Seriously strange computer problem

[chucklesrb]

Hi all,
I'm new to here and hoping you could help me out. about a month or so ago, my computer started acting very strangely. I would press the power button, and the tower would start up, but the monitor and mouse wouldnt turn on (its an optical mouse, so when i used to turn the computer on, the light would go on). If i leave the computer just going like that, eventually it will completely boot up, today it took over an hour though. Once its up and running, its fine, aside from the every so often reboot it will decide to do. I tried replacing my power supply to see if it wasnt getting enough juice, and it is still doing the same thing.
Here are the specs, I built it last summer...

Athlon XP 1900+
pc chips board (i cant recall)
Win XP Home
1 gig ddr ram
2 HD's, 1 is 40 gig, the other is 120
DVD drive
CD-RW drive
GeForce 4200
ethernet card
modem

I'm not sure why it started happening, it just did one night. I generally keep it on all the time, rebooting a few times a week or so. And I was out of town for 3 weeks, thats why I'm just getting to posting this now.

Thanks, and feel free to contact me directly or leave a response on here.

Rich

 

[DieHardware]

Cleared CMOS with PSU unplugged? Overheating? (clogged fan etc?) HS properly seated? Any errors with 10+ passes of memtest86? Virus? Anything look wrong with the MB?(leaking caps etc) Any funny smells?

 

[chucklesrb]

I havent seen any leaking, and I've got the side of the tower off to help cool it out in there. When I can get it fully booted, I have run my virus programs and come up with nothing. As for clearing CMOS with PSU unplugged and 10 passes of memtest86, you have completely lost me. But if you can explain how I can do those, I'll test them out

 

[DoubleUhat]

this should be power issue. either your psu is not the quality type or some bad capacitors on your mb which i don't think you can replace it with soldering iron. Since you have replaced your psu, it may be time for you to change ur mb.

 

[DieHardware]

Originally posted by: chucklesrb
I havent seen any leaking, and I've got the side of the tower off to help cool it out in there. When I can get it fully booted, I have run my virus programs and come up with nothing. As for clearing CMOS with PSU unplugged and 10 passes of memtest86, you have completely lost me. But if you can explain how I can do those, I'll test them out

Check your MB's manual for the location of the clear CMOS three pin jumper, then unplug the PSU and set the jumper to the clear CMOS position. This should reset the MB's BIOS to it's default settings. At the beep hit the delete key, enter BIOS and set the time/date etc.

Put a blank floppy in your FDD, download Memtest86, double click it and it will extract itself to the floppy. Then boot the troubled PC with said floppy in it's FDD(make sure the MB is set to boot off the floppy). Then let memtest86 run...and run......and run some more. (you want 10+ passes with no errors)

 

[chucklesrb]

 

[chucklesrb]

Well, I reset CMOS and started getting some messages like CMOS not properly set up/ configured, and havent been able to run memtest86 yet (i think i still have my floppy disblaed on startup). And I found a major problem, my cpu has been running about 76-79 Celcius, so I've got some real fans blowing full power onto it (now lowered to 59C). And since I reset CMOS, it thinks my processor is only 1200 MhZ, not 1600. I'll be ordering a new heatsink and at the suggestion of a friend using arctic silver as well. Any other suggestions?

 

[DieHardware]

Make sure the bottom of the HS and the top of the ZIF socket look like this from the side:

__________----
__________----

not:

__________----
----__________

 

[jackschmittusa]

The default FSB speed in the bios is 100mz. You need to change it to 133 to get the cpu up to speed. BTW, PCChips is a low-end brand and you have hung a lot of gear on it.

 

[chucklesrb]

Any suggestions on a better brand for MB's? I've been checking around on newegg.com and seeing what they have.
Thanks again

 

[Mnementh]

Originally posted by: chucklesrb
Any suggestions on a better brand for MB's? I've been checking around on newegg.com and seeing what they have.
Thanks again

My personal recommendation for your setup would be an Asus A7N8X (it's up to you if you go for the deluxe version which is more expensive but gives you more oprions). However you can't really go wrong with any Nforce2 board by Asus, Abit, Epox, or Gigabyte, If you're really strapped for cash then go for one of the Nforce1 boards by the same manufacturers although they'll probably be hard to get hold of now. Motherboard selection is always a personal choice dependant on experience with the brand and the features you want but those four manufacturers are what are known as Tier-1, so they are basically the best of the best. It's like most things in the PC world unfortunately you only get what you pay for.

Hope this helps.

Mnementh

 

[chucklesrb]

Thanks for the input. I ordered an Asus NForce 2 A7N8X, a Vortec heatsink that flows 35 CFM and some arctic silver 3, so hopefully those will help cure my overheated problems. Also ordered 2 90x90 fans while i was at it. I should have it all together by Wed, so thanks for all your help.

Rich