Dad messing up his system again....

zoobaby

zoobaby

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
6,179
Ok, dad calls says his computer is not starting. I go over to assess the situation.
System specs:
AMD 2500xp (not overclocked)
Abit NF7s rev2
512mb Ram (not sure but Kingston I think)
wd80gig
cd
cdrw
300W Enlight psu
WinXP SP2

Ran virus scan and Adaware latest updates on both - Clean

Problem:
Let system off 15 minutes, boots fine. Reboot - system doesn't post, no monitor feedback, no beep
Let system off 15 minutes, boots fine. Let idle, monitor shuts off, system wont wake up.
No alarms when it does boot, but system acts sluggish.

I know what I am doing and I think it may be the power supply or he fuxored the OS somehow. Any other ideas before I tell him to reformat or buy a new PSU?

Thanks in advance.
 
Interview him first to see what he was doing before it died, so you can get a better handle of what might have changed for it to die.
 
The only thing he said he did was copy some files over from an old hd. He is not a computer idiot, but not an expert either. I did grill him pretty hard, but didn't sound like anything obvious.
 
Drive is not failing. It doesn't make any noise out of the ordinary. Also ran WD diagnostic tools and it passed.

Keep the ideas coming... I will be checking this thread regularly.
 
Run a Memory test on the Ram to see if it is corrupt/ bad. And try another PSU from a different machine.
Good Luck!
 
Not the power supply...ARRGGG!!!!
He is going to try and clear the CMOS and see if that changes anything.

I am getting sick of tech support for the family. Next time I am telling him to buy one off the shelf and let them support it.
 
zoobaby said:
Not the power supply...ARRGGG!!!!
He is going to try and clear the CMOS and see if that changes anything.

I am getting sick of tech support for the family. Next time I am telling him to buy one off the shelf and let them support it.
Click to expand...

Been there, done that....will keep doing. Especially when I live 3 hours away now. I let Dell deal with my parents. :D

-tReP
 
zoobaby said:
Not the power supply...ARRGGG!!!!
He is going to try and clear the CMOS and see if that changes anything.

I am getting sick of tech support for the family. Next time I am telling him to buy one off the shelf and let them support it.
Click to expand...


Your father brought you into this world for crying out loud, The least you could do is help him out. You know to repay him back for those 18 years of paying for your ass to eat/clothe you and put a roof over your head.
 
Daemia said:
Your father brought you into this world for crying out loud, The least you could do is help him out. You know to repay him back for those 18 years of paying for your ass to eat/clothe you and put a roof over your head.
Click to expand...


LOL...True that...Just frustrating since he knows something about computers and is paranoid, yet he always seems to get spyware and virii and he does not back up his data, which I told him to do if it starts back up. He seems convinced it is the mobo. He is going to get a new one and try it. (Un)fortunately, my mom is visiting this weekend so I am free of support until Monday.

If anyone else has some ideas pass it on.
 
Could also try a new coat of AS5 and blow out the dust from the fans/heatsinks. It is conceivable, though unlikely, that it is very slowly overheating....Make sure the fans are spinning at the correct RPMs too. I had a fan go bad on me, but I didn't notice the noise difference, because it was nearly silent to begin with. That caused my temps to SOAR.

Have you run memtest? Inspected the board for bad caps?
 
zoobaby said:
LOL...True that...Just frustrating since he knows something about computers and is paranoid, yet he always seems to get spyware and virii and he does not back up his data, which I told him to do if it starts back up. He seems convinced it is the mobo. He is going to get a new one and try it. (Un)fortunately, my mom is visiting this weekend so I am free of support until Monday.

If anyone else has some ideas pass it on.
Click to expand...

Yeah I understand completely, My family is the same way. Just tell them that you'll start charging them oh 5 bucks an hour after about the 5th time over. My grandparents just fork over 20 bucks, I tell them to keep their money and they insist that I take it.

You could always try the CMOS, I personally think its Data Corruption on the HDD.
 
Just to let those know who helped out. It was the memory. All is good now. Thanks! :D
 
Daemia said:
Your father brought you into this world for crying out loud, The least you could do is help him out. You know to repay him back for those 18 years of paying for your ass to eat/clothe you and put a roof over your head.
Click to expand...

well, to be totally accurate, his mother brought him into the world, his father just made it possible for her to do so, and helped raise him.... :D :D

man, talk about some REAL childbirth pain if his dad brought him into the world....they say kidney stones will bring a man to his knees, imagine a baby.... :eek: :eek:

but one thing to definitely consider with the original problem is to create a ghost image of the hard drive after a fresh new reformat/reinstall, and after making sure everything works as it should. makes life SOOOOOO much easier.....
 
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