[J-Dub]

I replaced the 300W power supply in my PC with a 630W supply because I needed more power for a video card I was going to install. When I powered on the PC to test the new power supply, Windows just quit working. I have both Windows XP and 98 SE on this computer and they both quit working which seems odd since only XP was set as the active partition to boot. In the BIOS configuration, my processor speed is now shown as 1.7GHz instead of 2.23GHz which it used to say. Could the CPU be fried? . I've since put the 300W supply back in but Windows still doesn't work, it always freezes at some point before it finishes booting leaving it unable to do anything.

Basically, I'm trying to figure out what could be wrong. I'm using the computer now with a self-booting Ubuntu Linux CD and everything works fine (?). I can run some of my windows apps like ZDoom and GZDoom with wine so the processor can't be that bad (?). GZDoom is utilizing openGL (although running terribly slowly but this is probably because of something else) so the graphics card can't be messed up can it? And the hard drive seems to be good since all my files are still there (?). I'm not sure whats wrong or what to do.

I would be thankful for any help. The recovery disks don't work, they freeze like Windows does. I might reformat the hard drive if nothing else works . Now I have a sweet new graphics card that I can't use and windows is dead.

 

[manic]

I would install the new power supply. Sounds like your bios settings got
whacked when you changed out psu. Go into bios and re do your settings.
You did not post what type of video card you have, most of the new ones
come with a extra power lead that must be connected. Often overlooked,
Ive done it myself. If this does not help, post back more details of system.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

Yep, sounds like the BIOS settings may be at fault as mentioned. I would clear the CMOS and see if that helps if setting them to defaults doesn't work, or if you can't get into the BIOS setup menu.

 

[J-Dub]

I would install the new power supply. Sounds like your bios settings got
whacked when you changed out psu. Go into bios and re do your settings.
You did not post what type of video card you have, most of the new ones
come with a extra power lead that must be connected. Often overlooked,
Ive done it myself. If this does not help, post back more details of system.

The old video card is a GeForce 4 TI 4200. The newer one I never installed because I wanted to make sure the power supply was working. It does have a plug on the back for an extra power connection though.

Yep, sounds like the BIOS settings may be at fault as mentioned. I would clear the CMOS and see if that helps if setting them to defaults doesn't work, or if you can't get into the BIOS setup menu.

The BIOS on this computer are bad. I've tried the 'reset optimal defaults' option and it did nothing. I've moved the BIOS jumper and used the reset options I've got there and nothing still. I've heard I could start the computer without the BIOS jumper but I'm afraid to do this because I don't want to cause any additional problems.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

Don't start that board without that jumper in the run position. If you want to make sure it is cleared, then remove the battery for about ten minutes and then put it back in. (always unplug from the wall and ground yourself when you work in that case) See if that helps.

 

[J-Dub]

I left the jumper out about an hour before reinserting it and reconnecting power and nothing still. I am unable to start or reinstall windows in any way. Even the Windows 98 startup floppy refuses to load!

 

[manic]

Make sure the clr cmos jumper is set in the run position. Make sure
all connections are correct inside of case. Find the manual for the
board, if you do not have it you may be able to download one online.
Go through the bios settings one by one and set it up for your components.
Ive never had much luck using defaults, or optimal settings. One setting
in particular will be for video, by now its probably set to pci instead of
agp, that must be set to agp as your card is agp. The default will be
pci. Your time and date are probably whacked as well. The reason
your cpu speed dropped is because that is the safe default setting.
Most settings can be set to auto.
Note, just pulling the clr cmos jumper will not clr cmos. The pins have to
be shorted, i think its short pins 2-3 to clr, then place jumper to pin
1-2 to run. Or leave the jumper alone and pull battery for a few minutes.
Unplug machine when you do this.

 

[dai]

put the power plugs for the m/b connection from the 2 power supplies alongside one another and check that the same coloured wires go to the same pins on both of them

 

[J-Dub]

Well, I've tried removing the battery and moving the jumper to the 2-3 pins and nothing works. When I moved the jumper, the BIOS popped up with two extra options; "Reset password" and "Reset SIS configuration" (or something like that). Resetting the configuration seemed to do nothing. Removing the battery made some extra setup screen pop up when the computer started but the processor is still shown as 1.7GHz and Windows will not boot or reinstall.

 

[manic]

Dont know what board you have, but have you checked to see if there
is a 4pin power plug on the board? If so make sure the it is connected
to psu. Are you sure that the power leads into your drives are correct.
Make sure that you havent loosend up a ide cable, or ram. Sounds
screwy to me, there was no mention in bios to adjust cpu speed? If
you did not run across that you must of missed something in bios.
If you did adjust that, and saved changes, I would venture to guess
the board is toast, at least the cmos chip.

 

[J-Dub]

Yes, something on my board must be fried now. I've upgraded the BIOS to the latest version and nothing. The CPU is shown as the same speed and Windows will not boot or reinstall. I don't know of anything I could do to fix it myself so I suppose I'm stuck. Everything is properly connected BTW. For reference, the board is an Intel desktop board D845EBT.

Don't start that board without that jumper in the run position.

This is actually what I had to do to upgrade the BIOS because the manufacturer ( VPR Matrix ) put some sort of lock on the BIOS. Probably because they want you to see their boot splash screen instead of Intel's. Of course, I had to replace the jumper after the upgrade was complete.

 

[speedster123]

Retrace your steps. You had a working computer before the upgrade attempt. Check all pins on your connections. Check the orientation of all power cables and data cables, none are reversed? Did you dislodge any jumpers or dip switches on the mainboard? Does your case have an intrusion entry option?

 

[J-Dub]

The computer still works mostly, it just won't boot Windows. I'm using it to write this message actually. Nothing that I know of has changed on the motherboard. All connections are good. I'm not sure what this "intrusion entry" thing is though.

 

[dai]

boot into the recovery console and try
fixboot

 

[J-Dub]

That is part of the problem... The recovery console does not work, the Windows XP installation disc doesn't work, the computer's recovery CDs do not work. Nothing to do with Windows works anymore. Thats why I've reformatted my hard drive and switched to Linux.

 

[dai]

it sounds like you did not change the bios to boot from cd first,before trying to boot from the xp cd

 

[J-Dub]

The problem doesn't have anything to do with booting. When I went to reinstall Windows from CD or boot into safe mode, the process would continue until a blue screen and cursor would show up and then nothing else would happen. I could move around the cursor and that is all I could do. I installed Linux from CD and it just works.

 

[dai]

have you booted from the xp cd succesfully before

 

[J-Dub]

Well, the problem is solved now. What I had to do to fix it was install the new power supply and graphics card at the same time. When I did that, everything went back to normal as if nothing ever happened. I was able to reinstall Windows and my processor speed was shown correctly in the BIOS again. Seems strange that upgrading my BIOS didn't solve the problem.