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Please help...I've re-installed windows three times in the last three days!

J

jez006

Member
Hi guys, I really need some help. I'm currently typing this on my computer and praying that I can submit it before it freezes and crashes again.

Here are my specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
Asus rampage formula
Intel E8400
OCZ Vertex 2 60gb SSD (system drive)
OCZ reaper 4gb
Other storage drives

I know, my computer is getting on a bit and I planned to upgrade the cpu, mobo, ram and SSD in the near future.

About a week ago, it started freezing, resetting itself and wouldn't boot. it gave the following message:
Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

The first time, the boot drive had changed in the bios. I changed it and the computer came back on. Then a few days later, it happened again and this couldn't fix it. I got into safe mode. It froze again. I tried a different SATA port. Nothing, still freezing. So I re-installed windows and it was running great. Windows installed a load of updates that night. Fair enough I thought, no harm.

The next day, it happened again. Virtually unusable again, crashing, rebooting into the message above, the odd blue screen, etc. Couldn't do a system restore, so I just reinstalled windows again and then turned off automatic updates. I installed Windows 7 SP1. And then the problems came back! It must be that I thought, I've found the culprit! I couldn't remove it (kept freezing etc) so I re-installed windows again! Third time that was.

All running ok today, until suddenly it restarted half an hour ago again into that message and all the same problems are coming back. I just can't work this out. I'm thinking either motherboard or my windows drive (SSD) are the problem. Hard drive health software put the SSD at 98% (can't remember which software, it's gone now).

One other strange thing - the final time it happened (just now) I had just turned a heater on which is plugged into the same multisocket. I looked over and the computer had reset with the "select boot device" message. Probably complete coincidence but I thought I should mention it. Could potentially mean PSU issues? But I doubt it.

I'm at a loss now, I don't know what to do. I have a spare hard drive, was going to load windows onto that to rule out my solid state drive. After that I'm completely out of ideas and I think the motherboard is next to change. Which means new CPU and RAM at the same time. And right now I don't have the time to research all the parts and do a new build (been out of the game for a while as you can see from my computer specs!)

One point I almost forgot - one of my SATA ports did stop working on my mobo a while ago. It's got 6 so it wasn't an issue though. Maybe more evidence towards the mobo? I don't know.

I'm very surprised I managed to type this whole message. Usually it would freeze on the first mouse click after restarting!

Any ideas please 🙁
 
I think the problem is more likely to be a weakened PSU. PSU's do age, more so that CPU's, or mobos. The fact that the last failure coincided with a power sag is some support for this, but not real proof.
 
Thanks for the replies.

This is my power supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171022

It's about six or seven years old. It was actually one of the components that I was hoping to put in my new build, when it eventually happens.

It's a quality unit, never had any problems with it and it's never really been pushed close to its limit; I've only ever had one medium power GPU and don't game on my PC (less power draw?). I've always had a few HDDs though, but I can't imagine they draw much.

These really do sound like my symptoms though:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/p...ms-with-pc-heres-how-check-your-power-supply/

"Dust build-up can also reduce the life of the PSU. Symptoms are usually intermittent, and include unexpected reboots, startup failures, USB device failures, and hard-disk or memory errors. These issues often mysteriously fix themselves, only to return later."

hmmm

But I think we can conclude that this is not a software/windows issue having done several re-installs, so I just need to work out which component is causing this.

Tomorrow when I get time, I'll install windows onto another hard drive. If that doesn't solve it then new PSU. Then if that doesn't work then complete overhaul...does that sound like a logical plan?

Funnily enough my computer has managed to stay on without freezing for the last few hours. I'm not turning it off now!
 
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I'm having a hard time figuring out how a failing PS is resetting the boot order in the BIOS. Because of that, my first suspect would be the mobo. There are different versions of that motherboard but the one I'm looking at now has a lot of cooling integrated into it. I would clean those and if there are any that are removable I would remove them and put fresh compound on them as my first step.
 
Hi boomerang.

When it has frozen and I've reset it, or sometimes it has just reset itself, it would often display the "select boot device" message. At the start, it had only changed the order in the BIOS so I changed it back and then it booted ok. But then as the problems have become more prevalent, my SSD has completely disappeared from the BIOS and I have needed several resets or booting into safe mode to get the computer to boot.

My motherboard is the original rampage formula:

http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_FORMULA/

Thanks
 
My computer runs very cool and is quite clean inside, therefore I don't think this is cooling related? The problems would also appear from a cold start.
 
I don't understand what's going on now...

Last night I plugged in another HDD to check what was on it before I formatted it for windows. No freezing occurred (still booted form SSD). Took a couple things off the HDD.

Then unplugged that HDD, plugged my other storage drive back in, thinking maybe that had been causing the problems (although I think it's unlikely a storage drive could cause these problems?). Now it hasn't frozen or crashed since.

So I basically unplugged some wires, plugged the same ones back in again and I've had at least a few hours of trouble free use. Very strange.
 
jez006 said:
I don't understand what's going on now...

Last night I plugged in another HDD to check what was on it before I formatted it for windows. No freezing occurred (still booted form SSD). Took a couple things off the HDD.

Then unplugged that HDD, plugged my other storage drive back in, thinking maybe that had been causing the problems (although I think it's unlikely a storage drive could cause these problems?). Now it hasn't frozen or crashed since.

So I basically unplugged some wires, plugged the same ones back in again and I've had at least a few hours of trouble free use. Very strange.
Click to expand...

Maybe you had a loose cable, and yes, a storage drive can cause those kinds of problems all day long.
 
My current desktop system froze which is something it had never done before. I forced a reboot and it took forever to boot up. From that point on it was slow and lagging and it's a system built for everyday computing use. Not high end or for gaming, etc.

I noticed a few days later that my storage drive had disappeared. I unplugged it and the system returned to its normal state. I should have switched it to another port and changed SATA cables for troubleshooting but the fact was that I hadn't been using it having added a Synology box to the network. So...perhaps it's the SSD as has been said. Probably too unstable to run a diagnostic on it. Installing the OS to a different drive and slaving the SSD in the system to run a diagnostic on it may create the symptoms I was experiencing to make it impossible to run the diagnostic.

Troubleshooting can be a process of elimination. Having spare parts and systems available can be very helpful but is not always practical.
 
boomerang said:
My current desktop system froze which is something it had never done before. I forced a reboot and it took forever to boot up. From that point on it was slow and lagging and it's a system built for everyday computing use. Not high end or for gaming, etc.

I noticed a few days later that my storage drive had disappeared. I unplugged it and the system returned to its normal state.
Click to expand...
That reminds me, I did some work on a friend's rig recently (added a low-end video card), and when I was putting it back together to start up, it didn't want to power back on for some strange reason. I finally got it to work, but there was a big delay in terms of powering on from when I pushed the power button.

I was just glad to get it working, but now I'm wondering what might be failing? (PSU? Mobo?)

PSU is probably 5-6 years old, it's an OEM Enhance unit, 80Plus, supposedly with Japanese caps, so it's a good one. Mobo is an ASRock AM2+ 140W unit, with a 95-100W Athlon II X4 CPU in it. I didn't check the caps when I had it open. (Should have, I guess.) It's probably 6-7 years old.

My friend has a primary OS SSD, and I gave him a WD Black HDD for storage, but he still has an old Seagate 7200.7 HDD that we picked up cheap used from someone on this forum, and somehow, it still seems to be holding on, but I wonder if that old drive is causing issues with the system.
 
I've now got windows installed on a second drive so can switch between the two. The problems seem to have gone away now, and both drives are booting and are running fine. I haven't changed anything though.

The fact that the problems are now intermittent, does that suggest one component over another?
 
It suggests your power from that particular outlet was below what it should have been. Plugging in the heater kind of illustrated that, and if it drops below 85volts, it will be a problem for the PS and the entire system.. Now if everything is back up & working, it could have just been the power in your area was fluctuating too much..
 
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Hi Burpo,

I'd like to believe that it's the PSU...easy fix. But it's been happening for over a week, pretty consistently until last night when for some reason the problems stopped.

I live in a fairly big city, no power outages or fuses blown elsewhere in the house, etc. I'm not ruling it out, but I'd be surprised if power fluctuations from the grid have caused this.
 
jez006, I hope you problem is gone for good, but until that happened it sounded like your SSD. That would mess up your boot order, and the OCZ drives are notorious for dying early.

But hopefully you got a good one and you fixed whatever loose wire was giving you the problem.
 
Thanks ketchup, it's still ok so far tonight. But I'd rather that I actually worked out what it was rather than it mysteriously disappear, just to ambush me when I really need my computer..lol. At least I've now got windows installed on a second drive as well to rule out the SSD.

I don't think it was a loose wire though. When the problems were happening I tried changing the SATA cable to the SSD and that didn't work. Again, can't rule it out though!

I was going to do a "partially" new build in about 6 months time. I might bring that forward to now just to be done with these problems, I've spent enough time on them and I'm sure they'll come back.

I'm going to do some research over the next few days and run the potentials passed you guys to see what you think. It'll be new mobo, RAM, CPU, SSD...and maybe new PSU based on what's been said here.

Will my 775 socket CPU heatsink/cooler fit an 1150/1155 CPU? Will I have any trouble removing it due to the thermal compound that's been on there for 7 years?
 
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jez006 said:
...Will my 775 socket CPU heatsink/cooler fit an 1150/1155 CPU?
Click to expand...
Stock, no. Aftermarket, maybe. But there is no reason to buy a new Intel CPU without the included heatsink/fan.
Will I have any trouble removing it due to the thermal compound that's been on there for 7 years?
Click to expand...
I have had some that virtually fell off, and some that pulled the CPU out with it.

I have no idea what you have, but one idea would be to leave the CPU/motherboard/RAM as is and turn it into a file/media/htpc server.
 
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jez006 said:
I've now got windows installed on a second drive so can switch between the two. The problems seem to have gone away now, and both drives are booting and are running fine. I haven't changed anything though.

The fact that the problems are now intermittent, does that suggest one component over another?
Click to expand...

have you run a smart check on the SSD and HD's. HD Tune is free and can do this for you.
 
jez006 said:
Hi guys, I really need some help. I'm currently typing this on my computer and praying that I can submit it before it freezes and crashes again.

Here are my specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
Asus rampage formula
Intel E8400
OCZ Vertex 2 60gb SSD (system drive)
OCZ reaper 4gb
Other storage drives

I know, my computer is getting on a bit and I planned to upgrade the cpu, mobo, ram and SSD in the near future.

About a week ago, it started freezing, resetting itself and wouldn't boot. it gave the following message:
Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

The first time, the boot drive had changed in the bios. I changed it and the computer came back on. Then a few days later, it happened again and this couldn't fix it. I got into safe mode. It froze again. I tried a different SATA port. Nothing, still freezing. So I re-installed windows and it was running great. Windows installed a load of updates that night. Fair enough I thought, no harm.

The next day, it happened again. Virtually unusable again, crashing, rebooting into the message above, the odd blue screen, etc. Couldn't do a system restore, so I just reinstalled windows again and then turned off automatic updates. I installed Windows 7 SP1. And then the problems came back! It must be that I thought, I've found the culprit! I couldn't remove it (kept freezing etc) so I re-installed windows again! Third time that was.

All running ok today, until suddenly it restarted half an hour ago again into that message and all the same problems are coming back. I just can't work this out. I'm thinking either motherboard or my windows drive (SSD) are the problem. Hard drive health software put the SSD at 98% (can't remember which software, it's gone now).

One other strange thing - the final time it happened (just now) I had just turned a heater on which is plugged into the same multisocket. I looked over and the computer had reset with the "select boot device" message. Probably complete coincidence but I thought I should mention it. Could potentially mean PSU issues? But I doubt it.

I'm at a loss now, I don't know what to do. I have a spare hard drive, was going to load windows onto that to rule out my solid state drive. After that I'm completely out of ideas and I think the motherboard is next to change. Which means new CPU and RAM at the same time. And right now I don't have the time to research all the parts and do a new build (been out of the game for a while as you can see from my computer specs!)

One point I almost forgot - one of my SATA ports did stop working on my mobo a while ago. It's got 6 so it wasn't an issue though. Maybe more evidence towards the mobo? I don't know.

I'm very surprised I managed to type this whole message. Usually it would freeze on the first mouse click after restarting!

Any ideas please 🙁
Click to expand...

Have you checked the electrical plug to make sure the power plug is tight in the socket?
Have you isolated this plug to only have the computer plugged in?

Do you have a UPS for the computer?
 
Hi silicon, thanks for your help. I ran HD tune and have posted the benchmarks below.

All the drives show as OK on the health check. I ran the error check on the SSD and no errors were shown (all green blocks). I'll run the other two now, but when I was getting the problems they were not connected so I think I can rule them out.

The electrical plug is firmly connected on both ends. I do not have a UPS.

I have not tried isolating the electrical plug when the problems occurred, I will try that next time.

Still running okay today though. I'm so confused!

Untitled_zpse1421cd9.png
 
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Hi sm,

I always make sure that my other hard drives are unplugged when installing windows.

Are you saying get rid of the vertex drive based on the performance graph or other reasons?

Thanks
 
sm625 said:
Get rid of that thing. Install onto another drive. And make sure you only have one drive installed when you install windows.
Click to expand...



OCZ was have a bit of problem with their drives the past 2 years I think?

Many complained of BSOD but I own one and no issues yet.
 
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