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random reboots, hangs, funky colors and lines

A

aeneas3

Member
hi all
so my 4.5 year old
dimension 4100
512mb ram
32mb video card nv10 4x agp
floppy drive
40/120/250/120 gig HDs
hp dvd writer
zip drive
430 true PS
soundblaster card
modem v.90
belkin 10/100 ethernet card
p991 monitor
ati-tv wonder ve

seems to have been slowly taking a dive.
wonder card started to have cable connection problems 5 months ago so i took it out - didnt use it much
picture on the monitor started having horizontal lines 3 months ago, would come and go
ethernet card stopped working 2 months ago. i swapped it out with the belkin but with my DSL I still get limited connectability. no problems for my new computer or my wife's laptop to connect. my 4100 cannot even connect to the dsl router. So it has been offline which was initial concern b/c i run an ftp server for bands who allow taping (dmb, etc). anyway, since around christmas my picture on my monitor started to get worse. moving lines, all pink/red blocks on the screen, a red tracer behind the mouse -> the other day the computer would not boot fully. it get to the windows xp screen with the knight rider status bar moving then -> black/blank screen with a shrunken size of viewable blackness (like if you were to shrink the viewable size) then display power button turns orange and i cannot power it back up. keyboard power goes off usually. if i wait long enough it will reboot.
i am able to boot up in safe mode but i can't figure out what the deal is. switched the monitor with my new computer -> same thing.
this suggests a problem outside of hte monitor obviously
either the PSU
the MOBO
the video card.
i have taken out all of the card except for the video card but just realized that although the HDs are not connected i think the power is. i will disconnect all those the retry
any ideas?
i posted the other day but my post is gone.
thanks 🙂
 
have you got any spares lying around?

I would try another stick of memory, or download MEMTEST and run it for 12 hours minimum for each stick of RAM
 
its a boot floppy - The longer you run it, the better. Don't bother running it for 20minutes and saying everything is fine.
Your aim is to find a problem, not hide a problem
 
cool i will do it now thanks. gonna DL it and let it run for hours 🙂
thanks!

the free version isnt a boot floppy right?
 
1st did both sticks for 12 hours = no errors
just finished 1st stick for 24 hrs - no errors
about to do the second stick
thanks = will update in a day 🙂
 
ok so second stick passed all the tests without errors for 28 hrs. removed the sound card, hooked the zip and floppy back up and i can boot -> windows logon/welcome -> start my startup group loading -> (can see wallpaper and move mouse) -> blammo! it reboots and i start all over again.
an interesting observation is that the memory takes FOREVER to count on initial bootup
i have a dual boot with windows 98 on this machine....
if i boot into last known good configuration it does something very similar except doesnt get past the windows welcome. i thought about doing a system restore, that may work? assuming i can boot into safe mode like i did previously.
first i am gonna see how far i get in safe mode then i will try win98 to see how that goes.
then i will do system restore thru safe mode

actually doing system restore now.
any other ideas?
 
The slow count can be disabled in BIOS.

Could your cpu be overheating?
Is the heatsink on properly?
Have you got thermal compound between the cpu and the sink?
 
hi
thanks for the input. this is a stock mobo from dell. not sure what the setup is for the heatsink setup. wait, just looked at my manual and duh, it is where it should be. looks to be fine, feels stable. not that warm compared to the area around the center of the mobo.
restore did not help. got the 'you have restored to___' and then it rebooted again. boots up into win98 ok.
i think i have two separate problems, though they may be linked.
i think that my mobo or videocard may be going. with the ethernet trouble it could be just in xp as i have not instaleld the drivers in '98. i may try doing that. if that doesnt work then it seems mobo would be the problem (or another common denominator that would effect ethernet card, video card, and tv tuner card) if it is the same in winxp and win98. the picture still stinks in '98.
so i think i should reinstall xp - just have to find my disk...
thanks
any other help would rock
 
well
win98 has been running flawlessly for over 24 hours now. I think I am going to attempt to install the ethernet card to see if that will work. Then i will likely reinstall windows. xp..
thanks
any other ideas will be great
 
If you are happy doing a reinstall of Win98 [If the following doesn't work], then UPGRADE to XP.

It is possible that you might have a basic hardware incompatibility with XP though.

Try running [with the XP cd in the drive]:
Winnt32.exe /checkupgradeonly

That will close another door.
 
thanks
yeah i have the dual boot going. win98 boots up fine but winxp fails as above. I will do what you suggested for xp and see what it brings. just have to find the cd 🙂
thanks!
 
hi all
thanks for the help. upgrader shouldnt be needed b/c i ran winxp on this computer for 2 years without a problem. i reformatted the xp partition and reinstalled windows but after the windows xp welcome screen with the kit progress bar I get a blank screen....again. should i reformat both partitions? is there an easy way to rejoin the partitions? i think i lost my copy of partition magic when i moved. any ideas what may be going on? of note, when i boot up in win98 the video is still messed up. problem is the nic card doesnt have win98 drivers lol
what i want to try to do now is merge the partitions and then format the whole thing and then reinstall xp either by installing 98 and then upgrading to xp or by going straight to xp.
any other ideas?
thanks!
 
Try an upgrade of your existing win98 installation.

Will you be ok if you lose this? Cos, I would rather have 98 [am using it now] than a corrupt installation of xp.

Make sure you backup any data/settings/mail etc before you try anything.
In xp, you can use Disk Management to merge the partitions. - [comes with xp]

Let us know how it goes


 
Try splitting your Winxp partitionin 2 using fdisk or something similar....maybe bad sectors on HD drive....try to install XP on both new partitions leaving win 98 where it is.....and see if there are any problems...
 
tried adding a new partition...couldnt boot in xp
formatted everything and made 2 into 1 partition. installed xp -> same problem. then reformatted and installed 98 -> works like a charm except the usual crappy lines on the screen (video card). even the old nic card works....so now i am going to upgrade to xp and see what happens. cross your fingers 🙂
 
ok
so 98 works
xp did the same stinkin thing again. i think i am going to make a boot up disk with fdisk and then fdisk again and see what happens.

this is what happens to summarize

i ran xp on this system for 2 years without a problem
then slowly things started to go
nic card wouldnt work
monitor picture would have crazy lines or colors
...
now whenever i boot in windows i get the windows welcome screen with the kit bar going nuts it goes to a blank screen like it always does and then boom the monitor powers down. pc is still running. keyboard will sometimes lose power. same thing happens every time i boot into xp. even with new installations.
problem with 98 is that the hard drives that have all the data i want to share out are formatted in ntfs i think. plus i am not sure if 98 would recognize their hugeness. i may try to do it anyway. any ideas? i am getting quite frustrated. tempted to bring it to circuit city or a local place to get it looked at since it is out of warranty...
thanks
 
well....98 doesnt detect the extra HDs. but i just realized that i may not have checked to see if the pci card for connecting the other hds was installed. the hds which are on the IDE cables connected to the burner werent detected either. i may have to get a new lower end machine to serve out my shows. hmmmm..............
 
430 true PS
Click to expand...
Does this refer to an Antec TruePower 430? The Dementia 4100 uses a Dell-specific power supply design (Dell 20-pin pattern plus 6-pin AUX, according to the PC Power & Cooling reference). That could have something to do with this 😉

edit: big picture, it's a 4.5-year-old computer. Why not build yourself a new one if it continues being flaky 🙂
 
hi
thanks for the response. it is the PS u mentioned and replaced the dell one as i needed more power for my hds. it has run flawlessly for almost 2 years now. i think i have two problems. obviously the vid card is messed up. the second is not being able to run winxp all of a sudden. not sure if the PS after running great for 2 years would cause this? esp if win98 works fine.
i am thinking about what to do about a new pc.
i just bought i nice dell 8400 but i do not want to use that as my server. first of all, i cant fit all my HDs in it and have power and connections for all of them, even if i add my controller card. second i would rather have a dedicated pc. i thoguht about building my own but i havent ever done it and would get easily confused 🙂 second, right now i dont have the time. i will in a month i guess. third, i have a dell concession coupon i would love to use to get a lower end system. not sure.
assuming my antec 430 is not the problem i have these things i can use in the computer if i build it:
430 ps
burner
80 gig, 120gig, 250gig, 160gig hd. the 80gig is the one on my old computer (it is 1.5 yrs old as a free replacement when my old hd on my old dell went)
new nic card
i think i would need a new vid card and new sound card, although on board sound or vid would be fine for this pc as it would only be used for serving and burning shows.
any ideas on any of this?
thanks gonna read that link u sent
 
You can build your own! Photo guide with >100 photos, I even remembered snacks 😀

If you took your Dell's existing drives and heaved them all into an Antec SLK3000-B case with your TruePower430 power supply, add a new motherboard, CPU and memory, and a new operating system if necessary, you'll have a standard ATX system. That case can handle up to five hard drives just in the main HDD rack alone (which you can add a 120mm x 25mm cooling fan in front of). You can also use 5.25"-to-3.5" adapters to add three more hard drives in the 5.25" bays, and still have room for one optical drive.

Just some ideas 🙂
 
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