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Geek Culture / Strange computer hardware problems

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ThinkDigital
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Joined: 18th Aug 2005
Location: A galaxy far, far away...
Posted: 16th Apr 2006 21:31
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Okay well, I've done everything I can think of and I haven't got this problem fixed, so...

My computer has this problem (which I strongly suspect is the bios), and it works sort of like this: You try and turn it on, but half the time you won't hear it beep (some kind of signal from the bios, I believe) and the screen light remains amber, which means you can't see what's going on.

On more rare occasions, it will beep, the screen will turn on, and it'll begin to run through the startup sequence. Sometimes it manages to get into windows, sometimes it doesn't make it any farther than the startup screen. But at some point the computer always completely locks up, blocking out all input. I'm not sure if this is because it is ignoring mouse/keyboard input or some other reason.

Also, after I got into windows once or twice, it mysteriously did something that disabled my ATI driver, so now my Radeon fails to work.

I have reset the CMOS jumper on my motherboard, checked all wires/connections, and reset the processor.

Stats (I list everything, since I don't know what's wrong with it):
Motherboard: Abit AS8
Processor: Pentium 4 w/HT
Graphics Card: Radeon 9800 Pro
CD drives: Taken off a Dell 2350
Hard Drive: Also taken off a Dell 2350
RAM: 1 GB

Ideas?


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Aoneweb
22
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Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posted: 16th Apr 2006 21:33
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Could be the power pack?


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ThinkDigital
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Posted: 16th Apr 2006 21:36
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Nope. I checked the PSU, assuming that's what you mean. It's working fine.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 16th Apr 2006 21:41
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My other PC does that. It helps if you hold in the power button for five seconds.


At least farting ferrets are better than stinky stoats.
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ThinkDigital
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Posted: 16th Apr 2006 21:45
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I've tried that, too. My computer will shut off when you hold down the power button, so when I do that it just starts up - and shuts off again.


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CattleRustler
Retired Moderator
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Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 17th Apr 2006 00:17
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are all the cards seated properly?

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The resurrected anarchist
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 00:31 Edited at: 17th Apr 2006 00:33
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id dismantle and clean your pc, (providing you know how!), make sure its all together secure and clean, the completly format and reboot it all nice and fresh

i do this every 6 month or so, keeps it up to speed

if that fails, id try a new mother board
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ThinkDigital
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 04:28
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The cards are seating correctly.

I built it, I can take it apart. But I'm already thinking of getting a new motherboard, as resetting the bios hasn't solved the problem.


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Drew the G
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 04:34
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Hmm... I built my own PC, so I would... wait, where did you buy the parts from first?

"Bug? That's a feature."
"Retreat? We're advancing in a different direction."
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Les Horribres
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 04:43
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Try reading the mother board manual, they should have all the beep and blink codes in there.

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I believe society is flawed; our notions on life, on child rearing, stem too far back to be of relevance in this day and time.
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ThinkDigital
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 05:26
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I've read the manual. Sadly, it too was empty.

I bought the parts from Fry's electronics/Dell


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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 12:15
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Who can tell? Can only guess. My guess is it's the Hard Drive. My SATA hard drive behaved like that when I used the normal Windows Format. Then I found out you have to format it with a special disk downloaded from Maxtor.

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Saikoro
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 13:25
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My comp used to shut down every time it loaded Windows due to a faulty driver... try running in Safe Mode and see if you can find anything that way (or even run in Safe Mode for that matter).

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"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer"(One People, One Kingdom, One Leader)-Adolf Hitler.
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xtom
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Location: Ireland
Posted: 17th Apr 2006 13:55
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Plug out everything and try to get it to start up and show the bios screen. If you have on board graphics activate that in the bios and remove the add on card also. If you can see the bios after multiple start ups with everthing plugged out your motherboard is probably ok and it's just something you have plugged in or a lack of power from the psu. If you get the bios showing properly after multiple restarts, start adding stuff back one at a time starting with the hard drive to see if you can get into windows with the bare setup.


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Represent
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Posted: 20th Apr 2006 08:58
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www.omegadrivers.net

look for the MB settings and make sure that urs match that

best drivers too. if u have too i highly recommend reinstalling windows and doing these drivers. these fixed all of my issues with my gfx card

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ThinkDigital
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Posted: 23rd Apr 2006 20:18
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A new motherboard's done the trick. Thank for the help, guys!


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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 23rd Apr 2006 21:03
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I'm guessing a conflict somewhere or something might be loose inside.


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