Computer wont boot up

shortyz · 06-28-2008, 09:50 PM

Hi,
Well ive tried searching and i couldnt find anything with a problem like mine, and heres what happend.

A few months ago i was using power point and accidently copied a large picture and it froze soo i turned it off and turned it back on and it just stayed black on the screen. soo i tried shutting off the moniter and turning it back on and still no response. although the computer did turn on and made all the usually sounds it just didnt show anything on the screen. i tried putting in a new video card to see if it was my videocard and it did the same thing. i tried a different moniter and it did the same thing. My dad thought the north bridge of the motherboard over heated. so i put the computer aside for a few months untill today.

i plugged it all in and turned it on and it started doing the same thing. but i noticed a power switch in the back of the moniter. so i turned it off and on and it showed the usually boot up stuff and the windows loading screen! i went out of the room for a second and came back and it was black again and doing the same stuff. soo i assume my computer isnt totally messed up? so there must be a way to fix it?
things to know about it is that its using 2 RAID harddrives and its a custom build computer( by the way, im using a ASUS P4C800 Deluxe)

i cant afford a new computer and i dont want to loose my memory on my harddrives.

I thought about buying a new motherboard, same model, but there pretty hard to find.

please any suggestions? im pretty determined to fix this computer if possible

-Travis

shortyz · 06-28-2008, 10:56 PM

Please, anything i could try at all. I really want to get this computer back up and running so i could at least get my stuff on to an external hardrive

It makes a loud noise from 1 of the fans and im not to sure which
im using a samsung SyncMaster 204b and when i turned it on it shoes the words analog, and digital switching at the top left corner at the screenthen goes black and the blue light on the power button just flashes.
it only keeps doing that if i turn the moniter on and off

shortyz · 06-29-2008, 12:51 PM

Well today i was messing around with it again trying to get it to work,
and i powerd it up and all of a sudden it started booting up again! and it when perfect and even came up with the desktop and everything. Itunes worked, sound, internet, everything. i pressed restart to get my keyboard to work and it came back up perfect. But then i tryed turning it off and back on and it wouldnt come up again....

can anyone explain why that would happen?

shortyz · 06-29-2008, 02:01 PM

So i figured out that every time i move the fan that covers the processor it boots up perfectly. Soo i thought maybe its the processor and fan. I took it out and it was pretty gross. the heat sink was covered with dust and all sorts of crap. So i put in another chip and another fan and it came up and worked ok but if you turn it off it still wont boot up without moving the fan. I really dont know what to say of this Lol i hope someone else can

dwalk1989 · 06-29-2008, 04:46 PM

The processor could be getting very hot, and the BIOS could be shutting it off to prevent any damage. Is the heatsink seated right with the thermal paste below it?

Tumbleweed36 · 06-29-2008, 08:37 PM

Are you certain you have the legs of that cpu/heatsink down tightly? You know, every time you take one of those apart (CPU/Heatsink), then you must take all the old thermal paste off and redo it with new paste...you did that, ,didn't you? Also, what processor do you have, the Prescott or the Northwood?

shortyz · 06-30-2008, 11:38 AM

Ohh! paste? it was all dryed up on the processor and heat sink.
i dont think i have any extra. Ill ask my dad
i put in a different chip and fan, didnt have any of the paste or anything, and i managed to get it up and running enough for me to copy my old stuff off to a external hard drive. So me and my dad decided to just buy a hole new motherboard, and a new processor ( the same 1 i had before, it was a like a dual 3.0 Ghz or something like that) then were just gonna start it up from new soo its good as new.

But you guys thinks its just the processor over heating?
and idk what type it was, ill ask my dad later
I wouldnt be surprised if i broke my old one cuz i cant even turn on my comp now for more than 5 seconds before it just shuts down. Ive had alot of problems with it in the past anyway. shut down randomly, over heated, froze, acted weird. soo maybe its time i got a new motherboard and cpu and treated it better.

Tumbleweed36 · 06-30-2008, 06:48 PM

It simply won't work without decent thermal paste on there. Otherwise, you stand the danger of burning it up.

dwalk1989 · 07-01-2008, 11:22 AM

Yeah, you should try the thermal paste thing and see what happens. Just remove the fan/heatsink and clean off the old dried up thermal paste hand alchohol, on both the heatsink and the top of the processor, then use a towel and dry it off. Then put the processor back in and put a small dab of thermal paste and use something to spread it around evenly over the processor to make a thin layer.

dwalk1989 · 07-01-2008, 11:23 AM

My computer had the same problem, random shut downs. I had no idea how computers worked at the time, because some guy just gave me the computer. He told me he had to take off the side panel and use an outside fan to keep it cool. But even with that, when I got into like a 3D game, it would still shut down.

shortyz · 07-02-2008, 08:26 PM

Ok well i got some thermal paste on the processor and still no luck. i tryed it with my better processor and that 1 still shuts everything down a few seconds after i turn it on. so i tried it with my other processor and it still turns on, sounds like its booting up and the same thing with the Digtal and Analog repeating on the moniter. I cant even to get it to the bios load up screen like i had before. Any other suggestions i could try?
It also says "Check analog cable" on the moniter. but im using a digital cable. its not the video card cuz i already checked for that and it does the same thing with my older video card

06-28-2008, 09:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Computer wont boot up Hi, Well ive tried searching and i couldnt find anything with a problem like mine, and heres what happend. A few months ago i was using power point and accidently copied a large picture and it froze soo i turned it off and turned it back on and it just stayed black on the screen. soo i tried shutting off the moniter and turning it back on and still no response. although the computer did turn on and made all the usually sounds it just didnt show anything on the screen. i tried putting in a new video card to see if it was my videocard and it did the same thing. i tried a different moniter and it did the same thing. My dad thought the north bridge of the motherboard over heated. so i put the computer aside for a few months untill today. i plugged it all in and turned it on and it started doing the same thing. but i noticed a power switch in the back of the moniter. so i turned it off and on and it showed the usually boot up stuff and the windows loading screen! i went out of the room for a second and came back and it was black again and doing the same stuff. soo i assume my computer isnt totally messed up? so there must be a way to fix it? things to know about it is that its using 2 RAID harddrives and its a custom build computer( by the way, im using a ASUS P4C800 Deluxe) i cant afford a new computer and i dont want to loose my memory on my harddrives. I thought about buying a new motherboard, same model, but there pretty hard to find. please any suggestions? im pretty determined to fix this computer if possible -Travis Last edited by shortyz : 06-28-2008 at 10:11 PM.

06-28-2008, 10:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: Computer wont boot up Please, anything i could try at all. I really want to get this computer back up and running so i could at least get my stuff on to an external hardrive It makes a loud noise from 1 of the fans and im not to sure which im using a samsung SyncMaster 204b and when i turned it on it shoes the words analog, and digital switching at the top left corner at the screenthen goes black and the blue light on the power button just flashes. it only keeps doing that if i turn the moniter on and off Last edited by shortyz : 06-28-2008 at 10:59 PM.

06-29-2008, 12:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: Computer wont boot up Well today i was messing around with it again trying to get it to work, and i powerd it up and all of a sudden it started booting up again! and it when perfect and even came up with the desktop and everything. Itunes worked, sound, internet, everything. i pressed restart to get my keyboard to work and it came back up perfect. But then i tryed turning it off and back on and it wouldnt come up again.... can anyone explain why that would happen?

06-29-2008, 02:01 PM	#4 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: Computer wont boot up So i figured out that every time i move the fan that covers the processor it boots up perfectly. Soo i thought maybe its the processor and fan. I took it out and it was pretty gross. the heat sink was covered with dust and all sorts of crap. So i put in another chip and another fan and it came up and worked ok but if you turn it off it still wont boot up without moving the fan. I really dont know what to say of this Lol i hope someone else can

06-29-2008, 04:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
dwalk1989 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 56 OS: XP	Re: Computer wont boot up The processor could be getting very hot, and the BIOS could be shutting it off to prevent any damage. Is the heatsink seated right with the thermal paste below it?

06-29-2008, 08:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 14,110 OS: XP Professional	Re: Computer wont boot up Are you certain you have the legs of that cpu/heatsink down tightly? You know, every time you take one of those apart (CPU/Heatsink), then you must take all the old thermal paste off and redo it with new paste...you did that, ,didn't you? Also, what processor do you have, the Prescott or the Northwood? __________________ ----------

06-30-2008, 11:38 AM	#7 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: Computer wont boot up Ohh! paste? it was all dryed up on the processor and heat sink. i dont think i have any extra. Ill ask my dad i put in a different chip and fan, didnt have any of the paste or anything, and i managed to get it up and running enough for me to copy my old stuff off to a external hard drive. So me and my dad decided to just buy a hole new motherboard, and a new processor ( the same 1 i had before, it was a like a dual 3.0 Ghz or something like that) then were just gonna start it up from new soo its good as new. But you guys thinks its just the processor over heating? and idk what type it was, ill ask my dad later I wouldnt be surprised if i broke my old one cuz i cant even turn on my comp now for more than 5 seconds before it just shuts down. Ive had alot of problems with it in the past anyway. shut down randomly, over heated, froze, acted weird. soo maybe its time i got a new motherboard and cpu and treated it better.

06-30-2008, 06:48 PM	#8 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 14,110 OS: XP Professional	Re: Computer wont boot up It simply won't work without decent thermal paste on there. Otherwise, you stand the danger of burning it up. __________________ ----------

07-01-2008, 11:22 AM	#9 (permalink)
dwalk1989 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 56 OS: XP	Re: Computer wont boot up Yeah, you should try the thermal paste thing and see what happens. Just remove the fan/heatsink and clean off the old dried up thermal paste hand alchohol, on both the heatsink and the top of the processor, then use a towel and dry it off. Then put the processor back in and put a small dab of thermal paste and use something to spread it around evenly over the processor to make a thin layer.

07-01-2008, 11:23 AM	#10 (permalink)
dwalk1989 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 56 OS: XP	Re: Computer wont boot up My computer had the same problem, random shut downs. I had no idea how computers worked at the time, because some guy just gave me the computer. He told me he had to take off the side panel and use an outside fan to keep it cool. But even with that, when I got into like a 3D game, it would still shut down.

07-02-2008, 08:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
shortyz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: Computer wont boot up Ok well i got some thermal paste on the processor and still no luck. i tryed it with my better processor and that 1 still shuts everything down a few seconds after i turn it on. so i tried it with my other processor and it still turns on, sounds like its booting up and the same thing with the Digtal and Analog repeating on the moniter. I cant even to get it to the bios load up screen like i had before. Any other suggestions i could try? It also says "Check analog cable" on the moniter. but im using a digital cable. its not the video card cuz i already checked for that and it does the same thing with my older video card