Diagnosis Please...

[macellarius]

Epox 8KTA
800mhz Athlon TBird
Rage Fury Pro 32
384Meg 133mhz RAM
13gig IDE (7gigs available)
DVD/CD
Phillips CDR
Win XP Home
2 Case fans
PC is about 20 months old

I've had zero system issues since I installed XP last October.

I was working on a Word doc. when my screen locked up. No mouse/keyboard inputs would work.

Tried CNTRL-ALT-DLT - nothing
Tried reset button - nothing
Did a hard power-cycle and restarted
- I heard no beep tone from BIOS, no lights on keybd, monitor was just dark
Waited 10 minutes and restarted again.
- This time I heard the beep tone and PC booted to the end of RAM test.
- Opened up the case and cleaned out inside with compressed air. Verified that all fans are working (they are)
- Tried a few more times and still only boots to the end of RAM test. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

[pentachris]

How thick was the dust before blowing it out (especially in and around the power supply)?

At the end of the RAM test - freeze? powers down by itself? Do all the fans come on at what sounds like full speed?

Can you get into the BIOS settings at all?

Have you tried using one stick of RAM at a time and rebooting with each? (I'm assuming you've got 3*128MB or 128MB+256MB)

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Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

[macellarius]

Dust wasn't very thick.

Yes, it freezes at the end of the RAM test. Don't think I can get into BIOS, but I think it does display the "DEL to enter setup" message at the bottom of screen.

I've got 1 128 & 1 256 stick, so only two. I'm going to pick up a new 128 stick on the way home today, along with a new CMOS battery. I'll try taking out each of the sticks and rebooting.

I'll get back to you...thanks.

[macellarius]

I picked up a new stick of RAM and a CMOS battery on the way home.

By the way, all fans are running strong.

The first thing I tried was to remove one of the RAM sticks.
- powered up and machine booted further than it has yet, to the WIN XP Splash screen, then froze.
Tried varius configurations with one & two RAM sticks, including installing the new RAM only, but machine repeatedly only boots to the end of the RAM test with (1) normal post tone then freezes. No lights on keyboard

Must not be the RAM, right?

Replaced CMOS batter - same thing
Removed NIC - same thing
Removed Modem - same thing
Removed Video - same thing, heard no Windows jingle

Tried to boot with WIN XP CD in the drive or boot disk, but this gave me just a black screen with a cursor in the upper left hand corner

Only things I haven't isolated are the power supply and mobo.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[macellarius]

Ooops, by the way.

Once I took the video card out, I got one LONG and two SHORT post tones.

[BigBlue66]

If you can, borrow a known good working processor that will work with your board for troubleshooting purposes. This sounds like it's processor related, or maybe a flaky power supply. The processor may be getting too hot, or it just crapped out on ya. Same goes for the power supply.

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This space reserved for highly intelligent observations and witty remarks.

This message has not been edited by BigBlue66.

[Randy_tx]

Try this....turn off system [duh] and pull out the video card...blow out the slot it was in and reseat it. Turn it on and pray.

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XP didn't save Me !

[macellarius]

Thanks Randy & BigBlue,

I'm gonna' pick up a power supply and a mobo on the way home. I'll try the video card suggestion first. I don't think this is a video problem though becuase it should have made it all the way to the WIN XP jingle when I took the VC out.

MicroCenter lets you return all these parts, so I'm returning the RAM I bought yesterday while I'm there...it's convenient for this kind of troubleshooting. Maybe I should pick up a new processor too?

[macellarius]

It was the motherboard. Picked up a new PS and Mobo. Replaced the PS first...nothing. Put my old PS back in.

Changed the mobo, and that fixed it.

Thanks everyone!