Comp won't boot - total weirdness, need advice

M'ichal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
423
Hello,

My gf's comp is behaving really weird and I lost any ideas as to what might be causing it.
About two weeks ago she turned it on, it displayed the eMachines logo, froze on boot and when she turned it on again it wouldn't show anything anymore, it just hung there frozen.

I did a bunch of testing using my spare parts and narrowed it down to the mobo. So I got her a new mobo (well, used one, but it was a working one) and the comp was back working again.

At least for a few days...she turnes it on this morning, it works. She turns it off, comes back in 10 mins (net wasn't working so she thought she'd try later) and the comp does the same thing as two weeks ago - won't boot or anything. The fans are spinning, the hdd even makes that "starting to spin" sound but then nothing happens after that.

One more thing I'd like to add is that at one point while we were sitting together in the room and talking the comp just turned on by itself (the house is NOT haunted, despite what she says). And now when I turn it OFF, the green light on the cd-drive remains lit. So it kinda made me wonder if it could be the PSU, which would be weird because it appeared to be working fine for a few days and the power seems to go through it, cause everything spins. Do you think it's possible that it could be damaging the mobos somehow?

At this point I'm really out of ideas and I don't know what to do. I don't want to tell her to get another mobo, cause what if that one breaks again? And I can't even be sure what (if anything) is damagin it.

Any input is appreciated. If you've ever seen anything like that, please write.
Thanks.

Michal

PS. Her specs are the following:
Athlon XP 2600+, Radeon 8500, ASUS K7 mobo (forgot the model), integrated sound, WD 80GB HDD, 512 DDR ram, cd-rom drive.
[edit] it's out of warranty
 
I suspect that psu,replace it and a format and fresh os install than test it
 
Tell us how you installed the new motherboard from a software standpoint. What I mean is what did you do to windows in regards to chipset drivers etc ? Did you reformat and reinstall windows when you changed the motherboard ?
 
Surprisingly, when I changed the mobo, windows worked fine, with one exception - I had to re-activate it cause I guess it somehow detected a hardware change (I heard from someone that PC vendors like eMachines etc. are able to somehow print a mark or something on the hdd that "ties" the OS to that specific hardware; not sure how that works, but I guess that's what happened to me when I changed the mobo). Either way, I re-activated and it worked fine.
The problem was that there was a lot of junk on the HDD and everything worked super-slowly (even before all the problems started to appear), so we wanted to format it. And as I was about to do it yesterday, the comp crapped out.

I'm gonna try a different PSU, we'll see what happens.
 
hmm so you didnt go to the motherboards manufacturer web site and download and install the chipset drivers ?
 
no, i didn't install the drivers. I should've, but I planned on formatting anyway so I didn't bother, especially that Windows worked fine.
 
A nice new shiney PSU will help a lot. Those eMachines tend to have weak / minimal parts. So pretty likely that the PSU is spitting random voltages. Now you have the better quality Asus board in there, it is probally making a higher demand on the PSU, therefore pushing it further out of spec.

It is always worth buying a decent PSU to protect the rest of the system. Cheap and nasty one's like eMachine use will damage other parts as they die, whereas a quality PSU like a Tagan will protect the PC from damage in time of failure.

You want one of these beautys: Antec PSU Tester. This little device will spot a dodgy PSU. I used to test my PSUs by the "plug it in, if it turns on, it works" method. Now I have got this tester, I have found a few more dodgy PSUs that explained "weird problems" I had been having. :p

As to the "Ghost in the machine" from it turning on... is it connected to a phone line? Could be it heard the incomming call, and powered up the PC. 'tis a BIOS option that freaked me out the first time it happend to me back in the 90's.
:)

(Also - have you tested that RAM? - memtst86)
 
make sure that you didnt short the motherboard when you installed it. make sure there are no extra mb standoffs on the mb tray. check the power button and reset button to make sure they are not sticking/stuck. a stuck switch would keep things powered up but not let the pc post. make sure none of the molex or other connectors have a loose or pushed out pin. other than that, it would have to be the psu. good luck.
 
Guys, thanks a lot for all your input, really. You gave me a few ideas and tips on what more to watch for and what to be careful with.

BlueMeanie - I don't think it's the phone callls that cause it to turn on, although I haven't actually payed attention, so who knows...maybe it is that? That'd be really funny. btw. that PSU tester you pointed out is pretty neat, I didn't even know they existed.

I plugged in a new PSU today, but the comp won't boot so I guess the mobo got busted :( really sucks, cause it was a pretty decent one but only cost $15 so at least not too much money wasted.

Once again, thank you for all the input, I love this forum! I'll let you know what happens.
 
As to the "Ghost in the machine" from it turning on... is it connected to a phone line? Could be it heard the incomming call, and powered up the PC. 'tis a BIOS option that freaked me out the first time it happend to me back in the 90's.

Wait wait wait. You mean I can CALL my home phone from the elevator, and by the time I get into my apartment, my computer will be ON. :eek:
 
Arcygenical said:
Wait wait wait. You mean I can CALL my home phone from the elevator, and by the time I get into my apartment, my computer will be ON. :eek:
Yes. That is what the "wake up on..." settings are for in the BIOS. Normally amoung the power saving. It may say "wake on modem" or "wake on IRQ" (you often need to set something to say which IRQ your modem is on as well).

You should be able to work it out, if not post back.

Once you have it working, you should also be able to get the next step to do something useful, like make the PC put the kettle on. LOL. :D


As to the Antec PSU tester - it is well worth it's money. Only cost me ten quid (UK Pounds). best purchase I have made in ages. :D
 
Probably a FIC AU mainboard and they stuffed the box with a Bestec PSU, both are known to go tit's up after a while...

Since you're out of warranty now, do a quick 5 minute check of the capacitors on the motherboard and in the power supply... They may be bloated, leaking, dead or all of the above....
 
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