troubleshooting help needed (w2k; after login ->crash)

[Crashless]

The system acted up after switching screen resolution.

Windows 2000, asus a7n8x-e deluxe, amd 2500+ (1.9ghz), 1gb pc2700(dual channel).

The system boots fine to safe mode, for a time. I'm able to rummage around, and I've disabled all startup programs I can find. (All startup folders, many startup keys in registry, all non-system related services). It seems as though after a while though, the system will freeze with no specific trigger. I've also unplugged everything except mouse/keyboard/monitor/c: HDD. I have not removed PCI cards, but have reseated everything.

Strange thing: When I leave all 4 eide devices pluged in (3 hdds, 1 dvd+/-rw) the slave on channel 1 (a hdd), and the master on ch 2 (the dvdrw) have issues. They aren't always recognized by the bios. And the dvd has a 50/50 chance of being recognized, but it gets in a poll-loop (ie: the drive access light turns on 2 seconds/off 2 seconds and the dvd drive clicks in sync, won't open drive tray). I haven't found what causes it to get stuck in this loop or not yet, for now it's random.

When booting normally, the system logs on, draws the desktop, works for a couple of seconds as the system comes online, then freezes. Completely unresponsive, no CAD, mouse movement, screen just freezes. The system behaves the same way when booting to vga mode, so I don't think it's related to my screen resolution change, that was most likely a coincidence.

I just booted off the w2k install CD, and am in the repair console. I have no emergency disk to repair from...yell at me later, I know this was a mistake. I'm currently running a "chkdsk c: /r" to check for bad sectors, but I'm at a loss for what to do next.

I'm begining to think it's either the powersupply, or the hdd, maybe the motherboard but I'm really hoping that isn't it. I briefly tried to get it to reflash the bios, but it didn't like the floppy I made for it, so I canceled out successfully.

I'm considering taking a free drive and trying to install window 2003 server on it (an upgrade i've been looking for an excuse to do for a while). But I really don't want to go through that if I can avoid it, I've spent a year and a half getting this server (my primary HTPC) just perfect, and would really not like having to reinstall everything.

Does anyone have any ideas that I haven't explored?

Thanks in advance,

Crashless (the poser... )

 

[Crashless]

Well, after my chkdsk reported it 'fixed some errors'. I rebooted successfully with only the c: hdd connected. I messed around a little, restarted a couple of times, and everything seemed fine.

So I then reconnected all the EIDE devices, and crash...

I've noticed that all the drives connected to the eide controller seem to be spinning up/down a lot. Like they're being shut down suddenly, then spun back up.

I think the odds that I lost 4 drives at one is very unlikely, and am thinking it's motherboard related, as I still can't get the built-in awdflash.exe utility to work. It decompresses, but the won't echo any keypresses to allow me to enter the file name to flash.

And as I'm running w2k, I can't use format a: /s to make a usable boot disk to run the dos flash utility.

Does anyone know where I can find an old version of format.exe to make a bootable floppy disk?

Thanks.

 

[djnes]

It sounds like it might be the power supply, if the drives are power up and down. You can download a bootable floppy image from www.bootdisk.com and then add the files you need.

 

[Crashless]

Well, an extra powersupply, I do have.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Phoenix86]

Also consider downloading the drive manuf.'s diag utility.

All of which are located on http://www.ultimatebootcd.com or the manuf.'s web site.

 

[Crashless]

Also consider downloading the drive manuf.'s diag utility.

All of which are located on http://www.ultimatebootcd.com or the manuf.'s web site.

That's a seriously valuable disk image. Everything in one place. Thanks a lot!

 

[Crashless]

Now we're hummin'!

I unplugged the power supply, and plugged in one I had that was for a mod I'm planning, and it works!

It appears as though my resolution switch caused my graphics card (gf6800nu) to spike it's power draw, and killed the psu.

I guess that's what happens when a psu is on for a year and a half straight.

Time to make a backup of everything though. I've learned my lesson for sure.

Now I just need to dust off my dremmel to get the psu to fit it's new home. Damn overture case...

Thanks to everyone for your help.