Problem with WIN 7 fresh install

[mset]

I have a strange problem on my hands. I have a 4 year old rig here with XP installed, and tried to boot it up after about a year. I got a warning before Windows started saying 'Your computer Chip Fan Fail or Speed too low". The chip fan is running, and I remembered that when I last used this rig, I was getting this message every time I tried to boot the rig. At the bottom it says 'Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter setup'. In the past I just pressed F1 and booted normally.

Today, I pressed F1 again and Windows tried to start but wouldn't boot. I went through a number of tries including trying system restore and trying solutions which involved booting in safe mode. Eventually I decided to format the drives and start all over. I formatted the drives in another computer, and tried to use an XP install disc and made sure that the boot priority was CD ROM first. I got the XP install process started, and it was going fine. However, when it got to the point where the installer had to restart the computer... the computer restarted and I got the same screen as I was getting earlier (see above)! This is with only one drive, a cleanly formatted one, plugged in!!

Now... somehow this error about the 'Chip Fan fail or Speeds too low' resides somewhere in the computer system other than the hard drive (and therefore the OS), because how could it possibly be coming from the hard drive when the drive is cleanly formatted?

I then formatted the drive again and tried the whole process with WIN 7. Again, the process of installing the OS started fine, but the first time the installer had to restart the rig, once again, instead of the process just continuing, I get this screen. By the way, if I press F1, I get another screen which says 'press any key to boot from CD' and then the entire installation process starts again from scratch. Just before I see this screen, I hear 2 fast beeps followed by 4 longer beeps.

Does anyone have an idea what's going on here? Like I said, this error message and the problems it indicates musr be somewhere other than on the drive. Is this a hardware issue?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[xSauronx]

regarding beep codes: check the manual for your motherboard/vendor, it should define the error codes

based on the error, i expect that something is overheating due to a fan issue.

when you say "chip fan" do you mean the cpu fan?

 

[mset]

regarding beep codes: check the manual for your motherboard/vendor, it should define the error codes

based on the error, i expect that something is overheating due to a fan issue.

when you say "chip fan" do you mean the cpu fan?

Hey xSauronx, thanks for the reply. I assumed that what is meant by 'CHIP Fan fail' meant the CPU fan, but maybe I should have stressed that it does not say 'Chip Fan Fail', it says 'CHIP Fan Fail'. Does that distinction matter? The words 'CHIP Fan are highlighted in white.

In any case, I will try to get the manual for the mobo and check the error. Problem is that I can't recall which mobo it is (4 years!) and I can't boot it up to run Everest. Maybe it's printed on the mobo in a place I can see it.

I still really want to know where in the heck this error message is coming from. Is there a small OS built into the CPU or something?

 

[xSauronx]

a lot of motherboards have some hardware information in the BIOS, such as fan speeds and temperatures.

unless you have an OEM system from dell or hp or some such, the motherboard should have the manufacturer and model printed on it somewhere.

if you have a dell/hp/whatever system, go to their website and find support documentation for the model you have

 

[mset]

a lot of motherboards have some hardware information in the BIOS, such as fan speeds and temperatures.

unless you have an OEM system from dell or hp or some such, the motherboard should have the manufacturer and model printed on it somewhere.

if you have a dell/hp/whatever system, go to their website and find support documentation for the model you have

No, this rig is actually the first (and only) computer I built myself, and it ran fine for about 3 years. Thanks again, I'm off to see if I can get that code.

EDIT: That was easy - Asus A8N-E

 

[mset]

...

 

[FishAk]

Have you looked inside the box?

Perhaps a bird or a pack of spiders built a nest in the heatsinc, and there is no air flow. Or it may be that the thermal past you used hardened and cracked, and doesn't work like it should. Something is tripping the overheat warning.

Clean up the guts, and reapply fresh paste, then see if you get that same message.

 

[Steltek]

I'm presuming that this motherboard is one with the Award BIOS? The reason I ask is that I think there are some out there with Phoenix BIOSes (they may be a sub-model with different features, though - I can't remember).

If it is an Award BIOS, your particular beep codes won't help you - Award only specified just a few beep codes for their BIOSes (and ASUS doesn't have any additional information on their website):

1 short beep - system check successful/all clear
1 long, 2 short - video card problem
Repeating, endless loop - memory problem/failure
High frequency beeps while running - CPU overheated or CPU fan problem/not properly seated
Repeating high/low - CPU problem

Award's published information said any other beep codes besides the specified ones indicates a memory problem, so you might try swapping (or removing one, if you have more than one in the machine) a memory module.

It also wouldn't hurt to replace the CMOS battery - if it is dead, the machine may not be booting using proper BIOS settings. I'd replace it, reset the CMOS memory using the motherboard jumper, restart and reset the BIOS options, then try to boot again.

Within the BIOS, it probably will have a screen showing the CPU temperature as well as the speed of the CPU fan in RPMs. If the CPU fan shows it is turning as fast as it should in the BIOS (and it isn't running choppy - surging up and slowing down), my next step would be to remove the CPU cooler, reapply some thermal paste, remount the cooler, and see if this resolves the issue.

 

[mset]

If it is an Award BIOS, your particular beep codes won't help you - Award only specified just a few beep codes for their BIOSes (and ASUS doesn't have any additional information on their website):

It also wouldn't hurt to replace the CMOS battery - if it is dead, the machine may not be booting using proper BIOS settings. I'd replace it, reset the CMOS memory using the motherboard jumper, restart and reset the BIOS options, then try to boot again.

Within the BIOS, it probably will have a screen showing the CPU temperature as well as the speed of the CPU fan in RPMs. If the CPU fan shows it is turning as fast as it should in the BIOS (and it isn't running choppy - surging up and slowing down), my next step would be to remove the CPU cooler, reapply some thermal paste, remount the cooler, and see if this resolves the issue.

After a lot of trial and error, I managed to get WIN 7 installed on this rig. By reversing the boot order in the BIOS, to ask the rig to boot from the drive first, I was able to get the Windows install to complete. I have no idea why this worked. The error message persists, but at least the rig is running now, and I can restart it at will, although I have to press F1 each time to get around the error message.

Not home right now to check the BIOS, but thanks for the heads up. I did become aware of the Award/Phoenix thing last night after some searches. I unplugged the dead fan from the 3 pin terminal, and figured this might get rid of the error ( thinking maybe a sensor on the third wire would no longer be picking up the dead fan) but the error message persists. I will try your fixes for sure. I have also ordered a Zalman heatsink and an Evercool replacement fan - these are the two units that guys were using on this common problem a few years back.

I am going to try the CMOS battery/BIOS flash last, as I have heard that once in a while, this can cause problems. Once again, I am an interested amateur but don't have the time or knowledge to go through an extensive rehab process on this 4 year old rig. Really, at this point I just want to see if I can get it functioning since it's the first rig I ever built. I want a 'Dropbox' of my own, and I will probably install Linux/Apache on this box for that purpose if I can get it running.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.