Serious Boot Issue

[kaizersose]

All,
Have had the following rig for about 9 months:
-Asus P5N-SLI nForce 570 SLI
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB SATA
-SAPPHIRE Radeon X1300 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card
-Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

After a reformat, i am having serious boot problems. It will post, but then all i get is a black screen with a blinking cursor. No keyboard inputs are accepted. It will blink for about a minute and then shut down. After that happened a few times, i went into the bios menu and just left it there and the computer shut down after a few minutes.

Normally, I would think it's some sort of PS issue, but the fact that windows never loads makes me think it' something else. Right now, I am leaning towards a bad processor or mobo. Both are under warranty but i dont know which is bad. Any suggestions?
-K

 

[palladium]

I'm very inclined towards PS or mobo issue, since your PC shuts down even in BIOS.

Try downloading UBCD and run one of the CPU tests to rule out a bad processor. You might also want to try booting into a Linux Livecd to rule out corrupted Windows.

 

[kaizersose]

response/update: i dont think the UBCD will be workable. the last time i tried to power on, all fans and hard drives spin but the monitor gets no signal (does not come out of power save). is there anything i can do?

 

[robisbell]

well, question. why did you reformat exactly?

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: robisbell
well, question. why did you reformat exactly?

lots of windows errors, stuff like that. in particular, "logon.ui" or something like that kept crashing as soon as i signed in.

edit: i was thinking (taken from another thread) that I would try taking out the processor and seeing if i get a "no cpu found" message. if i did, that would indicate a bad processor and if i did not get the error message, i would have a bad mobo. thoughts?

 

[jackschmittusa]

Getting a "no cpu found" message" will not mean it is a bad cpu.

Shutting down from the bios setup screen makes me think it is some thermal issue.

 

[robisbell]

or whatever infected the previous installation is still active.

I'd trick deleting all partitions on all HDD, and then give it another try.

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: robisbell
or whatever infected the previous installation is still active.

I'd trick deleting all partitions on all HDD, and then give it another try.

partitions were deleted prior to reinstall of windows. i am going to removed the mobo from the case and try reinstalling the cpu fan to rule out the thermal issue.

edit: removed the mobo and reinstalled everything, taking extra care in applying artic silver thermal paste and installing the HS fan. tried running UBCD and got basically the same problem.
Attempt 1: Posts, loads UBCD, loads CPU stress check, begins test, system powers off
Attempt 2: Posts, Loads UBCD, system powers off.
Attempt 3: Posts, system powers off
Wait 45 minutes
Attempt 4: System appears to power on (Fans and HD spin), but no signal is received by the monitor. All mobo lights are good, power supply is quiet, leading me to believe there are no issues there.

right now, i am leaning towards sending the CPU back to intel.

 

[kaizersose]

bump: about to send the cpu to intel. dont really see another choice right now.

 

[robisbell]

manually test the PSU with and without a load, post the results.

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: robisbell
manually test the PSU with and without a load, post the results.

hmm, i dont have a multimeter. i suppose it's possible that the PSU isnt providing max juice.

 

[kaizersose]

follow up:
took it to a diagnostic place and they said that the north bridge is overheating, which in retrospect, makes a lot of sense. i guess i will be sending it back to Asus.

 

[robisbell]

did they manually test the PSU, since it's a power related issue with the mobo?

 

[jackschmittusa]

NB overheating = power issue?