or any other player installed.

The problem I have is REDSUB no longer make edit PCs so I can't find out what "personal" settings they used when the PC was built.

Just discovered something new, video stored on either of the 2 internal Hard Drives plays okay, it's the external drives that cause the problems.
But burning from these locations still have the same problems. What could this mean?

[Midnight Blue]

Only thing I can think of is the drives have started to get a bit sticky. Something I only recently found out was that you should spin up your external drives on a regular basis as they need this to self lubricate. Well that is what I was told. May be doing a good old defrag on them might free them up a bit.

This may be total bull but can't hurt and is worth a try.

Also if the PC has been off for a while check that your fans are working properly.

[Bpotter908]

Stupid question...but was the computer left in the room where said work was going on uncovered?Dust trashes technology like you would not believe!

[Thurston Lang]

SO..... it's only the external drives that give problems?

and basically it sounds like a read/write issue

Run the 'clean up' disks option - de frag them...... (use 'defraggler" - it's better than bundled windows option - and it's freeware)

BUT check the drivers for the external drives haven't been messed with - either by corruption or by an automatic update.

To be safe - simply re-install your firewire or USB drivers.... (download them from the manufacturers website).

Then hit it with a hammer......