Two Problems

L

LongShotHero

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
386
My dad's computer is having 2 problems that may be related. Whenever you first start his computer, it POST beeps and then a constant beep comes out of the case speaker until it gets restarted, then after it boots again, no more noise. This has been happening for a few months, but I thought it had to do with the floppy that was ripped out of my old gateway, but it isn't because I took the floppy out 2 days ago. Also there are random restarts with no errors. I thought there was something wrong with his PSU but there isn't, because I replaced that when I took out the floppy 2 days ago. The restarts seem to happen during any type of gaming. It was happening during my dad's age of empires 2 games (don't ask he has newer RTS but he enjoys that the most), and last night it rebooted when my friend was playing some random flash game.

His specs are:
3200+ winny, 2x512 corsair value, antec smartpower350(replaced by noname 450), gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939, Chaintech fx5700LE, Compusa DVD burner, old harddrive from his gateway(10gb), and an old harddrive also from his old gateway but it was added so its not as old as the first(30gb). I forget the brands of the HDs but they are both IDE, the older one(10gb) is probably around 7 years old and the newer one is maybe 3-4. Windows 2kpro is on the 10gb one

thanks in advance.
 
Have you tried checking the temperatures inside your system? The random restarts can be caused by overheating of one component or another. This could be caused by excess dust caked in some fan? I dunno, just throwing out an idea.
 
Run a series of virus scans on the comp. Check sig for a link. Also, check the event logs in admin tools>computer management. The event log can give alot of useful information when it comes to things like that. Also, you may want to run memtest. It could be that the RAM is crapping out. SAme with the HDD. Run some stress tests on them, see what comes up. :)
 
random restart problems:
either bad PSU (but you've changed that so we rule it out)
memory ( corrupt or bad memory can definetly cause that)
run memtest and check for bad sectors, or change the memory sticks.
 
In the event log, the error it gives around the times the restarts happened says "Service Control Manager" as the source and "7000" as the event.

Oh and the CPU temps are fine, 26C for both the sensors picked up by speedfan. I don't know what the second detector is though. And the third detector is reading -3C which is odd. These are idle temps.
 
Double click on the event and see what it says. It'll probably have a more detailed explaination as to what is happening.
 
The hpdj service failed to start due to the following error:
The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement the service.
Click to expand...

That is what it says when I doubleclicked the error.
 
Funky. That's a deskjet thing. Dunno why that would error.

Did you ever run the memtest software? It still sounds to me like a memory issue.
 
Nah I haven't because he doesn't have a floppy. I'm gonna put it on a CD and test when I get home cause I am going out to get shoes now.
 
Alright, I got the Ultimate boot CD, tryed memtest86 and memtest86+, and neither of them would even start, the computer would just restart.

Update: the windows memory diagnostic worked even though the other two didn't, ran 3 passes before my dad stopped it to use his computer. I am going to run it overnight. Is this test good? I've never heard any mention of it before.
 
memtest is the best software to test for the memory.
another solution is to change the memory sticks. if you have 2 sticks try putting one stick in and at different slot, but if you can get your hands on a different memory (brand new is advisable) sticks it'd be great. put the new sticks in and try running memtest again see if it boots and check for bad sectors, if it doesnt still boot up, put the sticks on another slot, if still wouldnt boot -go get yourself a new mobo. make sure when u put new sticks in, they are NEW. i advise a branded memory.
 
alright, so I took the memory out of that system put it in mine, and it worked fine. Took my memory(which works fine) out of my system and put it in his, doesn't work. So I guess it must be the motherboard. Anyone know about gigabyte's warranty length? I couldn't find it on their site.
 
Not sure about their RMA policies, but damn man, that sucks. :( Mobo death can be hard. HOwever, this gives you the opportunity to get a new board, something like ASUS. :)

Usually mobo problems are easier to diagnose than this though. I guess there's a first time for everything.

::EDIT:: Actually, I just noticed something. You said teh HDD's were from another comp, and pretty old? Have you tested those yet? Failing HDD is a posibility, and would probably be easier and cheaper to replace than the mobo. it would suck to get a new board only to find that it's the HDD's taht are the problem.
 
as sieravor mentioned hdd:
hdd's if they are failing either crash permanently or not all, and the best way to tell is if ur hdd is making more and much noise than usual.
but hey, to rule out the hdd run defrag and check for bad sectors if the computer would let u get that far.
 
Well its not the Hard Drives cause I just tested both of them so it looks like the motherboard.
 
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