Computer Problem
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I just built a new computer this past summer, and now I'm having what seems like some sort of hardware problem. It worked fine for the first month or so, but after a while it started to hang while starting Windows. It would take an excessive amount of time and the HD activity light wouldn't show anything. Once it booted - 2 or 3 minutes later, however, it would be fine and run like a champ.
Shortly after, my cd/dvd drive wouldn't open. The green light on front would just stay solid, and I couldn't even open it with the little reset/eject button. On top of that, when I try to enter safe mode, none of my USB ports get power, and I can't go through the menus to check anything - all I can do is wait out the 30 seconds and start Windows normally.
I tried only using one stick of RAM (switching both sticks and slots), and that seemed to do the trick for about 4 or 5 boots, but then it started acting up again, so I don't think the RAM is the problem. I just bought a brand new power supply and both stick back in and it acted up again right away.
Any thoughts? Here are the specs:
A-bit IP35 Pro motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4GB Corsair XMS2 RAM
512mb MSI nVidia 9600GT OC
Antec 650w power supply -
regarding entering safe mode: presumably you have a USB only keyboard. Re-examine your BIOS settings and determine if USB->KB emulation is enabled. I don't know exactly what it will be called but it may have "USB", "PS/2" and "legacy" in the name. If you cannot navigate the normal/safe/whatever menu successfully you have a BIOS problem. I'd start there.
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Link;243398 wrote:
So it boots fine until window's starts to load?Yeah it POSTs just fine. I've reset the BIOS to default configuration, optimized configuration, and changed things around myself. It'll sit at the Windows XP screen for about a minute with the little bar going across the bottom, and then it'll go to a blank screen for at least 2 or 3 minutes, and at no point will it show any HD activity. Then, it'll slowly load the welcome screen and then the desktop, and after it sits at the desktop for a couple minutes, it runs just fine. If it has a problem booting, the CD/DVD drive won't open, otherwise it'll be fine.
After I posted this yesterday, it booted just fine about a dozen times in a row, but then it started acting up again.
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add /SOS to the end of your default boot entry in boot.ini
then reboot the box and watch to see if there is a huge pause as the kernel is printing out device load messages. Remember the lines printed before and after the long pause.
Also, remove all IDE or SATA devices from the machine except the default boot disk. Ensure its master/slave/CS mode is set appropriately. Remove any external USB/1394 storage devices.
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thrash;243439 wrote:
add /SOS to the end of your default boot entry in boot.inithen reboot the box and watch to see if there is a huge pause as the kernel is printing out device load messages. Remember the lines printed before and after the long pause.
Also, remove all IDE or SATA devices from the machine except the default boot disk. Ensure its master/slave/CS mode is set appropriately. Remove any external USB/1394 storage devices.
After I changed boot.ini, it simply flashed a bunch of lines and then went to a blue Microsoft screen that said the Windows version, followed by "4 system processors [3327mb memory] multiprocessor kernel." It stayed there for a little bit, then went to a black screen that said:
"Checking file system on
The volume is clean.
Windows has finished checking the disk."It didn't go through any sort of check that I could see, unless it was instantaneous. It stayed at that screen for at least two or three minutes, then went to the Welcome screen. The only other drive in it besides the SATA HD is the IDE CD/DVD drive. I unplugged it and it booted just fine. It almost seems like it's not getting enough power - like whenever I disconnect some component that uses power it'll boot just fine a dozen or so times, but then it'll act up again. It's not THAT beastly of a machine that it should use that much juice.
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leave the DVD drive out of it long term and see if any of the problems reproduce [happen again].
the scrolling lines at the beginning was what i was referring to. I was expecting one of the kernel drivers to take a long time to initialize/load and was going to start with that as further troubleshooting info.
Do you have a different HD you can swap in?
I'd hate to think a 650w power supply is insufficient for this rig. I have a kill-a-watt you can use to measure your actual power draw. I'm guessing its not even 400w.
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thrash;243612 wrote:
leave the DVD drive out of it long term and see if any of the problems reproduce [happen again].the scrolling lines at the beginning was what i was referring to. I was expecting one of the kernel drivers to take a long time to initialize/load and was going to start with that as further troubleshooting info.
Do you have a different HD you can swap in?
I'd hate to think a 650w power supply is insufficient for this rig. I have a kill-a-watt you can use to measure your actual power draw. I'm guessing its not even 400w.
I'll see if that works. I was planning on ordering a second HD to dual boot Vistaids, so I'll see if maybe that's the problem if it comes back.
I know a guy that runs SLI with 8gb RAM and 4 HDs and he only uses an 800w PSU, so yeah, lack of power shouldn't be the problem.
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Well so far it's been booting just fine with the DVD/CD drive out, but now I have a new problem - it's shutting off on me regularly now. I don't think its a matter of temp, because I checked the BIOS and it showed it at below 70*C. Plus I have plenty of fans and a Freezer 7 Pro keeping things cool. I'm going to swap in my old PSU and an extra DVD drive and see if it fixes anything.
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