Author Topic: pc woes (Read 702 times)

jonnyb · « **on:** December 05, 2002, 01:16:22 PM »

Hey all,

I've been suffering from a lack of AH lately because my home PC up and died on me. I've been building computers for a number of years now, and this one has completely baffled me. I'll try to explain as best I can below.

About 6 months ago, I noticed that motherboard monitor suddenly started reporting that my CPU was running at about 200 degrees (farenheit). Thinking my CPU was going to get fried, I pulled the plug on my system and ripped it apart. Everything looked good, but just to make sure, I pulled off the heatsink, wiped off the artic silver, added a fresh coat and re-seated the sink. I then checked all connections and booted up. Looking at what the BIOS was reporting, I couldn't believe my eyes. The CPU was still over 180 degrees (which I found impossible since I had just handled it to put on the new thermal paste). Also, it reported that I was pushing 18 volts through the 12 volt power, and each of the 5 volt ones was getting upwards of 7.

Again, I ripped the computer apart. This time, I got out the old power supply tester, and confirmed that I was indeed only pushing between 11.9 and 12.1 volts through the 12 volt connector, and ~5 through each of the 5 volters. So, I re-seated everything, checked all the connections, looked for anywhere it might be shorting out, and fired it back up. In BIOS, the hardware monitor reported the same things as earlier.

I decided to ignore the hardware monitor, since my own probing proved the results to be false. I booted up the system, and all seemed to be working fine. I ran tests on the memory, CPU and other systems and those tests all returned results within expected parameters.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago...

The computer began acting very strangely. Namely, I would go to bed at night, and wake up to find it in a locked state. No Windows, no nothing. I would do a hard reset, and it would reboot fine. I'd go to work, come back, and the same thing. Finally, after about 3 days of this, it no longer rebooted. It would get partially through the POST and die. After that, it would just beep incessantly at me every time I powered it up.

The error codes for all AwardBIOS-based boards claim that this error is a result of either no memory installed, or none detected. As I had problems with the hardware monitor, I concluded that the motherboard had finally given up hope and died a grizzly death.

Feeling a bit peckish, I ordered a new Asus A7N8X motherboard, along with a new Athlon XP1600+ processor. Couldn't beat the 50 dollar price tag at newegg for the CPU

.

When they arrived, I pulled all the old stuff out of my system, installed the new MB and processor and put back in my video card. I left the sound card, NIC and joystick out. When I powered up, nothing happened. Fearing that I had missed something, I checked all the connections and rebooted. The computer came to life. I entered the BIOS and began to set the CMOS, when suddenly it froze on me. I rebooted, and nothing.

Here's where I began to get exceptionally frustrated. I pulled one of the memory sticks out, and rebooted. Nothing. I replaced it with the other and rebooted. It booted fine. Ah-HAH! I have a bad stick. I began setting everything in the BIOS and saved and exited. It ran through its POST, started to boot up. WHAM. Frozen. Nothing. No more. I did a hard reset and it got to the same place and froze. I tried to reboot again, and nothing at all.

I took out the memory, and replaced it with the stick that had previously malfunctioned. I booted, and it POSTed. Huh? It got to right after the POST and like each other time, it died.

Since then, the computer has refused to boot. It doesn't even make it to the POST. I've tried every combination of memory. I've pulled the board completely out of the chassis. Nothing.

This lead me to last night, where in a fit of desperation, I drove to CompUSA and bought a new 400 watt power supply. I got it home, plugged everything in. Turned it on. Nothing.

Tomorrow, I will be returning the power supply, and purchasing some cheap memory (probably a 128M stick of PC2100) to see if that was the problem.

If that turns out to not be the problem, I will be at a complete dead end. Anybody out there have *any* clues? Have I missed something?

Thanks!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

specs:

Asus A7N8X deluxe
Athlon XP 1600+
Swiftech MCXC370 heatsink
Papst 33CFM fan (hell of a lot quieter than my delta black label)
2x256M Crucial PC2100
Enermax 300W power
Enlight case
Leadtek A250 Ultra GeForce4 Ti4600
Hercules GameTheatre XP 6.1
IBM Deskstar 60GXP 60 gig
Pioneer 16x DVD
Plextor 16x/10x/40x CDRW
Samsung 900NF 19" monitor
Microsoft Natural Keyboard
MS Intellimouse Explorer
MS Precision2 Pro

eagl · « **Reply #1 on:** December 05, 2002, 02:15:16 PM »

Did you try pulling EVERYTHING out of the computer but what it needs to boot? The last time I had odd problems like this, I put the components on the floor (eliminate grounding and short circuit problems in case), and added one component at a time. Then I rebuilt it back inside the case making sure I got all the cables on straight, no shorts, etc etc. In the process, I found I had a bad power supply but of course it sounds like you may have some other problem. Hope both your sticks of memory aren't toast.

jonnyb · « **Reply #2 on:** December 05, 2002, 02:18:51 PM »

That's what I'm having a really hard time swallowing...that both sticks may be dead. I can't imagine that two sticks would die simultaneously. It just defies reason.

Yes, I stripped everything except the essentials. Only thing I put in was my video card and the memory. Everything else is still on the desk. The new MB has onboard sound, 2 onboard LAN controllers, a serial ATA RAID controller, 4 USB controllers and a IEEE1394 controller. I tried various combinations of enabling/disabling each of those controllers. Unfortunately, no luck.

Pfunk · « **Reply #3 on:** December 05, 2002, 04:10:37 PM »

disconnect EVERYTHING, including hard drives and floppy drives, no vid card no nothing then see if it posts. then add each component back 1 by 1, after each component is put back in make sure it posts.

steely07 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 05, 2002, 05:21:16 PM »

i thought i'd jump in with a quick answer,but you have done everything i can think of,i suppose the best thing to do (if you can)is get that ram into another machine and see how it goes there.

let us know

jonnyb · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2002, 09:12:07 AM »

Argh...still nothing. I've replaced the motherboard, power supply, processor and memory, and still nothing. I'm headed over to a friend's house tomorrow to plug each piece into his machine to see where the problem lies. What a friggin mess.

Oh well, on the bright side, I don't have to deal with the death match going on with this $100 contest

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2002, 12:14:14 PM »

You might try asking for help here:
http://www.amdforums.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8

and here:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13

DJ229

bockko · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2002, 02:28:48 PM »

last time i rebuilt a system it booted up ....once. turned out i had to reset the bios using the little shorty circuit thingy. then it worked fine ever after.

bockk

jonnyb · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2002, 02:40:25 PM »

Dave: I'll give those forums a try to see if anyone has experienced anything like this before.

bockko: That was one of the first things I tried when I first encountered problems. Unfortunately, it didn't work either.

I'm going to head to RadioShack to by a volt meter and test all the contact points to make sure the correct amount of power is getting through.

icemaw · « **Reply #9 on:** December 12, 2002, 06:41:44 PM »

Sounds kinda like what I just went tru. I had the pleasure of having my heatsink and fan fall off. Frying the cpu and motherboard. So off I go to get new board and cpu I install evey thing boot it up it locks up. Reboot gets to XP moving green bar and locks up. Reboot gets to windows starts to install onboard usb2.0 ports locks up reboot same thing reboot same thing. Turn off power cold bootup it locks up GGGRRRR. Ok start turning things off get to usb2.0 ports turn them off system boots up plug in usb mouse run add hardware mouse sets up and works off the usb ports on the board. Ok kewl I think reboot go to setup turn on usb ports locks up. Turn off usb ports and reboot locks up GGRRRR. Power off cold boot it boots up usb port turned off. Ok so I go buy a add on usb2.0 card install it turn it on it boots. Great fixed it. WRONG I go tru installing everything and it get to the time to reboot stage. IT FRIGGIN LOCKS UP. Power off cold boot it boots up but every thing I just setup is gone. Reinstall everything again get to reboot IT FRIGGIN LOCKS UP AGAIN. By now I am going out of my mind. I do another power off cold boot it boots but again everything I installed is gone. So one more time get every thing installed it gets to reboot this time I say Ill reboot later and power down system. Power off cold boot up it WORKS every thing works except usb ports on board.

My system will only boot up from a power off cold boot up. It will not boot up from a restart from windows or the reset button on the case.

My ulitimate goal in life now is revenge on every computer system in the world. I am currantly working on a MAGNETIC PULSE device to wipe out the computer skurge that is plaging our planet. VENGENCE WILL BE MINE.

I have a 5 gal bucket of water sitting next to my system just waiting for it to act up again. I dare you MR computer go ahead make my day.

BTW I HATE COMPUTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MUUUUHHAAAHAAAAHAAAA!

bockko · « **Reply #10 on:** December 12, 2002, 09:21:50 PM »

but other than that your new setup works good?

lol -- we feel your pain...in a plutonic, virtual sort of way

TheCage · « **Reply #11 on:** December 12, 2002, 10:20:06 PM »

Jonnyb I had a simular problem with a friends computer. What it turned out to be was a probe problem on the MB. I disabled the monitor in the bios and the machine has worked fine ever since. Not sure if it is the exact same problem you have but try it and see, you got nothing to loose.

Wilbus · « **Reply #12 on:** December 17, 2002, 11:25:52 AM »

Tried the Graphic card? Couldn't a bad graphic card that gets too hot freeze the computer aswell? Sorry if you tried this already btw.

jonnyb · « **Reply #13 on:** December 17, 2002, 02:59:07 PM »

Ice, thanks for making me laugh. I don't have a bucket of water next to my rig, just a really big sledgehammer.

Cage, the bad probe on my original motherboard was what prompted me to buy a new one. The hardware monitor was reporting all kinds of crazy things, which upon testing were completely false.

Wilbus, I have both a GeForce4 Ti4600 and a GeForce2 GTS/Pro card. Tried both on the new board, but wouldn't boot with either.

I ended up going to Radio Shack and CompUSA to buy a voltmeter and power supply tester. Also stopped at a local computer dealer and picked up a new XP2000+ processor, just in case...got home, and tested the power:

12V pushing 12.01 through
5V pushing 5.1
3.3V pushing 3.35.

Not bad tolerances. I have requested and been approved for an RMA for both the motherboard and the CPU. They are being shipped back tomorrow morning. With any luck, I'll have new ones back in my house in a couple weeks. I'm going friggin nuts...heck, I'm about to go out and buy a new motherboard right now. That way, when the new stuff finally does arrive, all I will need is a new case and a hard drive and I'll have a nice second rig.

Wonder if I can convince my fiancee that is a good idea....

Pfunk · « **Reply #14 on:** December 17, 2002, 08:05:32 PM »

Ever tried simply pluggin everything into a different outlet? My g/f computer at home wouldnt boot Windows, just went to black screen. I brought it here to my place plugged it in and no problems what so ever. I reformated it just in case, she brought it back home again, and guess what same problems, wouldnt post or load windows. Couldnt figure out what the problem was, so in desperation I told her, just plug it into another outlet and see what happens. GUESS WHAT, it works perfectly fine. Maybe the wiring in your house on that specific outlet cant handle the load. I am assuming thats what happened to her computer as now it has been working like a champ for 2 months, no problems at all.