[Whitmey]

Ok where to begin...... Got this computer about a week ago, got XP running on it etc etc nice machine worked fine.

Today when I come to switch on the following happens:

System boots normally detecting RAM, drives etc

It gets to the part where it goes through the boot list (on my comp it's CD first, then floppy, then HDD) and when it gets to the HDD on that list, the screen goes black and the comp goes back to the beginning of startup, as though it has REBOOTED itself.

This loop goes on forever and ever and ever and ever etc etc.

I've ran a mem test on it the memory is all 100% fine, I'm guessing it's the HDD or heat or power or something. Anybody with any ideas I would love to hear your input - my box includes the following:

AMD Barton XP 3000
Abit NF7S mobo
2 x 512MB pc3200 RAM
Radeon 9800 pro
n00b sound card

Thanks.

 

[Whitmey]

Just spoken to my brother, turns out he was the last one to be using the computer.

According to him it just froze up on him whilst he was using it, making a lot of clicking. He describes this clicking as processor ticks as opposed to the sound of a HDD that's just died. He could be wrong I guess. Anyway any hope is much appreciated.

 

[idtent]

The ticks are more than likely the hard drive. Go into your bios and see if you can turn S.M.A.R.T for hard drives on. This might be able to assess the problem from the get go.

Also find out who the drive manufacturer is and go to their site and download the diagnostics for the drive and run them.

 

[Whitmey]

HDD diagnostics show the HDD to be fine :S

The ticking only happened when the computer crashed the one time (before it decided to never switch on again).

I still have no idea what the problem is...

 

[Silverbullet]

boot up using a bootdisk and run a surface scan on ur HD, see if that turns up anything

 

[slam]

question : is there any reason why you put HD as last boot device ?

I would try to change it to the first boot device, ... and see what happens .

gr

 

[ashraff]

umm

umm if ur pc is broken how'd ya post the message, any way go on www.bootdisk.com and get 1 form ur OS and run it is prob just lost its boot files.

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

i dont see any reason to question this person as if they are a criminal. i know when my machine wont start, i have four others in my house, and countless friends who will let me use theirs.

so the question is not how did they post this, the question is "how do we fix it?"

i can agree that www.bootdisk.com is a good place to get a bootdisk, grab the correct one for your machine, and then try that.

however, this wont work if the machine doesnt power on.

if the machine wont even power on, you are going to have to find someone who knows more.

if it was in front of me, i would remove everything from the case.

then i would plug in the cpu to the mainboard, and the ram.

i would add the video card, and the keyboard.

then i would connect the power supply, and the power switch, and see if it starts.

if it didnt, i would try a different power supply.

if that didnt work, i would try a different video card.

after that i would move on to checking the processor and ram.

~BoB~