PC Not working

[eminemrh25]

My system Specs
AMD Sempron 3000+ Barton 333Mhz FSB
EPoX EP-8RDA3+ Socket A Motherboard
512MB PC2700 Kingston RAM
40GB Maxtor Hard Drive
BenQ 16x DVD-/+RW DL Drive
Ultra X-Connect 400W PSU

Well, one day, I was connecting Cathodes to my PC, it was on (dumb me, forgetting to turn it off..) Well, 2 wires slipped and touched. My PC instantly shut off. I figured no big deal, took the cathode set out, then I try to power my PC back on. Didn't work. I figured I fried my PSU, so I grabbed a spare 400W one.. Plug it in, PC boots to BIOs Screen, everything looks normal, then proceeds to Windows Loading Screen. Freezes. Does this for the next couple of times. I put in my XP CD, thinking that it was just a corrupt system files. It started, but before I could do anything, it froze. Did that for a couple more times too..

I asked on another forum, they said try new ram. So I RMA'ed my ram to Kingston, they sent me out a new stick. Nope, didn't fix. They suggested for me to get a new mobo. I go out and spend $70 on a new mobo and it does the same thing! I am thinking it is the CPU, but people said if it was a CPU issue, the motherboard would reject it.

Interesting things happened too, one time, my friend powered on my PC, nothing showed up, but on the back of the PSU, it was on the wrong wattage. This was with the old mobo btw. I had used his machine and I put my CPU in there, and it recoginized it, but then it overheated. I looked at the inside it was fine. I took the CPU out and put it back in, just to make sure, dumbass me forgets to plug in the CPU Fan, the mobo boots for a sec, then shows a black screen and beeps like hell. I unplugged the PC (all of this happened within 20secs...)

The CPU still gets recoginized by the BIOs, but for some reason, I can't load Windows. It won't let me boot into my existing one, or re-install. I have tried MULTIPULE XP cds with no luck. It did boot Windows PE tho, I have no clue why it would boot that then refuse to load regular windows and everything.

Is this a CPU problem?

I want to know before I drop another $125 into this PC for a new CPU

 

[rasczak]

are the wires that slipped and touched connected to any other components? more than like you fried those or your motherboard rather than your processor. only way to really tell is for you to strip everything off and power with only your psu, video card, 1 stick of ram, and your motherboard/cpu.
if it powers up then install your other components one at a time. till you find the culprit.

if it doesn't start up, then you are gonna needs a test mother board too see if your problem is your processor.

since you said that your tried out another psu and it started to boot but froze, you might wanna see if you can find one more psu to just rule out that it is the problem.

 

[eminemrh25]

They were cathodes...

I completely replaced the motherboard, ram video card.... Only thing that is the same is the DVD-RW, Hds, TV Tuner and USB Card. I know the DVD and the HDs work, been using them in m 300mhz pc...

 

[jackschmittusa]

What cathodes are you talking about, and how are they powered?

 

[rasczak]

then try another hard drive, and load windows into it. sounds to me like your drive might be dying or your windows might have been trashed.

 

[eminemrh25]

They are UV Cathodes, plug into an invertor that plugs into a Molex connector..

I was thinking about the hard drive, but a couple of times, I got BIOs Checksum errors on both of the boards, how would a hard drive give a bad checksum?

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: eminemrh25
They are UV Cathodes, plug into an invertor that plugs into a Molex connector..

I was thinking about the hard drive, but a couple of times, I got BIOs Checksum errors on both of the boards, how would a hard drive give a bad checksum?

I think it could if it was really messed up but it doesn't sound like it's completely shot since it will boot to it for a few seconds.

IHMO, it is most likely the CPU. I just got done working on a system that was doing random weird things and it turned out ot be that the CPU had taken damage from a power surge (even though it was on a surge protector).