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PC going South?

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by jaytmoon

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This P4 3.2ghz system with2 Gb ddr. It has begun to lock up at shut down and wont reboot if the power switch is held to turn it off. I thought a pair of ram sticks were bad and pulled them and now the checksum arror is gone (from the bios). But the start up from a cold boot is not consistant. The power comes on and the HDD lights up but the video does not initialize, just a blank screen.
Its running Win xp pro (legit copy), an asus p4c-800 delux mobo, nvidia agp vid card, enermax 465 watt ps. Also, the os can't install updates now.
I hate to just start replacing stuff w/o some idea of which direction to go. Maybe the power supply or mobo failing? or is the OS corrupted. (I am going to reinstall tonight).
I'm not (financially) ready to replace the MB,CPU and Ram so I need a less xpensiv fix.
I'm kind of stumped with this deal, I'm glad I have another box to use while this gets straigted out.

Any input is appreciated.
Thanks

Well, its not the OS. After formating the HD and starting to reload WinXP, The system still does not restart/reboot after the installer copies files and begins to install the OS. It just hangs with no display.
So what do I look at, The Power supply (2+ years old) or the Mobo (same age)?

11 replies

by charliespencer

Boot the system into Safe Mode, then shut it down as soon as it's done booting without starting any apps. Power it back up normally, log on, and again shut it down without having run anything. If it will shut down clean the second time, it will usually shut down clean from then on. Hey, it's easy and worth a try.

by ontheropes

I had a faulty PCI USB card that I discovered was bad by pulling cards and RAM one at a time until the pc booted. Good luck.

by willcomp

Try booting from a Live Linux CD (I prefer Knoppix) and see how PC behaves.

That's an excellent way to differentiate between hardware and OS problems.

Before re-installing XP, I recommend you wipe hard disk to completely remove all partitions. A zero fill (low level format) using drive manufacturer's utilities or Darik's Boot and Nuke will do the job.

Let us know the results and we'll take it from there.

by stress junkie

That is a good idea about using a live Linux CD to see if his problem is the OS or a pure hardware problem. Is there anything that Linux can't do? :D

by jaytmoon

Thanks, I dont have a copy of knoppix right now but I did load Ubuntu on a separate HDD as a test a few weeks ago on the same system. I yanked the drive when the problems started. There was no diff in behavior with that OS. I did LL format the drive (maxtor utilities) . With all the cards out of the box (except video) the box will boot when "cold", but once the PS has warmed up, it will not restart, it just stalls with the power and HDD lights on and no display. I still think its the PS due to a suptle relay "click" noise when the switch is turned back on after allowing it to cool off for 20 minutes or so. I don't think there are any relays on the Mobo that do this.
I know there is some logic circuit that controlls the reset when the pc reboots or starts up, when I know where that is, its likely the root of the problem, so the PS is still the lead suspect.
Comments or ideas?

by willcomp

At this point appears to be a faulty capacitor, most likely on motherboard if it will not not retart (warm boot) as well as shutdown properly.

by jaytmoon

Well, I (finnally) got a new PS and replaced the enermax with an antec sp500. The system boots fine and shuts down properly, As well as restarting within the normal 4-7 second time. Its possible a capacitor IN the PS went bad but I'm not going to open it up to play. (This one time Linux could not help! ;) ) I now must reinstall all the Apps that I need.
Thanks for all your input :)

by jaytmoon

Well, after running the new PS for a fw days, the system is Mis-behaving again (same thing). So the New MB is on order and when this one goes, so does the cpu and ram... Time to Upgrade to a core duo rig then.

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