HELP! computer freezes before booting

[CryingMustard]

This is almost related to the post right under me, but not exactly, so I thought I'd explain my situation. I had a computer made for me earlier in the summer. It started out working fine until about a month ago. I started randomly freezing.. usually an hour or more after it was turned on. That time got progressively shorter and shorter. It yesterday it would freeze anywhere during the boot squence and if not then just moments after windows finished loading. Today it won't get past the first screen that come up displaying my mother board. Can't get into BIOS. Can't really do anything. Hitting reset does little. Anyone have any idea what could be wrong?

What I'm working with:
DYNAPOWER USA EP-50X.C563-BX ATX12V 500W Power Supply

ASUS A8S-X Socket 939 SiS 756 ATX AMD Motherboard

MSI RX550-TD256E Radeon X550 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX

OCZ Value Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model OCZ4001024V25DC-K

 

[bcastner]

Disk issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314503

Let the shop where you bought it sort the problem. It should be an easy fix without program or data loss.


____________________________
Users Helping Users

 

[kmcferrin]

The other thought is that it could be a cooling issue. Do all of the fans spin up when you power it on?

 

[PyroTyger]

Doesn't sound like a disk issue - the KB linked to is about the MBR (or some file in the boot sequence) being corrupted, which prevents the OS from loading after POST. This is not the case here, as it's a problem that has progressively worsened. I don't think it's the disk - you may want to try accessing it from another PC if you want to be sure, and running some disk-diagnostic tools.

My best guess is, as kmcferrin says, cooling. As it's been getting worse over time, it sounds like there's some physical hardware problem that's reduced CPU cooling progressively. Check the fans (especially CPU) by removing the PC case before you switch on. If that's not the problem then I would definitely be suspicious of the cooler mounting. If it's not secured properly and firmly against the CPU then over time it may form a gap - which only needs to be a hair's breadth to totally scupper your chip. Try removing the CPU cooling assembly, cleaning off any thermal paste with some decent remover (some people say nail-polish remover works well), reapply a small amount (size of a grain of rice) and reattach the cooling assembly, making sure it's tight.

Then it's just a case of hoping the repeated over-heating hasn't caused any damage to your lovely processor!

As a quick diagnostic, you may like to try putting your PC on its side (assuming it's a tower) and pressing the cooling assembly down before turning it on. If that helps you to boot well enough to reach BIOS, see if there's a computer-health monitor page in there. It should tell if you the processor is reaching abnormal temperatures. Good luck!

 

[rcp032]

Yeah i would look at cooling as well, make sure your vents aren't clogged up not that they should be already. Could be the PSU going bad as well but not as likely.

Can you Ctrl-Alt-Del when it hangs in BIOS?