Na'Astrith
01-08-2008, 07:48 AM
Hello everyone,
I'm actually not even sure if this problem I'm having is a Hardware issue. All I do know is that I am unable to access a PC.
Here’s the break down. Last year my brother-in-law (he's blind btw) purchased a computer from NewEgg.com. He had it designed as a gaming computer because the programs he utilizes consume allot of memory and he figured that by having a gaming setup he would be able to run his speech programs more efficient.
Well when he received the PC everything was fine. He installed his programs and then everything went wrong. The PC wouldn’t boot (this occurred about 2 out of 5 power-ups), and when it did boot the PC would run fine for about 7-10 minutes then would just stop (Black screen) even though the power would still be running perfectly. All this began happening about two week after he started using the PC.
He called Newegg and they sent a technician who replaced the motherboard and power supply as they thought the problem was with the power. The technician was unable to correct the stoppage (black screen) so he called the office and we were instructed to send it back in (with UPS supposed to pick up the PC). Well since UPS never came for the PC, I sent it in myself picking up the $160+ shipping cost.
Newegg and my brother-in-law communicated over the phone and he was told that the tech's had run diagnostic checks on the PC and that everything came back ok. Stating that they did NOT experience any problems with the system, and with that they sent it back...
Now we have received the PC back and I set it up. Connecting the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Pushing the power on the PC did not load into windows, simply staying at a black screen (not even powering on the monitor automatically). Even with a manual monitor start, all we got was a black screen.
After about 2 hours of powering on and off, switching the monitor input (there’s two Graphics cards, but I’ll get into system specs in a few) from one to another and testing response from each, the computer began booting (please note that the original monitor input I began with is the one that worked), and even loaded to windows. At the windows startup screen (where username and password prompt are) there was a user name of "test".
When the PC was sent “originally purchased” to and configured at the home of my brother-in-law there was no username or password used. So it was a little difficult to understand why there was one required for startup now.
But that is just the beginning.
After calling Newegg back and informing them that there now was a username and password required they simply stated that they would send UPS back out (remember UPS never showed the first time) to pick up the PC. Well that was almost three weeks ago so I don't believe that it will be picked up. Since I don't really want to fork over another $160+ for shipping I've decided to try and fix this myself.
While I wouldn’t say that I'm a complete moron when it comes to computers (currently an ITT Tech student majoring in Computer Network Systems/Information Systems Security) I do know that I am above my knowledge base in this matter.
Well after some online research I've decided to "crack" the password problem utilizing "ophcrack" and powerISO. This seemed like a viable option since I don't foresee any help (useful help that is) from Newegg.
Now we come to the present:
I’ve gotten the “ophcrack” program on disk so that I can use it for boot on the PC (btw I’m using a laptop incase you were wondering), but the problem is this:
I power on the PC and nothing happens. The PC begins the boot; I can only assume this as I can see the light on the front of the PC indicating that the hard drives are working. Then the light goes out. The power light stays on but the drive light (on the front of the PC) runs for about 15 seconds then goes out. No flashing, just a solid light for about 15 seconds.
Nothing on the monitor, nothing from the keyboard (although I am able to hit the Numlock key once or twice, turning it on an off, before it locks and does nothing) and no response for the mouse (It does light up, Optical mouse).
I have thought about a complete reinstall but unfortunately my brother-in-law did not create a boot disk after his original setup, and I’m not sure that even doing a reinstall would fix anything.
So here I am sitting here trying to figure out what to do. Any help would be appreciated and I apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to get a full description of what has been occurring with this PC so that whoever reads this will understand the problems I’ve been facing.
Now for the System Specs:
(1) Systemax ATX Blue/Silver Gaming Case
(1) Microsoft Windows XP Professional DSP
(1) Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz Processor
(1) Corsair TWINX 2GB DDR2 PC5400 XMS2 Memory
(1) Intel D975XBX ATX Motherboard
(1) 500GB Raid 0 Stripe (2 x 250GB SATA 7.2k)
(1) 2 x ATI Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB PCIE Crossfire Mode
(1) 16x DVD -/+/R/RW Dual Layer Drive
(1) 52x32x52/16X Combo Drive Black
(1) SoundBlaster X – Fi Sound Card
(1) 9-in-1 USB Card Reader
I'm actually not even sure if this problem I'm having is a Hardware issue. All I do know is that I am unable to access a PC.
Here’s the break down. Last year my brother-in-law (he's blind btw) purchased a computer from NewEgg.com. He had it designed as a gaming computer because the programs he utilizes consume allot of memory and he figured that by having a gaming setup he would be able to run his speech programs more efficient.
Well when he received the PC everything was fine. He installed his programs and then everything went wrong. The PC wouldn’t boot (this occurred about 2 out of 5 power-ups), and when it did boot the PC would run fine for about 7-10 minutes then would just stop (Black screen) even though the power would still be running perfectly. All this began happening about two week after he started using the PC.
He called Newegg and they sent a technician who replaced the motherboard and power supply as they thought the problem was with the power. The technician was unable to correct the stoppage (black screen) so he called the office and we were instructed to send it back in (with UPS supposed to pick up the PC). Well since UPS never came for the PC, I sent it in myself picking up the $160+ shipping cost.
Newegg and my brother-in-law communicated over the phone and he was told that the tech's had run diagnostic checks on the PC and that everything came back ok. Stating that they did NOT experience any problems with the system, and with that they sent it back...
Now we have received the PC back and I set it up. Connecting the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Pushing the power on the PC did not load into windows, simply staying at a black screen (not even powering on the monitor automatically). Even with a manual monitor start, all we got was a black screen.
After about 2 hours of powering on and off, switching the monitor input (there’s two Graphics cards, but I’ll get into system specs in a few) from one to another and testing response from each, the computer began booting (please note that the original monitor input I began with is the one that worked), and even loaded to windows. At the windows startup screen (where username and password prompt are) there was a user name of "test".
When the PC was sent “originally purchased” to and configured at the home of my brother-in-law there was no username or password used. So it was a little difficult to understand why there was one required for startup now.
But that is just the beginning.
After calling Newegg back and informing them that there now was a username and password required they simply stated that they would send UPS back out (remember UPS never showed the first time) to pick up the PC. Well that was almost three weeks ago so I don't believe that it will be picked up. Since I don't really want to fork over another $160+ for shipping I've decided to try and fix this myself.
While I wouldn’t say that I'm a complete moron when it comes to computers (currently an ITT Tech student majoring in Computer Network Systems/Information Systems Security) I do know that I am above my knowledge base in this matter.
Well after some online research I've decided to "crack" the password problem utilizing "ophcrack" and powerISO. This seemed like a viable option since I don't foresee any help (useful help that is) from Newegg.
Now we come to the present:
I’ve gotten the “ophcrack” program on disk so that I can use it for boot on the PC (btw I’m using a laptop incase you were wondering), but the problem is this:
I power on the PC and nothing happens. The PC begins the boot; I can only assume this as I can see the light on the front of the PC indicating that the hard drives are working. Then the light goes out. The power light stays on but the drive light (on the front of the PC) runs for about 15 seconds then goes out. No flashing, just a solid light for about 15 seconds.
Nothing on the monitor, nothing from the keyboard (although I am able to hit the Numlock key once or twice, turning it on an off, before it locks and does nothing) and no response for the mouse (It does light up, Optical mouse).
I have thought about a complete reinstall but unfortunately my brother-in-law did not create a boot disk after his original setup, and I’m not sure that even doing a reinstall would fix anything.
So here I am sitting here trying to figure out what to do. Any help would be appreciated and I apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to get a full description of what has been occurring with this PC so that whoever reads this will understand the problems I’ve been facing.
Now for the System Specs:
(1) Systemax ATX Blue/Silver Gaming Case
(1) Microsoft Windows XP Professional DSP
(1) Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz Processor
(1) Corsair TWINX 2GB DDR2 PC5400 XMS2 Memory
(1) Intel D975XBX ATX Motherboard
(1) 500GB Raid 0 Stripe (2 x 250GB SATA 7.2k)
(1) 2 x ATI Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB PCIE Crossfire Mode
(1) 16x DVD -/+/R/RW Dual Layer Drive
(1) 52x32x52/16X Combo Drive Black
(1) SoundBlaster X – Fi Sound Card
(1) 9-in-1 USB Card Reader