localgod01

After leaving my computer on for an extended period of time -- say overnight -- I come back to it and am greeted by a solid grayish/tannish screen. So I restart the thing and that's when the BIOS freezes.

Usually it freezes before the memory test, but not always. Sometimes it doesn't detect the CPU speed correctly, in which case it tells me to enter CMOS and set it correctly, even though none of those settings have been changed. And sometimes, when I'm really lucky, it makes it past the "detecting IDE drives" stage to say that there's a keyboard error or no keyboard present even though there is.

As if that's not bad enough, sometimes I don't get the BIOS freeze after the gray/tan screen. Occasionally I get the gray/tan screen flashing, other times it's rainbow-colored lines. If neither of those things come up, the text on the screen is all wonky and distorted, at which point the monitor attempts (successfully) to get it to appear correctly and in the right place. Then the BIOS freezes.

The weirdest thing of all is that, after multiple restarts, getting frustrated and just turning the damned thing off, I can come back to it and turn it on. And it works as if nothing had happened before.

Here's what I've done to maybe solve the problem to no avail:

I've run Memtest86 on my RAM, and it passes the test.

I've switched out my video card because of the weird colored lines and constant monitor re-calibration, but that hasn't changed anything.

I tried running with one hard drive disconnected, then the other one, but that doesn't seem to change anything at all.

What I haven't done (yet):

Flashed the BIOS - I don't have a working floppy drive and my version of the BIOS is the latest according to the ASUS website.

Changed the power supply - I'm thinking about this, but it doesn't make sense to change it if it's not the problem.

Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS a7n8x-X
512MB RAM
AMD Athlon 2800+ CPU
CHAINTECH LA-20FX-H GeForce 5200 FX video card

Sorry if that was an overlong explanation, but so much was going on I figured I would just include everything.

Houndog777

Hi, you tried clearing the CMOS by jumper?

dai

what brand and wattage was the original power supply
and what was the other one you tried

localgod01

I have no idea what you're talking about, sorry.
Turbolink 420W... I have not tried another power supply yet.

I double-posted this thread (because I am a dumbass) and a replier to that one said maybe the inside of the case just needs a good cleaning. Could that be part of the problem?

Pharaohz

There is a sticky post at the top of the forums on how to clear the cmos. Follow it to the letter. Missing a step will not clear it. At the part where it says move the jumper. You might need your mobo manual to understand where its talking about. But on some boards there are no jumpers. You may need to get a flat head screw driver and simply touch the two solder points on the motherboard. Just remember to either unplug the computer or flick the switch not he back of the psu. Thats not the 115/230 switch. Dont touch that one. Remember after unplugging/switching the power off to hit your start button a few times. This will release the stored power on the board.

dai

the Turbolink 420W from aspire are rubbish it would pay to try another one

localgod01

That's not surprising that a PSU that comes with the case is a piece of crap. I'll look into changing that, give the system a good cleaning (it couldn't hurt, even if it's not the problem) and then go from there.

Thanks.