PC not booting

[themusgrat]

Well, recently I got a 6800GS, and for a while, like 5 or 8 boots, everything was dandy. But one day, out of a clear blue sky, with nothing happening, only Alito laying the smackdown, is this suspenseful enough? Sorry, but most Tech Support OPs are just boring. Ummm..., my screen started flickering, right after booting into Windows. So, naturally, I restarted it, though maybe I should have done something differently. On the reboot, though, I couldn't even get to the black Windows boot screen. In fact, I didn't even see the CMOS whatever thing, it was just blank, like when I have OCed too much. So I checked all my connections, went to stock in the BIOS, same thing. Now, maybe it is the video card, so I put back in the 6600GT. Same thing. Now, I start messing with the power cables on my DFI board. I take the floppy and moles ones out of the board, and at least this time, I see the CMOS whatever, the HD makes the normal grinding noise, and I wait for the Windows boot screen, but it is a no show. I take out fans, and unnecessary HDs, same thing. At this point, I contact the DFI people, and they say that it is probably the PSU, and this is plausible, so I buy a new Enermax Liberty 500w, enough for me. I get it in tonight, same thing. But after switching the SATA HD from slot 1 to 2, I can boot off of CD, and so far have fixbooted, and am running chkdsk in the repair command prompt thing. I will see if this does any good, but what do you guys think? I can run memtest86, so it is not the RAM or CPU, DVD drive works fine, temps are ok, or actually beautiful, PSU is great, I guess I should try taking out the sound and video capture cards 1 by 1, in case. Also, I have messed around with different BIOS things, including the resetting of the power tables, which you are supposed to do after a hardware upgrade that renders the PC unbootable. So, any ideas?

 

[themusgrat]

After running chkdsk, the same thing still happens. I see everything until the Windows boot screen, and the HDs are not doing anything, so I doubt that it is the video card. Maybe it is the mobo, but if it is, I'm not spending another 170 until I know for sure. Help please?

 

[meltdown75]

hmm. well, you've taken some steps to try to troubleshoot the problem already, which is more than most people do before posting in here so kudos for that

i'm going to offer some generic advice here and recommend a format on your boot drive and a clean install. after reading your post it looks like you haven't tried that yet. to fully eliminate the possibility that this is a software (OS) issue, i don't think you have any other choice.

i'd hate for it to be the motherboard too... for your sake! best of luck with it... i hope you're gaming again soon

 

[themusgrat]

Well, I will reformat, though I hate to, I have so much stuff on it. Before I do, I will take my HD to my friend's house and see if it works on his PC, and back up all my Word docs and stuff. Maybe today I will take it to a PC place and have them test the motherboard. Thanks for the help and I think that you are probably right, and I will unfortunately end up reformatting.

 

[themusgrat]

Any more ideas? Sorry to keep bumping.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Have you tried REMOVING the Audigy card yet and try booting?
(my money is on Creative's masterpiece....)

 

[themusgrat]

I am doing that now, but I don't think that will help, since DFI Tech Support is thinking I am having to RMA the board.