Hey all,
Here's my headache:
I've got a three-year old self-assembled system in rough shape. It has worked
smoothly and without problems for three years, until last week. It is a
"critical" system to me (although I have the data backed up elsewhere, I would
strongly prefer to save the system state, settings, etc. as well). I assembled
the machine myself years back, but I am by no means an expert when it comes to
hardware troubleshooting and repair.
The symptom, at this point, is a continuous series of repeated beeps when I
power the machine on. Before I get more into that, however, some basic
background info:
motherboard -- Gigabyte 7A-GXDR+ (Pheonix BIOS)
RAM -- 256MB of generic DDR
CPU -- AMD Athlon 1600(?)
OS -- Win2k with all SPs, patches, etc.
Last week, the system began rebooting on its own. Very infreqeuently at first,
then every five minutes two days later. At this point, I tried to boot it
several more times, and the results were:
1st try: successful POST, followed by "missing or corrupt ntoskrnl.exe" error
message,
2nd try: machine hanging at end of POST,
3rd try: no video display, no beeps, etc. The CDROM lights came on, and fans
were spinning.
So, as you see, the situation got progressively worse.
I initially worried that perhaps a virus/worm infection had deleted critical
system files, but google calmed those fears. Then, I thought perhaps one of
the most recent MS patches had flubbed something up, but again, could not find
any evidence of others' similar troubles on google. The only other change I've
made to the system recently was adding a UPS to the setup, connected via serial
port, with "safe shutdown" software installed. However, that was about a month
ago, and had not given me any problems whatsoever.
I talked to some co-workers, who suggested the problem probably was with the
power supply possibly going bad, which may have corrupted ntoskrnl.exe when it
was active, during one of the many improper shutdowns / reboots. Seems logical
-- the power supply is about 4-5 years old. They suggested that I test the
supply by sticking some pins in the ATX connector while removed from the
motherboard -- I opted simply to switch it out for another 300w supply that I
had around (never been used, purchased less than a year ago).
Switched out the supply, checked all wire / card connections, and powered up --
nothing, except for repeated beeps now from the motherboard. No video,
nothing. Except for the beeps.
I've googled this, and it seems that repeated POST beeps indicates memory
problems. I checked that the stick was secure, and switched it between the
different slots (though I think it's only supposed to work in slot 1) -- still
nothing. Could memory failure be somehow related to / caused by the power supply failure?
Unfortunately, I don't have any other DDR sticks around to swap out and test.
SO, my question is -- do you think the RAM is the problem? Should I simply buy
another stick, and expect that will probably solve the problem? Or might my
problems be larger / more complicated (f'd motherboard, hard drive, ?)?
Additionally, has anyone ever successfully repaired ntosknrl.exe from the
Windows installation CD, or will I probably have to do an entire re-install,
and lose my settings, etc.
THANKS much for any suggestions, help, advice...
p.s. -- assuming I DO need to buy new RAM, what are the preferred brands these days (I won't be buying generic again) -- Kingston, crucial, other..?
Bob
