Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

[VanOsbourne]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Most of the time if its a bad MoBo the CPU won't even boot up.

Your system is could be corupted somehow.

You could try doing a fresh install of windows in a new directory. It should find all your installed proggys.

You could be having an overheating problem. Usually this happens when you install a new piece of hardware or a system fan has failed. This happens alot. Take one side of your case off. Put a small house fan aimed at the open side. See if it makes a difference.

These are a few thing you could try before you spend a ton of money.

Good luck.

[Guest]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

I've had the same problem, at least 4 times in the last year, it was either the power supply or in 3 of the 4 cases, it was a moboard.

I've "never" had corrupted software display symptoms of what he's explained here. I've had issues with software, don't get me wrong, but it never got to a point and shut down... Lock up, stop errors (blue screens) etc but never displayed what he's explained.

I think I've got a bad CPU in my Alienware now, but I'm not going to replace it without replacing the board, main reason is I can't find a board for it any longer, which TOTALLY blows! i haven't formatted this box ever I don't think, so i really don't want to if it can be avoided...

Either way, keep us in the loop bro...

Pat

[VanOsbourne]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Well thats great Pat, but should he really go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of hardware before he even finds out what the problem is?

You've never had corupted software lockup your system? So.. what does it do then?

Here's some good problem solving logic for ya. Lets just keep buying parts until it works.

Ya know what I think its the case... yeah its the case get a new case.

I try and help the guy and people talk like I dont have a clue. Thats pretty funny considering my history and who I've worked for.

While the other suggestions here may have been the problem he first has to eliminate the software as one of them, instead of using Best Buy logic.

[SeventhSon]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Well if it consistently POSTS successfully but it shuts down after the OS is booted, it supports VanOsbourne's hypothesis. It could be the hard drive is corrupted and one of the drivers or OS files has a bit flipped in the binary.

There's 2 cheap ways to investigate this line of thinking.

1. Check the hard drive for errors doing a surface scan.

2. Find a spare IDE drive on the system and install a fresh copy of Windows on it and see if this eliminates the problem.

[Bob From Accounting]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Tried refreshing the old windows, it said something about a storage drive not supported by windows, it countinued installing but it but it it shut off then (screen goes black like the comp is off/ yellow light is flashing near the on/off switch on the monitor)

Tried installing a fresh windows version but it shut off then too

[Bob From Accounting]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

I think it's hardware error because when it hasn't been on for awhile it can be on for like 15min without anything happening, but when it's warm does it like every 2-5min

I've tried the Fan with the open case thing too, didn't do much

[Bob From Accounting]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

[ QUOTE ]
Your system is could be corupted somehow

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm I think you are right, but maybe not windows I think the Master Drive with windows on it is the troublemaker. gonna try unplugging it later and installing Windows on the 200gb Drive

The MoBo wasn't very expensive and the old one can only take 768mb RAM + i Got alot of spare parts and i am planning on putting together a whole new rig from it later, so extra parts can't hurt [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Guest]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

[ QUOTE ]
Well thats great Pat, but should he really go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of hardware before he even finds out what the problem is?

You've never had corupted software lockup your system? So.. what does it do then?

Here's some good problem solving logic for ya. Lets just keep buying parts until it works.

Ya know what I think its the case... yeah its the case get a new case.

I try and help the guy and people talk like I dont have a clue. Thats pretty funny considering my history and who I've worked for.

While the other suggestions here may have been the problem he first has to eliminate the software as one of them, instead of using Best Buy logic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeh, WTF do I know... [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

What you're offering is a total loss of data... Most people don't want to do that unless they're setup for it going in, and apparently, he's not....

Whatever dude, it's a hardware problem, plain and simple, and the 2 most common choices are the board and/or power supply (according to symptoms posted).... Since you've had all this experience, don't over look the obvious.

[img]/images/graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

Pat

[SeventhSon]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

[ QUOTE ]
Find a spare IDE drive on the system and install a fresh copy of Windows on it and see if this eliminates the problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

I meant...find a spare IDE drive *for* the system. The advice I'm giving you is an attempt to preserve the data on your existing hard drive while testing out VanOsbourne's theory.

If you're getting storage device not support during the Windows install, go to the mobo website, download the IDE controller drivers onto a floppy. When you install a fresh copy of Windows, there will be a section where you can choose to load drivers that don't come with the Windows CD. Who knows? You may have a high end system and have onboard SCSI controllers.

[hippietim]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

For folks following along at home, the techniques being described here to troubleshoot a system are technically referred to as WAM.































Whack-A-Mole [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Bob From Accounting]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Q: Can i set the Slave drive to Master and install windows on it without risking loosing the stuff on that drive ?
cuz I have alot of 'hard to get' stuff on it that took along time to collect

[SeventhSon]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

You could get something like partition magic and non-destructively create a partition for your existing data and another partion for a windows install.

but i'm pretty sure that windows will want to reformat the partition it installs on.

[Guest]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

If the entire drive is one partition, no, you'll loose the data. If you have several partitions, or at least some un-allocated space, you can always use that partition without the risk of loosing anything, but be careful man...

Pat

[Bob From Accounting]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

Thanks for the heads up, don't wanna risk nuthin'

Right now it seems to be the MoBo though, I'm testing with Windows Memory Diagnostic, This test looks for errors in memory on the MoBo and RAM. it shows errors and fails and i've run it with 2 different Ram sticks, surely both of 'em can't be screwed. I guess' I'll have to test another RAM stick tomorrow though, to totally rule it out

[SeventhSon]

Re: Comp help needed: Virus or bad Power supply ?

This software is God-like. You can resize and/or create new partitions on an existing drive without losing the data.

http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/