Computer Fails To Fully Boot

Xenofon · 11-02-2009, 02:15 PM

I bought most of the parts for this computer about two months ago, and it worked like a dream up until now. It started giving me trouble when I tried to boot up one day and it simply would not turn on. The case speaker wasn't making any fuss, so after despairing for an hour or two I tried swapping out the memory with another pair of sticks I had laying around, and it booted up normally. I figured it was just a pair of defective memory sticks, and went on my merry way.

Then, a couple of days later, I started getting a series of random crashes. They would usually occur right when I launched a new application. I could use a single program for hours with no problem, but when I tried to close or open an application the computer would sometimes crash. This went on for about a day or so before the computer finally stopped booting completely. It would post normally (speaker makes the "good to go, champ" beep and everything), then after the Windows "loading" screen, before the welcome screen, the computer would crash. The keyboard is also unpowered during the windows start up mode screen, so I have to wait for it to auto select "Start Windows Normally", but functions normally in the BIOS menus, so I'm not sure if it's related, but it's certainly anomalous. I think I can be somewhat sure at this point that this is not solely a problem with my ram, though perhaps not, that's why I'm here. A friend of mine told me that this sounds like an issue with the power supply, and I'm inclined to agree with him at this point.

Specs:

OCZ PC2-8500 dual channel RAM
500W PSU (came with my case and seems to be lacking an actual model number):
+3.3V@28A; +5V@38A; +12V@22A; -5V@0.5A; -12V@0.8A; +5Vsb@2A
Asrock A780GXE/128M motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 Processor, 3GHz, socket AM3
I scavenged the other ram from a wrecked computer, so all I know is that it's 2 512MB PC2-4200 sticks.

And yes, I made damn sure I had the 1066 ram in the right slots.

**Tyree** · 11-02-2009, 03:11 PM

PSU's included with cases are generally low quality. What Brand & Model Number is the case?
Are you running the 8500 & 4200 RAM together? Filling all the RAM slots on a Mobo can cause voltage issues.
Are you using a dedicated GPU or Onboard graphics?

Xenofon · 11-02-2009, 04:58 PM

No, the first pair of ram sticks (8500) seem to have failed, so I installed the second pair to try to troubleshoot the issue. They worked until the second failure.

I'm using dedicated graphics, ATI HD 3870.

The case is a Raidmax Smilodon ATX 612WPB

11-02-2009, 02:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
Xenofon Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP sp3	Computer Fails To Fully Boot I bought most of the parts for this computer about two months ago, and it worked like a dream up until now. It started giving me trouble when I tried to boot up one day and it simply would not turn on. The case speaker wasn't making any fuss, so after despairing for an hour or two I tried swapping out the memory with another pair of sticks I had laying around, and it booted up normally. I figured it was just a pair of defective memory sticks, and went on my merry way. Then, a couple of days later, I started getting a series of random crashes. They would usually occur right when I launched a new application. I could use a single program for hours with no problem, but when I tried to close or open an application the computer would sometimes crash. This went on for about a day or so before the computer finally stopped booting completely. It would post normally (speaker makes the "good to go, champ" beep and everything), then after the Windows "loading" screen, before the welcome screen, the computer would crash. The keyboard is also unpowered during the windows start up mode screen, so I have to wait for it to auto select "Start Windows Normally", but functions normally in the BIOS menus, so I'm not sure if it's related, but it's certainly anomalous. I think I can be somewhat sure at this point that this is not solely a problem with my ram, though perhaps not, that's why I'm here. A friend of mine told me that this sounds like an issue with the power supply, and I'm inclined to agree with him at this point. Specs: OCZ PC2-8500 dual channel RAM 500W PSU (came with my case and seems to be lacking an actual model number): +3.3V@28A; +5V@38A; +12V@22A; -5V@0.5A; -12V@0.8A; +5Vsb@2A Asrock A780GXE/128M motherboard AMD Athlon II X2 Processor, 3GHz, socket AM3 I scavenged the other ram from a wrecked computer, so all I know is that it's 2 512MB PC2-4200 sticks. And yes, I made damn sure I had the 1066 ram in the right slots.

11-02-2009, 03:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,417 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Computer Fails To Fully Boot PSU's included with cases are generally low quality. What Brand & Model Number is the case? Are you running the 8500 & 4200 RAM together? Filling all the RAM slots on a Mobo can cause voltage issues. Are you using a dedicated GPU or Onboard graphics? __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

11-02-2009, 04:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
Xenofon Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP sp3	Re: Computer Fails To Fully Boot No, the first pair of ram sticks (8500) seem to have failed, so I installed the second pair to try to troubleshoot the issue. They worked until the second failure. I'm using dedicated graphics, ATI HD 3870. The case is a Raidmax Smilodon ATX 612WPB