Topic: PC Booting Problem

[rh61380]

Hello, mad desperate man here...I'd appreciate help on the following please...

A few weeks ago, when I started my PC, it wouldn't get past what I believe is called the Power On Self Test (POST). In other words, it wouldn't get to the boot up stage where anything appeared on screen - instead, the floppy drive light was permanently on and I could hear a whirring noise (I think it was the floppy). However, if I reset the machine it would boot up normally. Gradually, this booting up problem became more frequent, and it got to the point where I would need to reset the machine 10 times for it to boot up.
I received some POST beeps which I think came to 8 in total ? I looked it up and it said something about a type of ram either was corrupted or needed cleaning. I apologise, but I can?t remember the exact details.

I know I had 2 viruses, so I backed up my work, formatted the HDD, loaded Windows 2000 with nothing else - and basically the problem still occurred - but a lot less frequently.

I've tried changing the ram (SD 128), but still the same problem and now I?ve changed the motherboard, but now I?m getting a message saying "A Disk read error occurred - Press Control alt delete to restart".

Because the errors don't seem to be consistent, I?m thinking perhaps the CPU is causing the problem. But basically I?m really confused and would appreciate help - please!!!

Thanks,
Richard.

[Rodders]

Hiya Richard,

Welcome to the zoo!  Had you done anything to the machine just before it started playing up?  I would be inclined to check that your ribbon cables are correctly aligned and seated properly, before doing much else.  

[Adept]

Hi Richard

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds to me like you may have a problem with your hard drive Try running a full disktest (scandisk) on your drive. You'll probably find it reports bad sectors.

[rh61380]

Hi,
Adept - Thanks for that - can't bad sectors be repaired?

Rodders - I don't believe anything was done to the pc before it went wrong - it was a while a go now and unfortunately i can't remember all the details.

Thanks for the help,
Rich.

[Dack]

Depending on the make of drive you can usually run some diagnostic software on it to check the circuit board on the drive as well as the drive mechanism itself.

If you go to the web site of the drive manufacturer you will usually be able to download it (try following the "I've got a faulty drive and wish to RMA it" route as they usually insist on you running the fault software before they'll accept it).

The Maxtor software is called Powermax.

It sounds as though you've either got:
a. A dodgy drive (where the drive was grounding out the IDE lines and not letting you boot with the first motherboard).
b. A dodgy processor - badly fitted heatsink would lead to frying it. What temperature does it say it's running at.
c. A power-supply problem - had you added any new components recently?

[rh61380]

Hi,
Thanks for all the help on my booting up problem - still not working though and now I?m more confused!

I tried a scan disk (I put it as a slave in my other machine) and it didn?t report any bad sectors. I put the drive back in my original machine and still the same "A Disk read error occurred - Press Control alt delete to restart" message.

I tried going back to the old motherboard, re-booted and like before, it was occasionally booting or it'd start whirring again before the POST (no more POST beeps occur ? just straight to the whirring).

Now the weird bit...

I unplugged the HDD IDE line and HDD power supply - still didn't get past the POST. I unplugged the floppy drive as I believed that was making the whirring - still didn't get past the POST. Swapped the RAM again to make sure it wasn't that - still didn't get passed the POST. So now I think it can only be either the MotherBoard or CPU.

The temperature the CPU is running at is 42degC/107F and the system is running at 30degc/86F. Fan speed is running around the 5950 RPM mark.

No new components have been added recently.

Thanks again for any help,

Cheers,
Richard.

[Sandra]

It sounds like its definately the motherboard or cpu as you say but you have changed the mobo so looks odds on that its the cpu  

[rh61380]

Cheers, much appreciated.