the other day my computer just stopped working properly and now i don't know what too do.

after retarting the computer the taskbar would never appear tho i could access everything else tho when hovering the mouse over the taskbar the busy icon would come up. when restarting the computer after this it would always come up with the end program box with explorer.exe on it. i then tried to reinstall windows and after about half an hour it came up with an error and some file was missing (can't remember the name of it) i tried insatlliung a few times but the same thing happened and now that its in the middle of an install it always trys to reinstall on startup.

i got fed up with it and today when i turned it back on the monitor would refuse to come on and the orange light just stays on. i resest the CMOS switch and left it off for 5 mins and then tried to turn it on and the monitor now comes on but when trying to change the BIOS settings it freezes up after about 30 secs and then after hitting the reset switch the monitor doesn't come on. if i leave it off for a few mins then the monitor will come on but freeze up again on the BIOS screen which i can't get passed. is my monitor broke?, my motherboard broke?i m not sure this has just started and i don't have a clue whats wrong.

thanks in adnavce for any help and i'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Well I'm not 100% sure what the problem is, but taking into account what you said the problems booting and installing windows (which version is it?), I would say that was a harddisk problem (ie: failing harddisk). The bios freezing though sounds like to me a processor (cpu) problem, but I am sorry I can not be much help because I have never had these two problems together. My guess, harddsik failing. One other idea, a faulty bios chip on your motherboard?

You may have an overheating problem if it freezes up within 30 seconds after a cold start.

Remove the computer's cover, and clean out any dust build up inside the case, and on the vents, fans, and heatsinks. A can of compressed air will facilitate the process. And make sure to prevent the fans from free spinning when cleaning them with the air or the bearings may burn out.
Next, make sure all connections are secure, and reseat all cards and the memory.
Then, start the system with the computer's cover off, and check that all fans are running(incl. those in the power supply).
If no luck, then run an external fan blowing on the computer's interior.

Post back with the results.

Download a copy of my diagnostic flowcharts from here
www.erniek.eclipse.co.uk/downloads/sylvanderdiags.zip
and print them to leaf through.

Begin on the START UP chart.

"i then tried to reinstall windows"
Smart move. You should have done a "Repair Install" to fix the Windows installation.


"after about half an hour it came up with an error and some file was missing"
My son hit this problem, and it was fixed by using a fresh, new copy of the Windows disk. I've heard you can polish the surface [with metal polish] to remove scratches.


"it always trys to reinstall on startup"
You need to finish the repair installation, or reformat the drive and re-install, [using a good CD, or copy the installation files to a HDD ( on a partition other than C: ideally) and run setup.exe from there].

"when i turned it back on the monitor would refuse to come on"
Did you hear no single, short beep? So no POST?


"i resest the CMOS switch and left it off for 5 mins and then tried to turn it on and the monitor now comes on"
So you changed the BIOS's hardware configuration settings. For better or worse or no change I wonder? Do you think the defaults will match the hardware now connected? It may be that You had an intermittent failure to complete the POST, and the change in BIOS settings hasn't made any difference to that. I had an intermittent failure to POST caused by an old CPU fan that was about to fail and was shorting the PSU. You probably need to do a "Bare Bones" boot to see if you can POST successfully and and also eliminate the cause of the inability to access the BIOS setup. Then you need to make sure your BIOS setup settings are OK.

Originally posted by ski
A can of compressed air will facilitate the process. And make sure to prevent the fans from free spinning when cleaning them with the air or the bearings may burn out.

Ski, I don't get this at all...bearings is bearings, why would turning them burn them out even if the drive force is from a little air?

:confused:

[UPDATE]

i have now tried a barebones boot with absolutely nothing connected apart from the graphics card and altho the monitor now appears to be coming on properly now it is still freezing in the BIOS. this would rule out the hard drive now which is good. How about the CPu i did have a cPU fan blow up on me a a couple o months ago but i thought the CPu was working fine after that.

The usual good advice is to do the Bare Bones on a non-conduting surface [like cardboard] out of the PC.
Could you swap out the few items remaining connected [Video card, memory, CPU] to eliminate those also?
Though perhaps you should be testing the PSU first of all.
------------------------------------------------------------------
TESTING ATX POWER VOLTAGES

See this http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthrea...=&threadid=8680
Then the below, here http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=152496#post152496

Black = ground
Red = +5 volts
White = -5 volts
Yellow = +12 volts
Blue = -12 volts
Orange = +3.3 volts (?)
Green = power on

Turn the power on. The fans should at least come on so that you know you have power.

Turn on the voltmeter and set it to measure DC voltage. Start with an IDE power connector that is not used. Place the black lead of the voltmeter in the hole of the connector that has a black wire (ground). Connect the red lead of the voltmeter first to the yellow hole and then to the red hole. The voltmeter should read +12v and +5v respectively.

The other voltages may usually be measured at the motherboard power connector by simply sliding the red multimeter test probe down the hole where each colour wire goes (with the black probe connected to any black wire as before). Really you only need to check the orange wire for 3.3 volts at this connector. If +12, +5, and +3.3 volts are all okay, then your power supply is probably fine.

Unfortunately, a low voltage measured in this way may mean a bad PSU or that some other component (motherboard, etc.) has a short and is pulling the voltage down. Therefore, the main value of measuring voltages is to eliminate the PSU as a source of the problem (if it has normal voltages).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

By-the-way, I'm 15 miles west of Edinburgh, so I could phone you [my calls are unmetered].

ok thanks guys for all the advice. when i get a chance i'll change all the componenrts tomorrow when i get a chance and see what happens. i'll keep u posted. sylvander thanks for the offer once ive tried this i may take u up ifs its still goin wrong. thanks again.

I don't get this at all...bearings is bearings, why would turning them burn them out even if the drive force is from a little air?
Donn,
The airflow from the nozzle of a can of compressed air is very concentrated and strong, and placing a small fan close to the nozzle can spin the fan at a speed which is higher than design and possibly damage the bearings.

hooray - ii finally got it working after many hours changing parts about. it seems to work with a different CPU in it so im guessing that the CPU got damaged when my last fan blew up and finally gave way. ive ordered another so heres hoping nothing else goes wrong. thanks for all the help i really appreciate it.

You're welcome.
Congrats on your successful outcome, and thanks for posting back with the fix.