• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

The impossible computer problem - Don't believe me? Read this...

W

WorldRunner

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
454
I have a 5 page thread at another forum and it's becoming confusing for those who are trying to help so I'll try to keep this as simple as possible.

I rebooted my PC one day for no reason. I think I was switching mice or something and for some reason it didn't recognize the mouse I plugged in at first...so I rebooted.

ORIGINAL PROBLEM: Computer booted up normally but just before windows XP splash screen came up the computer reboots. It would do this endlessly until you turned off the system.

Attempted Solutions:

1)I tried to reinstall windows. I get several errors like "line xxxxx (changes each time) of txtsetup.sif is invalid" or "serial.sys. is corrupted."I also get several other .sys file errors. I looked every single one of them up in MS support database and they all pointed to hardware or more specifically RAM problems.

2) I bought new ram. Same errors.
3) I tried a new hard drive. Same Errors
4) I bought a new motherboard. Same Errors
5) I tried a new PSU. Same Errors
6) I tried TWO new windows XP cds... Same Errors
7) I tried a different video card....same errors
8) I tried a different CPU... same errors
9) I tried two more CD rom drives... same errors.

Ok so at this point I've spent over $100 in new hardware as well as a few hours of my time and I've replaced EVERY piece of hardware in the computer and I've gotten precisely NOWHERE.

I can't even think of anything else... Other than some kind of curse on my computer. I mean what else could it possibly be. I've ruled out everything basically other than going to buy yet another motherboard which I'm not willing to do at this point.

The *ONLY* thing I can thing of that I haven't done is flash either motherboard. I've never had to flash a board before so the process seems unresonable to me but I guess if someone thinks that it could work I guess I could try it. They're both AWARD bios... Both Soyo motherboards (not the same model).

Remember...I've tried all the hardware on both motherboards... So basically as I've said I have tried every possible configuration and combination of hardware... Nothing has changed. :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
OK ... have you tried a different mouse and keyboard ...??
 
Are you running RAM in dual channel mode? I found that my mobo did the EXACT same thing until I took out one piece of RAM. For some reason my mobo and XP did not like having a single dual channel. Does with with dual dual channel. Try just one memory stick.
 
well whats the same every time the case??? maybe your grounding/shorting yourself out somplace, try it out of the case. try the original set up, change everything out one at a time, or try everything new togeather and see what you get.

(you bought a psu, cpu, ram, mobo, hard drive and optical drives. so you should have two computers right?) give it a try on cardboard or a wooden table.
 
cruz610 said:
Are you running RAM in dual channel mode? I found that my mobo did the EXACT same thing until I took out one piece of RAM. For some reason my mobo and XP did not like having a single dual channel. Does with with dual dual channel. Try just one memory stick.
Click to expand...

Neither board is dual channel. I've been trying only one stick of ram. I've tried all 6 slots (both mobos combined) with all 4 sticks of ram. Talk about tedious.
 
WorldRunner said:
Neither board is dual channel. I've been trying only one stick of ram. I've tried all 6 slots (both mobos combined) with all 4 sticks of ram. Talk about tedious.
Click to expand...
Run memtest86 just to be on the safe side. If that comes back clean you can then definately say it is the CPU or the mobo. My suggestion would be to take your NEW mobo with a NEW CPU and see if it still spits out the errors. If it does, then a demon has possesed your computer and nothing but human sacrifice will help you :p :D ;)
//edit
Oh yea...you could try flashing the board but I have limited experience with how flashing would help you out in this situation. The only times I flash are when BIOS updates are out that offer more features or better stability!
 
Try checking if the CPU Cooler is well installed. Got the thermal paste well placed? To check it easyly, go to the BIOS hardware monitor, and see the CPU temperature. If it's high (like 60 ºC or something) that might be the problem. It heats up a lot when booting up windows, so it reboots/shuts down. Mine did that, cuz the thermal paste wasn't well placed... :confused:
 
BLsibub666 said:
well whats the same every time the case??? maybe your grounding/shorting yourself out somplace, try it out of the case. try the original set up, change everything out one at a time, or try everything new togeather and see what you get.

(you bought a psu, cpu, ram, mobo, hard drive and optical drives. so you should have two computers right?) give it a try on cardboard or a wooden table.
Click to expand...

Sure... won't hurt to try that I guess. At this point I'm just pessimistic that anything is going to work.
 
CrazyBomber said:
Try checking if the CPU Cooler is well installed. Got the thermal paste well placed? To check it easyly, go to the BIOS hardware monitor, and see the CPU temperature. If it's high (like 60 ºC or something) that might be the problem. It heats up a lot when booting up windows, so it reboots/shuts down. Mine did that, cuz the thermal paste wasn't well placed... :confused:
Click to expand...

I learned that lesson already about 4-5 years ago with a tbird that I burnt up. It runs 46c/116f on startup.

I don't think that's bad for a p4 really.
 
This may sound dumb, but have you tried booting up and doing a recovery install? or is it far too late for that?
 
Have you tried different drive cables?

Like an idiot I replace 2 drives in a system I was building before I swapped out the fifty cent ide cable and it started working... DOH'!!!!

Oh, and I didn't see it listed, but what kind of PSU are you using?...

-Jeff
 
Bring me the computer and let me look at it....lol....

Is the ram and motherboard compatable?

Did you buy the stuff new?

Have you tried replacing the cd-rom drive?

Have you tried new ide cables?

Maybe you broked it and it is a sign saying no more comptuer for you.
 
Long shot here:

Do you have a floppy on it? Because I pulled a lot of hair out due to a bad floppy a while back.
 
if you're very sure the memory is compatible with the motherboard(s) you tested, I'd start looking at your drive cables.

You don't live right next door to where homer simpson works, by chance? Any 3-eyed goldfish spotted in your neighborhood recently?
 
unplug everything not essential to it's most basic operation as well...you don't need any conflicting devices helping matters for the worse.
 
I had the exact same problem as you. I have had this happen to me twice. One time, the Windows XP CD somehow became corrupt. The other time, one of my RAM modules went bad. I noticed that you already tried new ram but it can't hurt to use memtest86 to make sure that the RAM modules are ok. If memtest86 passes with no errors, then I would think that it is the CD.
 
Oh BTW, what motherboard are you using? I noticed that my Asus A64 MB would give errors if I had the RAM modules in the wrong slots. try to find the motherboard manual online to see what it says about thr ram slots. Some things to consider is what speed is the ram and is it single or double sided modules.
 
sshizzle said:
Long shot here:

Do you have a floppy on it? Because I pulled a lot of hair out due to a bad floppy a while back.
Click to expand...

No...I never ever use floppies unless I have to.

eastvillager said:
if you're very sure the memory is compatible with the motherboard(s) you tested, I'd start looking at your drive cables.

You don't live right next door to where homer simpson works, by chance? Any 3-eyed goldfish spotted in your neighborhood recently?
Click to expand...

The memory is compatible. Two of the sticks that I've tested were in the originally before the motherboard decided it didn't like them (even though they work in other boards)

Gruntled Employee said:
unplug everything not essential to it's most basic operation as well...you don't need any conflicting devices helping matters for the worse.
Click to expand...

I have done that. Tell me what I have plugged in that's not essential.

I suppose you could argue that I don't need the optical drive...but I won't have much fun watching my computer reboot over and over because the os is corrupt.

Arkanian said:
I had the exact same problem as you. I have had this happen to me twice. One time, the Windows XP CD somehow became corrupt. The other time, one of my RAM modules went bad. I noticed that you already tried new ram but it can't hurt to use memtest86 to make sure that the RAM modules are ok. If memtest86 passes with no errors, then I would think that it is the CD.
Click to expand...

The memory works in another system :eek:
 
Arkanian said:
Oh BTW, what motherboard are you using? I noticed that my Asus A64 MB would give errors if I had the RAM modules in the wrong slots. try to find the motherboard manual online to see what it says about thr ram slots. Some things to consider is what speed is the ram and is it single or double sided modules.
Click to expand...

I don't have the motherboard model #'s with me right now however...as I said I've tried all four sticks in every possible slot one at a time :(
 
fffffffffffffffffffoooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt :D
 
The same thing happened to my brother's computer. It turns out that he left the CMOS jumper in the reset position after screwing with the bios settings :) That one had me stumped until I thought to clear the CMOs and then looking at the jumper position, I realized that was the problem. But it sounds to me like something is not grounded out right. Scientific reasoning would suggest that the one constant you have is the case. . .so I would do a very thorough inspection of the case and look for possible problems.
 
As what Colt said, I'd take out the motherboard and place it on cardboard or foam (something non-conductive....NOT carpet) and try running it to see if there's a ground problem (although this should prevent the computer from turning on all together).
 
XeRo_Dark said:
fffffffffffffffffffoooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt :D
Click to expand...

You're either taunting me...or you didn't read ANY of my thread.

Besides...I've tried CLEAN drives. and they give the same (or similar) errors. I'm afraid to take my C: drive from my gaming computer becuase it has roughly 220gb of invaluable files that I can't afford to lose with all of these shenanigans.

I appreciate your guys help...but some of you aren't reading my thread ;)
 
You said before your CPU runs at about 46C on startup, well, that IS bad for a Pentium. The reason being, once it hits 50C, it's going to start underclocking itself to stay cool. Anyway, that said, I'm wondering. How is your chipset cooled? I know the northbridge is the biggest weakpoint when it comes to things like FSB, and it controls memory among other things, so problems can occur. I've noticed many boards that boast a 200 FSB come with a cheap painted aluminum passive heatsink, so they can't handle heat at all. Memtest might be a good test for this, but, it's possible that until the system is being truly pushed, no errors would occur (I have this.)

Oh, and, have you checked the memory timings? You can have all sorts of weird problems if they are set too tight. My memory was RATED for 2-2-2-6, but, the time I tried it at DDR400 speeds, I discovered that it can't come even close to handling what it said it could. Then again, I found out this crappy ram couldn't handle DDR400 speeds at all (even at higher latencies it will EVENTUALLY generate an error after about an hour or two.) I know we can rule out some of the memory issues because you've already looked there, but I wondered as something like this can be easily overlooked, especially if your board is set to get the speed automatically, which they don't seem to do accurately in my experience.

EDIT: They are right. You should run memtest. There's no harm in it, it doesn't require any installation or anything. If nothing else, you can just tell them you ran it for a long time and it never had any errors and no one can tell you to do it again. ^_^
 
Where does your computer plug into? Wall, UPS, Surge?

If you are going through UPS or Surge, try booting with dirty power.

You don't have any huge sources of EMI next to your computer, do you?

Did you use a magnetic screwdriver when you were working inside your computer?

You may have answered this already (there is a lot of info in here) but have you tried different IDE cables yet?

You have stated that you have swapped out pretty much every part in your case trying to get this thing to work. My question is, how many of those swaps were one at a time and how many were done in tandom with another swap?

Instead of putting good parts into your known bad case to try and spot the problem. Put your questionable parts into a good case and see what causes it to not boot.

Luck
 
A surge protector. It's a pretty good one. I can try another one I guess. EMI sources would be the same as always... nothing really. All I have in that room is a HDTV and another computer, a desk and two chairs. :)

No magnetic screwdriver.
 
maybe just one of you parts went bad, and while you were swapping parts it destroyed the ones you put in there, and that bad part was swapped out after the other parts were destroyed, so you wouldnt notice it. im thinking mobo? try every single friggin piece one by one in a working computer, but do the mobo last.
 
Just making sure, but have you tried all your new parts together? Just not putting a new part with the old computer config to test, but assembling all the new stuff, etc
 
What are you using for the sound card?

The reason im asking is that if you are using a pci sound card instead of the onboard one, windows loads sound last. there might be a problem there.
 
YEs...I tried all the new parts together.. I've literally tried every combination...I'm not kidding.

No sound card... I have onboard audio disabled and there's no card in the system.
 
Have you tried hitting the motherboard with a hammer? You might jolt something into place.
 
Something is not adding up here. Im assuming you tried using different cables.

Have you tried installing another version of windows?

like ME or 98 just to see if they will install?
 
Have you tried Holy Water? If that doesn’t work I would go with a Holy Hand Grenade and just start fresh.
 
I know this might sound a bit hokey but at this point can't hurt, take a soft pencil eraser (crumbly kind) and rub down the contacts of your ram, video, and anything else you have swapped in and out multiple times. I have had in the past bad connections due to build up on memory / video cards, havent really seen it since the pentium generation
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top