Anyone have an inkling of Computer knowledge?

[DEC_42]

I attempted to boot up my computer this morning after shutting it down last night (first time in a while, I might add), but mid-boot, the computer rebooted, and I found myself looking at the POST again. I found that Windows had not even loaded, so for those of you who suggest Safe Mode...

Unless the gremlins visited last night, there has been no modification of my computer since then. All wires are securely fitted. there just doesn't seem to be an issue for this computer to have... and yet it does.

Full specs:

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit
4.0 GB Corsair DDR2 800 SDRAM (4 1GB sticks)
nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 256MB GDDR3
Intel Pentium 4 'Prescott' @ 3.00 GHz
ASUS P5LP-LE Motherboard

I have one 80GB Maxtor HDD (main) and a 250GB one for storage. Doesn't seem to be an issue with either.

Anyone have any idea as to what's causing Windows not to boot? It boots fine off of the Vista install DVD, XP Install CD, and the Ubuntu LiveCD.

 

[Muphin_Mann]

I do have an inkling of computer knowledge, but other than knowing that your 4gig or RAM blows my computer out of the water in terms of random-access-memory, i dont do well with techno babble.

 

[Alex_P]

If you can boot off the Vista CD you should be able to do whatever the hell the Vista equivalent of CHKDSK is (I believe it is still CHKDSK). I would advise not trying to "repair" stuff with it until you're sure it's file system corruption, though. Vista may have some other fancy recovery stuff that I don't know about.

Pop in the Ubuntu CD and see if you can read data from both of the NTFS volumes.

-- Alex

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

get yourself a copy of either Puppy Linux or Bart's PE and put it onto a flash drive. (do this on another computer obviously) and set it up so your computer can boot directly from it.

Then you can go through and see what the hell is going wrong.

Of course this only works if you can get to the BIOS.

 

[DEC_42]

To answer the questions proposed:

Can't be MBR - won't boot that far...
It's all right - people don't really need the full 4GB most of the time. I do RAM intensive stuff like playing SupCom, compiling code, and other things.
It is indeed still chkdsk, but the chkdsk scan turned up clean. the 'fancy recovery option
Got a small copy of XP on a USB, but my BIOS doesn't like to boot off of USB drives. I'll try to if I need to.

http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/DEC_42/?action=view&current=S1050281.flv

Argh!

New Developments: Both HDDs are detectable in another computer...
But the HDD with vista on it boots as far the bootscreen. Even in safe mode. I think this is because it's in another computer =$

The Storage drive is fully readable and perfectly fine.

I think my motherboard had a heart attack or something. An issue with the motherboard may explain this, but what do you guys think?

 

[Alex_P]

Well, if you think it's the motherboard...

Do either the motherboard or computer come with little diagnostic lights? If so, see if the lights are doing anything strange. You'll have to look up their actual significance in the vendor's documentation.

-- Alex

 

[DEC_42]

Nope, no diagnostic lights. Ripped the board from an old HP =P

Case doesn't have any, either. Besides, the front display doesn't work, anyways.

I'm still stumped, but I welcome any and all suggestions.

 

[DEC_42]

Well, something very strange just happened - I plugged the HDD back into my computer... and it booted. I wasn't able to change anything since the time of the last post and now, but the computer is working so far.

 

[Aries_Split]

Maybe a simple error?

 

[slowpoke219]

:: Looks under the hood of the computer ::

Hmmm, yeah, I tell you what...

:: Lightly kicks side of computer ::

Yup, there's your problem. It's broken. Yup.
It's a foreign computer, parts for those are expensive. Your flux capacitors leakin and uh, your gonna need to replace the negative power coupling on the hyperdrive motivator. Yup.

 

[Geoffrey42]

General point: Turn off the splash screen, if your BIOS supports it. Sometimes that hides relatively important things, especially when trying to attempt a diagnosis such as this.

 

[ReepNeep]

One thing, you have 4GB of DDR2 ram. 32bit versions of Windows sometimes have problems with having more than 3GB of ram.

Try pulling out one of your ram sticks and try starting again.

I haven't heard of that. Are you sure you aren't just thinking of the 3.5gb addressing limit for 32bit OS in general?

The RAM angle was what I was going to suggest. Try booting the thing with a single stick of ram. In fact, try it with each of them. Any time the computer stars acting epileptic, the first thing you should suspect is the ram. Were you having any crashing or instability before this mess started?

Do you have a spare HD lying around? Try doing an install of Visa on that.

 

[DEC_42]

:: Looks under the hood of the computer ::

Hmmm, yeah, I tell you what...

:: Lightly kicks side of computer ::

Yup, there's your problem. It's broken. Yup.
It's a foreign computer, parts for those are expensive. Your flux capacitors leakin and uh, your gonna need to replace the negative power coupling on the hyperdrive motivator. Yup.

I love you...

Anyways...

The problem has reappeared. I'm certain now it's not the SATA ports, as I've connected the main HDD to each one, and they fail...

I didn't hear any beeps whatsoever and I was having no instability at all with the computer beforehand, either. So, it doesn't surprise me when I say that pulling out the ram or trying different configurations didn't work.

Seems to be the same situation, too: I shut it down for the night, and now it won't boot.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

One thing, you have 4GB of DDR2 ram. 32bit versions of Windows sometimes have problems with having more than 3GB of ram.

Try pulling out one of your ram sticks and try starting again.

I haven't heard of that. Are you sure you aren't just thinking of the 3.5gb addressing limit for 32bit OS in general?

The RAM angle was what I was going to suggest. Try booting the thing with a single stick of ram. In fact, try it with each of them. Any time the computer stars acting epileptic, the first thing you should suspect is the ram. Were you having any crashing or instability before this mess started?

Do you have a spare HD lying around? Try doing an install of Visa on that.

These guys really hit home on the biggest things.

Try fiddling with the RAM (basically, everything they've said, to avoid sounding like a parrot). If that doesn't work, come let us know.

 

[Danny Ocean]

One thing, you have 4GB of DDR2 ram. 32bit versions of Windows sometimes have problems with having more than 3GB of ram.

Try pulling out one of your ram sticks and try starting again.

I haven't heard of that. Are you sure you aren't just thinking of the 3.5gb addressing limit for 32bit OS in general?

The RAM angle was what I was going to suggest. Try booting the thing with a single stick of ram. In fact, try it with each of them. Any time the computer stars acting epileptic, the first thing you should suspect is the ram. Were you having any crashing or instability before this mess started?

Yeah, I think he means the 3.5GB limit. You only need 3.25GB of ram, as the Graphics card carries the other 250MB on it's PCB.

But ReepNeep's got the right idea, test out each of your RAM sticks, or (if you can) try running memcheck.

 

[DEC_42]

It's not RAM, guys.

So, it doesn't surprise me when I say that pulling out the ram or trying different configurations

Er, I may have been a bit cryptic, but yeah. Trying each stick of RAM by itself did not let me boot.

EDIT: By the way, I reset CMOS (draining comp of power, removing battery sort of reset =)), and it still won't work.

IncrEDIT: Shut down my comp to re-slot the RAM, pressed the power button, and now the comp just booted up...

There's got to be someone fucking with me...

 

[werepossum]

Besides boot record corruption and destruction by viruses I've had spontaneous repeatable re-booting from a power supply dropping +5V or -5V. Usually those don't go away, or at least not for very long. I've seen similar spontaneous re-booting from failing motherboards and CPUs, but I can't remember ever seeing one of those that failed at the same point each time. Usually mobos and CPUs either fail completely, fail after several minutes, or fail randomly in my experience. Also, I'd suspect the motherboard more than the CPU, which seldom (but not never) causes re-boots in my experience.

As Geoffrey pointed out, turn off your splash screen if that's an option, make sure your BIOS is set to full test (not quick boot), and make sure your BIOS isn't set to hide your POST messages. You seem pretty knowledgeable - do you have a spare power supply, a power supply tester, or a POST card?

Does the computer have a speaker for POST codes?

Can you hear the hard drive drop its arm and begin to spin?

You said it's an old mobo - is it an AT power supply? Compliant ATX power supplies should just shut down if there's a short, but many AT power supplies will shut down, then immediately reboot, if there's a short. Have you fully checked all the wiring? On older computers, a skinned power wire can be very hard to diagnose, causing shut-downs and re-boots when it touches grounded metal. You open the case, fiddle with things, and then the problem mysteriously goes away, only to re-appear later just as mysteriously. When it happens, it will almost always happen at the same point in the boot cycle, whenever that wire gets powered, until it goes away again (usually after said fiddling.)

 

[DEC_42]

Splash Screen is off - but displays no useful information...

It just might be the power supply, but I'm not sure if that would explain why I'm able to use the computer now...

But the fact that this only happens after shutting the computer down makes it a suspect.

Well, the mobo is not really old, old. It's ATX. However, it has been... screwed around with, so to speak, by its previous owner. Would it be possible that due to possible damage incurred (by perhaps improper BIOS or such) that by now it's on its last legs?

The only spare power supplies I have are 3-400 Watt PSUs. With my setup, I think I'm cutting it kinda close with only 18A, and I'm probably not even getting that much (efficiency issues and such). All wiring from the PSU I have now is perfectly fine - no skinned/exposed wires.

My computer does have a POST code speaker, however, it's not sounding off.

Another interesting bit - I'm listening to music right now (Frank Klepacki, mostly) and it seems a lot slower than it's supposed to be. WMP can't play music at all, but WinAmp can, albeit at that reduced BPM. CPU is running at around 18% right now