computer gurus of nsmb UNITE !

[lukkk]

k, my comp is broken or smth


first i thought it was the psu.

symptom:
everytime i turned my pc off it kept turning itself on and off quickly, so i had to shut down the psu from its button.
Last day i left my comp on and i left, next thing i now it was off and when i tried to turn it on it began to start then it just shutted down.

assumable cause:
psu is somewhat broken, my warranty expired, must have been a current fluctuation that killed it, i have no stabilizer (sp?)

solution:
i bougth a new, much better psu, and a suitable stabilizer. it just keeps doing the same thing.

im pretty sure it is not a motherboard, video card, or processor issue since at some point it was able to boot to the cheksum screen, where i managed to read cheksum error (yeah battery i thought), but even if the battery died i would be able to boot with the default bios.

i also read that my ram was at 666mhz (unlucky) when it booted rather than the 800mhz setting i had (these are 667mhz ram spd with heatspreaders, so they were a bit oc'd no voltages though), so now im thinking this could be ram related, i tried with 1 module at a time and i couldnt get anywhere.

i dont think im computer illiterate but this is over me now. please help !

[MattB]

did you try unplugging it, or hitting it with a hammer? thats the extent of my computer literacy.

[Dropsonde]

what

[Matt D]

if its in a bootloop it could easily be a broken video card

[switch]

Originally Posted by lukkk

k, my comp is broken or smth


first i thought it was the psu.

symptom:
everytime i turned my pc off it kept turning itself on and off quickly, so i had to shut down the psu from its button.
Last day i left my comp on and i left, next thing i now it was off and when i tried to turn it on it began to start then it just shutted down.

You mentioned overclocking, and this is one of the symptoms of too much speed.

Usually to resolve a hardware problem you should eliminate as much hardware as possible. That means unplug all peripherals, DVD/CD, hard drives, floppy, etc. Just have a barebones setup - PSU, motherboard, RAM, CPU, video card, and keyboard. Reseat the RAM, CPU, and video card. Reset the BIOS to default settings and (by) clear(ing) the CMOS. You want your system to boot into the BIOS setup screen and play around in there for a while. The CPU runs pretty hard when in the BIOS settings, so it's useful for a basic test. If that's OK, then add your OS hard drive and get to a point where you can run some diagnostics. If you have problems booting into the BIOS, then eliminate what you have. There isn't much, so try different RAM for starters (if you have more than one DIMM/SIMM, install only one at a time to see of one of them is pie crust). Getting a spare CPU or motherboard is hard, but you should be able to get a video card from somewhere (or if your motherboard has onboard video, use that).

[seeformiles]

One question - is it beeping when it turns on? If it beeps just once, that's usually ok - but multiple beeps could signal a specific problem.

Edit: good summary here: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

[lukkk]

nope, no beeping. it was a mild oc so i dunno. someone told me the bios might be corrupted? any thoughts ?


reps spread

[switch]

Did you try and clear the CMOS? It's often done buy shorting a couple pins, on the motherboard, for a few seconds.

[biggles604]

If you overclocked, then reset your BIOS, go with default settings and see what happens, if it's still causing issues, then you can start eliminating other possible causes.
Remember, when troubleshooting, only change one thing at a time, changing multiple things will leave you questioning which of them solved the problem.

[white ri0t]

just for fun, run a RAM test.
http://www.memtest.org/
I like to make a floppy and let it run over night. Switch is right, process of elimination is the way to go.

[biggles604]

Originally Posted by white ri0t

I like to make a floppy.

hur hur hur...

[lukkk]

i already resetted the bios, even removed the battery for a while then put it back, there is no way i can run a memtest since it doesn't boot at all. it just starts for 2 secs and shuts down. i tried with only the basics conected (no mouse, or any type of drive) and same thing.

[switch]

Originally Posted by white ri0t

just for fun, run a RAM test.
http://www.memtest.org/

C'mon - the machine won't even boot.

[GeoffG]

Originally Posted by lukkk

k, my comp is broken or smth

I refuse the read the rest of the post after this.

[insulinjunkie]

wel den howz u poztign dis?

Switch seems like he knows what he's talking bout, my friends computer started doing the same thing (both his HDs crashed at the same time)