Replaced almost entire computer -- same problem! Hilarity about to ensue.

Xenon14

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Please help.

Background: A friend of mine turned on his computer and it would just keep reseting. I tried everything with bios; nothing worked. I figured his ram was screwed up, so I took some sticks out and played around with that with mixed outcomes (sometimes it would get to the option screen "load windows" or "load windows in safe mode) but beyond that it would still reset.

Long story short:

Replaced ram - same problem
Tried using MOBO GPU and Stand Alone - same problem
Replaced power supply - same problem
Replaced Mobo - same problem
Replaced CPU (Athlon x2 w/ Athlon x4) - same problem

The only original parts are the 2 DVD drives & Hard Drive.

The reason why I never suspected that the Hard Drive failed was b/c I tried booting from Knoppix and it didn't work. Could it be that it was an older version of Knoppix? How should I proceed?
 

Fardringle

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2000
9,197
763
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How long does the computer stay on before it resets? Is it almost immediate, or does it stay on for a while before resetting? If it is almost immediate, then it is probably a short circuit somewhere. If it stays on for a while, then it is more likely to be a heat issue or a problem with the DVD or hard disk.

Try booting the system with all of the drives disconnected (i.e. just boot into the system BIOS) to see if it will stay on or if it still resets automatically. If it stays on, then reconnect the drives one at a time until it no longer works properly in order to find the drive that is causing the problem.


If the system is rebooting over and over as soon as it turns on, disconnect the case wiring (speaker, reset switch, power button, etc) from the motherboard, then try to turn on the computer by using a screwdriver or something similar to temporarily short-circuit the two pins on the motherboard for the power button. If it turns on normally, then the power button in the case is bad.

If not, then you may have a short between the case and the motherboard (make sure all standoff screws are installed in the correct spots and the motherboard is not touching the back of the case anywhere except on the screw mounting holes. You can also verify this by assembling the computer outside of the case and putting the motherboard on a static free surface to see if it will boot normally.
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
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Try swapping the keyboard or the mouse. All it takes is a sticking key or button. And sometimes the electronics in these items just go belly up.
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,552
341
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It could absolutely be the HDD, or the cable. I spent a couple days trying to troubleshoot an HP Media Center PC that would just spuriously reset. Did like you, swapped out everything, well almost everything.

To make a long story short, I decided for shits and giggles to place a jumper on the SATA 3.0 Gb/s HDD in order to force SATA 1.5 Gb/s operation. Presto chango - no resets. I swapped the cable with a new one using SATA 3.0 Gb/s mode but the resets came back. Wasn't the cable.

So the HDD interface/electronics were going wonky when operating in SATA 3.0 Gb/s mode, which went away in 1.5 Gb/s mode. I replaced the HDD and all was well.
 

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,144
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agreed with the suggestions above. Never rule anything out.

As another example: one of my HDD's on my windows home server box went totally shot (BSOD NTFS.sys every time on bootup). At the time I didn't have a monitor hooked up to it, and I pulled the HDD's out (I wasn't going to use the WHS box anymore). Went to put in a win 7 RC dvd, BSOD NTFS.sys on the windows setup screen.

Took the bad hdd out, worked like a charm. Even if you aren't booting off of it, when something goes to initialize or mount that bad hdd....icky things can happen.
 

Xenon14

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Thanks for all the feedback. Will try out suggestions -- hopefully this weekend.

-----
IN regards to some responses: All drives are sata. I tried booting one drive at a time (it won't let me boot from dvd drive; it demands i have a hard drive connected even though I updated BIOS to have DVD boot first). Furthermore, when I had 2 dvd drives connected it only detected one or the other. Also, I got an IDE to SATA adapter and tried to boot using an IDE hard drive from a different computer --- it wouldn't work, but the error message (I forget exactly what) was different than the one with the native hard drive (so I'm thinking it may indeed be hard drive problem). Also the MOBO has Power/Reset buttons built into the mobo, so I did unplug all the wiring from the case.
 

Xenon14

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Update: The mobo is A780GM-A Black Series.

I tried connecting a different hard drive that has Windows XP. The computer no longer reboots on its own, and I can get to the option screen of running Windows XP or In safe mode, etc. But no matter what I do, I get an error message.

Here's the error message: Windows could not start becaues of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. How do I proceed?? Thanks.
 

davidrees

Senior member
Mar 28, 2002
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Are you trying to boot a disk with Windows XP that was installed on another PC?

The way I read it, you took a bootable Windows XP Hard Drive off some other system and are now trying to boot it on this problem computer - is that accurate?

If so, it is likely (read: certain) that the Windows installation on the hard drive is expecting a totally different hard disk controller. That's one thing that is just not transferable.

It could also be a mismatch/problem with AHCI / SATA / RAID mode between the disk and your motherboard.

Can you format a hard drive and boot off of a live CD of some kind? Maybe one of the Windows PE disks or some kind of Linus live disc?
 

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
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Update: The mobo is A780GM-A Black Series.
Here's the error message: Windows could not start becaues of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. How do I proceed?? Thanks.
As noted, it's expecting a certain kind of disk controller and is finding a different one. XP can't adapt itself to that.

To fix this problem, you can do an XP "Repair Install". This basically re-installs XP on top of the old one, installing the proper disk controller drivers for the new computer. A "Repair Install" keeps your existing data and installed programs. You lose any Windows Updates or Service packs beyond what are on the XP Install CD you use for the Repair Install.
 

tonyyy

Member
Nov 10, 2009
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As davidrees mention.

I would highly recommend you reformat the hard drive and install windows xp fresh.

Windows xp does not like booting on a system that has a different hard drive controller.

If there are important files that your friend needs off the hard drive I would connect it to a external usb hard drive case and pull the data off.

Good luck