Freezing on Bios spash screen

[Diknak]

I have a 5 year old computer that has never had problems before now. I am freezing on the bios splash screen and can't get passed it. The screen indicates that you can press DEL to enter boot options, etc, but the keys don't even take me anywhere, so it is just frozen.

I first removed the hard drive to see if it was a call to the windows startup that was causing the problem. Same thing happened.

I then tried removing one stick of memory and just running it on 1GB instead of 2GB and the same thing happened. I swapped the sticks and tried again. So either both sticks are bad and happened to fail at the same time or the problem isn't with the memory.

2 weeks prior to this happening, my wife said that she kept getting USB error messages. She said it was the bubble in the said the USB device couldn't be recognized, etc, even when there weren't anything in the USB slots other than the mouse (and mouse was fine).

I am thinking about replacing the motherboard, but I want to make sure that is the problem before I spend the money. Any thoughts?

 

[vacunita]

Do you get any beeps when you turn on the PC?

Beeps usually indicate problems, your manual should tell you the meaning of any beeps you may be getting.

Remove everything from the MB, and remove the MB from the case, you may want to put it on a dry towel.

Connect only the PSU, and Monitor.
No keyboard, no mouse no hard drive, no CD drive, no memory nothing.

If there are any cards that can be removed from slots, remove the too.

Then turn it on, do you get any beeps? If you don't get any beeps, then there may be a problem with the MB.

Look for bulging capacitors, or discolored areas that may suggest shorts or other electrical problems.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Diknak]

OK, I will try that. No CPU as well?

 

[kjv1611]

No, I think you'll have to have the CPU in there, unless you've got some adapter that can make the mobo THINK there's a CPU installed.

On the bulging capacitors, you can take a look here if you need more info:

http://www.capacitorlab.com/visible-failures/

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

Oh, and you said your machine is 5 years old? You could get a mobo on the cheap on eBay, used, to replace if you want, or you could also spend a couple/few hundred, and get a decent new system - not top of the line, or good for heavy tasks, but good enough to get by. Especially since it's 5 years old, things change A LOT in 5 years with PCs.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Diknak]

OK, so I disconnected everything and tried starting up and I didn't get any beeps. The mobo doesn't have a built in GPU unit, so I disconnected the GPU to see if I would get any beeps.

I am looking at the manual, and this is what it says:
After powering on, LED on the system front panel case lights up. If your monitor complies with green standards or if it has a power
standby feature, the monitor LED may light up or switch between orange andgreen after the system LED turns on. The system then enters the Power-On Self Test (POST) routines. While the tests are running, the BIOS beeps or additional messages appear on the screen.

So this says that the mobo should beep if everything is OK, but I am not hearing anything at all. So the problem is with the CPU, PSU, or mobo. I can try ruling out the PSU tonight by using the one from my computer, but the CPU in my computer is a different pin configuration, so I have no way of telling if it is CPU or mobo related.

If the PSU is the problem, would it boot up at all?

 

[goombawaho]

If you have only the MOBO, memory, processor and video card and power supply connected and the CPU fan starts, the power supply is not completely dead.

But, if you then remove the memory, you SHOULD get a bunch of beeps because the motherboard should complain about NO memory.

If it doesn't do that, I'd try another known good power supply. If it still doesn't beep, then it's likely the mobo that is dead.

If you don't have another power supply, you could try a power supply tester but I don't count on those to PROVE that the power supply is good. I count on them to tell me if the power supply is bad (there is a difference). Unless you have one of those really fancy power supply testers, the previous is true.

 

[Diknak]

OK, I will try a good PSU and verify that is not the problem. If it isn't the PSU, then I will assume that it is the mobo and not the CPU and replace it. Thanks.

 

[goombawaho]

Well, I wouldn't swear upon my mother's life that the CPU is okay. But of all the dead motherboards I've seen from whatever the cause, the CPUs have always been OK and could be re-used in another compatible motherboard.

 

[kjv1611]

With modern CPUs, I'd say since at least early Athlon XPs and late P3s, I've had ONE system where the problem was the CPU. By then it was so old, that it didn't matter anymore. We just replaced the system. However, after the fact, I did some playing to see if I could get anything out of the old system. Not really. I did get to see a CPU run hotter than I had seen in quite a while, though!

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[vacunita]

Sorry I couldn't get back to this sooner.

(The CPU should have been kept in )

Judging by all the outcome now there's a good chance the MB is dying.

Changing the PSU is a good way to rule it out as a problem. If a known good one doesn't get the MB to beep either, than its likely the MB is pretty much dead.

You may also want to remove the Bios battery if only to reset all settings, in case one may be causing an issue.





----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[kjv1611]

One other thought I keep meaning to verify - you DO have a speaker connected, right? I've been seeing it more often nowadays that speakers aren't always attached to the mobo or connected in any way. I know that oftentimes, when I know a machine is running just fine (at least for my personal systems), I like to just disconnect the speaker if/when possible, so it's just one less racket... since some give loud beeps for just a normal startup.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[firewolfrl]

kjv1611
I was just gonna ask about the speakers...lol

ok the deal is...take a house fan and turn it on to the open case ...unplug and replug in all the wires...unplug all the ribbons to the hard drives and cd/dvd drives
then try the boot (floppy too)
if that don't work ..look for a new computer...its really too old to invest any serious money in it...and if you have data on the old drive...get a hard drive enclosure for it and run it via USB to the new computer

 

[Diknak]

OK, thank you for the replies everyone. I got the mobo, installed it and I am encountering an entirley different problem. Whenever I try connecting to the wireless network, the computer freezes and then gives me a blue screen.

If the network card is out, this does not happen.

I tried switching PCI slots to see if it was a faulty slot. That didn't help.

I swapped out the network card with the one that works in my other computer and I still had this problem.

I ran a registry cleaning program to fix registry errors.

I did a clean install of the OS.

No matter what I do, I always get this problem and the only thing that I can think of is that they sent me a bad mobo. I have used this network card on that model of mobos for the past 5 years, so I know they are compatable. Any ides before I go through an exchange process with the vendor?

 

[kjv1611]

I got the mobo, installed it and I am encountering an entirley different problem.

So, for the issue at hand, it was the motherboard... and you got a new motherboard. In that case, you need to start a new thread.

It'd help to post whether you did a clean install of Windows, or attempted to just put the mobo in, and start it up as is.. or did a repair install of Windows.. If you didn't do a clean install or repair install, I'd suggest starting there. With different motherboards, and same Windows install, practically any problems are possible.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Diknak]

Doing a clean install was one thing I did after I couldn't get the problem fixed. I listed it in my list of attempts. I started a new thread to discuss the issue.

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=602&page=1

 

[kjv1611]

Here's the link to your new thread (for reference):
thread602-1593211

In case you're interested in how to post the links to where they'll go to the correct thread, and not the thread page... and so it'll show the thread title, like the above, this is how:
[ol][li]Open the thread you want to link to (good idea in such a case as this, I think).[/li]
[li]Just below the title, you'll see [ignore]thread602-1593211[/ignore].[/li]
[li]Copy that text "thread..."[/li]
[li]Back in the other thread (this very thread in this example, past that text anywhere in your message - no code necessary - and it will give a link showing the title for the thread. It works out rather nicely.[/li][/ol]



--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me