long post from a lost person.....what is wrong with system

[etrin]

I have an abit ic7 board and intel 2.6g processor with 512 megs of corsair 3500 memory
3 hd internal, 1 external in a usb/firewire case and 1 cdr drive Enermax 350 w ps.
this system has been running for 6 months with no problems.

about a 2 weeks ago I started seeing some strange things happen in xp.
lockups and blue screens..
ok reinstall everthing and its fine.
then the serial port on the board started acting funny. Then 2 of the ubs ports would sometimes
not recognize what was plugged into them.
OK bad board ??
I called abit and got a replacement.
changed out the board and everything is fine for about 2 days, then it does not recognize the
external firewire drive.
then 3rd day system comes up boots into xp and locks 10 minutes later.
reboot and it won't do anything.
let it set for an hr and it rebooted but locked up booting into windows.
reset button won't even display on monitor.


I have swapped out the cpu and this made no difference, it still boots up to show boot
normally or safe mode but won't go any further.

I even put the old board back in ....same exact thing.

any ideas what my problem is and what I can do to get this system
back up and running.

THANKS big time for any and all help

etrin

 

[Buz2b]

Since no one has popped in to assist what seems like a complicated problem, I'll at least try to give some basic assistance and hopefully spark some more interest.
Can you get into the BIOS? If so, go through it and confirm the HDD's being recognized properly and try setting the sytsem to "Optimal" settings or whatever your BIOS calls the "basic settings". See if you can get it to boot in Safe Mode like this. If so, try the "normal boot".
Is your external HDD always connected? Have you tried disconnecting it and booting?
If all the above does not work, have you tried booting to the XP CD and running through the Recovery Console? As a last resort you might try just reloading XP over itself.
Sorry not to have more for you to try but at this point, given the info you shared, I do not see anything standing out as a trouble spot. There are several possibles but nothing seems to point to them at this time. Is there any other info you can share such as software installed just before the problem began the first time? Info is king! Good luck!

 

[etrin]

I just put in the "new" motherboard they sent me again.
I rebooted and got a cmos checksum error.
I reset the cmos with the jumper and it booted (finally)
I got into XP......whoooooooo hoooooo
I THOUGH
after a few minutes (more like seconds) no response from the computer.
I shutdown and said will lets try resetting the cmos again.
after this NOTHING
won't even post

monitor light just blinks yellow then green over and over.
so I guess its not even getting a signal from the card.

I have a BIG homework assignment due on wednesday.
MY LUCK

I know abit will take a week + to cross ship a board.
I ordered this one on tues and got it the following monday
with priority 2 day shipping.

I live in little rock ar
who could get me a board fastest

newegg, zipzoomfly or directron
(in the past newegg takes about 48 hrs to process an order)
even an overnight one

thanks again for any and all help info or flames
ps I changed out the ps to an antec trupower 430 just to make sure it
was not the ps. BUT I think by then it was too late to tell

thanks again
etrin

 

[Buz2b]

First, nothing I can do to suggest anything fast enough to save your butt for the assignment. Sorry but it just depends on time and money.
It's definitely sounding more like some sort of OS or software problem; not hardware. Stuff you can do to try and isolate things. If you have more than one stick of RAM, pull one and try to boot. If that fails, replace it with the other. If you only have one stick, see if you can borrow another stick to try/test. I'd think it is NOT your motherboard though. You've eliminated the PS (good move BTW, (even though the Enermax is a good solid PS) as you never know when one can fail. CPU? Could be but nothing so far seems to point to it. How about your HSF? The fact that it boots for a bit then locks up could mean that the CPU is overheating. Try removing and reinstalling the HSF with some fresh thermal grease (Arctic Silver is usually best). You may have done this before but I figured I'd mention it again. This does not address the original failure per say but it's sitll a shot in the dark.
BTW, could you also answer the questions I asked in my previous post? That would provide more assistance.

 

[etrin]

Last night was a long one. and very frustrating
I let everthing sit for a while and scratched my head.
I tried one stick of ram then the other.
I went into the bios and set it to default settings.
=====
no external hd.
It does not act like the firewire port even works.
I see no external hd.
=====
I reboot and got into windows.
then hang

I tried to reboot and got a cmos checksum error.
I jumpered the cmos to clear it and
that was that...NO post no nothing.

This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen.

etrin

 

[Buz2b]

Sounds like an overheating CPU. You need to remove, clean and reinstall the Heatsink with fresh thermal paste next. That might do the trick but even if not, it will succeed in eliminating yet another possible cause. I'd also recommend booting with the side of the case off when you try this to make sure the fan is operating properly.

 

[pspada]

Could be a virus and/or malware?

 

[jyates]

I would try new or different system memory.
I built 5 P4 systems the other day and one of them kept
giving errors when installing XP and with IE and other
programs.

I swapped out the memory and all the problems went away.

The memory was brand new but had a problem. Newegg sent
me a new replacement and it was fine.

My 2 cents, hope it helps.

Jim

 

[etrin]

called abit and they asked me what was going on.
I went thru 5 minutes of discriptions and the only thing
the tech guy could come up with is pull the board and put it
on a box and see if it works....shorts

ok I did this, jumped the cmos....
waited a few, crossed my fingers and click

ok got to bios.
then booted to windows...lasted about 10 seconds then freeze

after that....even waiting 2 hrs and jumper cmos .....can not get
to bios

they are sending another motherboard.


I have 2 questions before I get the replacement.
since first board worked 7 months in this case.
and other board worked 3 days.

this could not be a case that has some weird ground or something
since the first board works so well, could it?

I had an enermax 350 on the original board.
I then got the replacement and it worked fine for 2 days, then started
acting funny that is when I replaced the ps(new antec 430 trupower)
by then it was work, not work, hang, can't boot.

ps caused it all ?????


With the original board, the first weird things were, serial port could
not sinc or complete sending with old pda.
then external usb ports started acting funny. might or might not see something plugged
into them.
Then random lockups.

second board. worked 2 days.
Then external firewire/usb drive would not work when plugged into the firewire port, changed it over to usb and it worked.
then it was only a very short time before NO more booting.


I have new ps in case now....will get board, mount everything on it and sit it on box and see if it works before installing in case.

wheeeeee....aint this fun

etrin