Big Prob

[DRGrim]

Here goes.
For the longest time, I have been having huge trouble with my computer. It would crash while playing games. Video card overheating, right? That?s what I thought, because it wasn?t my CPU (I?m running RC5), and I have tried about everything else. So I got a new card, a GeForce 2, reformatted, and installed windows. The crashes still happen, all the time.
Now its even stranger. When starting up, my computer will, seemingly at random, make one long beep and three short ones. Everything is fully in their slots.
Just for the heck of it, I will go in and wiggle things around, take things out and put things back until it boots correctly. Its always something different, also. Sometimes when I pull out the NIC, is all better. The next time, nothing seems to fix it. It still happens when only the CPU and memory is installed. Sometimes I can fix it by giving it a good kick.
When it does boot, it is very unstable. It crashes even when I?m not playing games. I though it might be a Windows problem, so I tried to install Linux-Mandrake, but that randomly crashes also when I try to install it.
The beeping started when I got my video card, but that?s a coincidence, and the crashing has been happening for a heck of a long time. I have replaced the motherboard, the video card, and the CPU along the way. Nothing seems to help.
I would really appreciate any help you computer gurus could offer me. Thanks for your help!

 

[hominid skull]

<< Sometimes I can fix it by giving it a good kick >>



Sounds like either a power supply problem or a memory problem, the beeping would sugest PS, the mobo not getting enough power, but these types of things a re hard to nail.

If you have a 300W PS then i'll doubt that'll be it.

You could try the Basics in the machine, just the processor, memory and vid card to see what you add that makes it start beeping/unstable....

 

[rubberneck]

Do you have another PS to hook your components to in order to see if the orginal PS is faulty? I had a problem like yours....mine was caused from 2 NIC's that were picky about the PCI slot they were in (doesn't sound like that's your problem though).

See if you can check the PS....also, check to make sure there's nothing in the case that could be causing a short.

 

[AfterBurn]

Your beep codes indicate a VGA problem. This could mean a few things:
- Your VGA card isnt seated properly; remove it, make sure there is no dust in the AGP slot, and reseat it.
- A GF2 consumes a lot of power, maybe your powersupply cant deliver the power needed for the job; get a better powersupply.

Have you tried an old PCI VGA card and see if it works ok then?

If it is your powersupply, it would explain the instability too as when the GF overdraws from the powersupply, the CPU doesnt get a constant power either.

 

[Viperoni]

Could be the mobo cant supply enough power to the AGP card as well.
Afterburn is on the right track though.

 

[DRGrim]

Here are some more details:

800MHz PIII
128MB RAM
SCSI card
Vortex 2 sound
Asus P3V4X motherboard
300W PS

So its ether my PS or Video card, right?
It will beep even when the video card is not in it.

Could my motherboard be at fault? I seem to remember crashes around the time when I got my new one. But that was a while ago, so I don't really remember. Thanks for your replys!

 

[AfterBurn]

Well, it beeps cause of an VGA error. When the VGA card isnt in there, the error is pretty obvious.

 

[DRGrim]

What about crackracks? They don't have video cards. How can they possibly run them if it just beeps at you?
Anyway, I'm pretty sure its seated correctly. Must be the PS then, even though is 300W? What do you recomend if that's not enough?

 

[DRGrim]

Is there a definite answer on this, or am I going to have to randomly start replacing parts?
Thanks!

Oh, and bump.

 

[Big Lar]

I'd start at the Nvidia forums, and see if there are any incompatibilities with the geforce and your particular board, I had the abit be6-2 and a gts, and came to find out the 2 didn't get along. Same exact symptoms you describe, although for awhile my workaround was to start the computer, hear the beep, hit reset, and it would boot up// shrug.

 

[AfterBurn]

There is an option in your BIOS that says HALT on: ALL, BUT KEYBOARD (by default). With a crackrack, yuo set that to none so it wont wine about anything.

Anyway, how much current (Amps) can your powersupply deliver at the 3.3 and 5V lines?

 

[DRGrim]

3.3 - 15
5 - 30

Does that help you?

 

[AfterBurn]

That should be enough.

If you have an old PCI VGA card laying around somewhere, try that one so we can start eliminating possibilities please. Dont think you have a space powersupply laying around, but if you have, you can try that too.

 

[DRGrim]

AfterBurn, I put in the old PCI card. While I was doing it, I saw that my case is tilted, or something, so that the cards don't go in all the way. They touch the contacts, but don't fit in 100%, so I attempted a little surgery. While the motherboard was sitting on its tray, with out those lifter things, it randomly powered on. Smelt a little smoke, but it seems to be alright.

It started up correctly, but that could be coincidence. I tried installing linux mandrake, but it would stop randomly like it did before. Not freeze, just stop.

I don't have a clue.

Thanks for your help!

 

[AfterBurn]

If you smell smoke, its NOT GOOD! You have to use spacers, to avoid shortcircuiting your board! Make sure the board is straight and level and all slots fit nicely. If you shortcircuit something, it may destroy your board or worse.

 

[DRGrim]

Yes, but it seems to work fine, now. Or, at least not worse then it was.
Since my case is bent, do you think that could be causeing the boards to come out? When I looked, all the contacts looked good, so I doubt it.
Thanks!

 

[AfterBurn]

Yes, when the case is twisted, your board is twisted too and that can cause the AGP and PCI card to get slowly forced out of their slots, which again can produce some nasty errors, even if you cant visibly see right off something is wrong.

 

[DRGrim]

Any way to fix it?

Does that explain the constant crashing? Before the beeps, I would just reboot, not fool around with anything inside. So thats another problem?

Thanks very much for your help!

 

[thelanx]

<--I have replaced the motherboard, the video card, and the CPU along the way-->

You could also just build a new computer, and if that's still having problems...
But you almost have a new computer anyway, so it's probably not the components you replaced, but the one of the components you did not replace.

 

[DRGrim]

I can't just build another computer. I don't have any money.

Please help, my computer is dead in the water. ITS NOT CRACKING RC5!!!!
Thats 800MHz that could be going to Team Andandtech.
Please!

 

[flood]

remove the ps from the case and lay the mb on a static bag...
then you can rule out te posibility of the case causing it

Also, I've seen a few motherboards that just cant give the geforce cards the power they need... they'll boot fine, but after a while, they will crash/lockup. Try out a different AGP card (something that doesnt draw as much power - tnt1 or something like that) to see if this is the problem.

 

[DRGrim]

flood5, I had a TNT 2 Ultra in there for a while, and it did the same thing.
That's the only other AGP card I have.

I will try your idea and see if it helps.

Thanks!

 

[AtomClock]

Based on what I have wread in this thread, I would think it was your powersupply. You can test this in the following way. If you have anything attached to the powersupply that you don't need disconnect it and then try to reboot the system and see if it is stable. For example, unplug the CD rom, any extra hard disks, the floppy drive, pull the modem... etc in other words lighten the load on the powersupply and see if the computer is stable with a reduced load. If it is then you can add components back until it becomes unstable again and maybe you will be able to convince yourself that it is or is not the power supply.

ANother thing you can do is download a program that will check your ram. If the ram checks good then at least you will have rulled that out.