PC Wont Boot

[dahhbuzz]

Hi I have a Mongrel Clone of the following parts:
1 gig Processor Pent III - Gigabyte M/Board
40 gig HDD
512 RAM
The prob i have is that my PC has just died. I just wont boot. It was previously working fine and I had not made any changes / insallations before this happend.

This has previously happend and I found that when I changed the booting order from 1st IDE 1 ,2nd IDE2 to 1st IDE 0, 2nd IDE 1 this resolved the problem.
But this has not worked on this ocation.

On the BIOS program I can see the HDD on the auto detect portion.

Pls Help

 

[franklin97355]

Sounds to me like your hard drive has quit. Do you get any messages when it starts up?

 

[BadBigBen]

could be what Franklin suggested, aswell as bad IDE cables or loose/bad connectors... could also be a bad PSU or underpowered...

Ben


If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[dahhbuzz]

I have slaved the HDD to another machine. It works fine. Changed the IDE cable, no difference.
Please Advise

Ta

 

[G0AOZ]

Franklin97355 asked if you get any messages when it's trying to boot. Do we take it there are NO messages...?

You said "I have slaved the HDD to another machine". That won't tell you if the drive is still bootable - that just shows you the drive is READABLE.

Depending what OS you're using, you might be able to carry out a repair to the boot sector...

ROGER.

 

[dahhbuzz]

Thx GOAOZ
I ran a scandisk while it was slaved to another PC then returned it to its own pC . And It booted. But from time to time it seems to just freeze for no apparent reason. Will conitnue to diagnose

Bosun

 

[dahhbuzz]

Ok now I cant seem ti figure out what is going on!
My PC boots normally and all appears to be well. Then usually while I am watching an movie or listenong to music on media player the PC just freezes. NO RESPONCE WHAT SO EVER. Even Alt-Ctlr-Del does not work. If I leave the pc on with no program running this does not happen. After hard booting there is no entry in the events log(I guess since it was cold booted)

ALL sugestions/comments welcome.

 

[BadBigBen]

Question: have you tried another more powerful PSU yet? how about RAM and GFX card?

Ben


If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[dahhbuzz]

I have a 16mg ATI GFX card. And 512 Mg RAM. All this used to work fine before it crashhed about 1 month ago

 

[BadBigBen]

My opinion still is pointing to the PSU being the culprit...

have you had a chance to test another PSU yet?

btw. a 16 mb GFX card is a bit small... might wanna upgrade to at least 64mb one (for watching movies and the like)...

the RAM is it one stick or two/four sticks? have you tried other ram as replacement...

Ben


If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[dahhbuzz]

How would the PSU make the PC freeze(ie not go off)

Ram is 2x 128 meg + 1 x 256 meg (3 sticks)

No I have not tried a RAM replacement.

The PC freezes once it is being used not only for watching movies.

Will try an alternative PSU though.

Thx

 

What brand of HDD is it that you're using? I have an IBM Deskstar or something like that and the drive crapped out after about a year and a half, and others I know have had the same problem with other IBM drives. By the sounds of your system though, it is getting to be somewhere close to using it for spare parts and get a new system that runs a little quicker. Also, for your ram, check the speeds on all 3 of the sticks, and make sure the speed on them is the same. They will likely be 100 or 133, but if there is one stick that is a different speed, I highly reccomend that you replace that one with one of the same speed as the other 2.

That's all the advice I have for now.


Buen suerte,

Smar969905

 

[Wxguesser]

In answer to your question of how a PSU can cause the computer to freeze; if the various voltages supplied by the PSU drop below certain levels, ie the 3 volt supply drops to say 2.3 volts, the CPU may freeze due to the lack of proper voltage. Power supplies die 2 ways, hard, meaning they are going but are hard to diagnose, or easy meaning nothing works. Yours sounds like it is dying hard. As they are cheaper than replacing most of the other parts in the computer, I'd try a replacement PSU. If it is not the PSU, then you have a spare for when, and it will be when, your PSU fails.

Jim W.