Serious problems

[b0x3d]

Hi all,

I am having some serious problems with my PC, hopefully someone can help!

The specs are:
500 Watt PSU
MSI NEO4 Platinum Mainboard
Athlon 64 3800+ 939 pin
Akasa Evo 120 CPU fan
2x 1GB RAM
PCI-E Geforce 6800 GT
200 GB SATA2 HDD (primary)
160 GB IDE HDD (secondary)
16X DVD R Drive

It was working fine except it would over heat when playing some games or when doing other processor intensive work. I thought it would therefore be a good idea to install a new fan. I replaced the stock fan with the Akasa Evo 120 as per the installation instructions and everything seemed to go fine.

When turning on the PC, it loaded windows but after about 3 seconds on desktop, it restarted. Then when it got to the screen that asks if you want to start in safe mode etc. whichever option I chose it just restarted again (without loading windows) so I got stuck in a loop. However it got worse...

I tried to enter the BIOS but it went to a black screen with a flashing white cursor in the top left corner so I turned the PC off. I just turned it on again and for a split second got a black screen with loads of coloured and flashing letters! It may have been an error screen but it was black, not blue. It happened so fast I couldn't see what it said.

Then it proceeded to the safe mode etc. screen but after about 5 seconds, before I chose an option, it simply switched off.

Could it be the processor is knackered? If so, will I be able to get a new one with the warranty?

Any help much appreciated!

b0x3d

[Sylvander]

Black startup screen is briefly displayed and your computer restarts repeatedly when you try to start Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314466/en-us)

The easy fix is to restore a good recent image backup of the system partition.
Do you have such a thing handy? :)

[b0x3d]

Thanks very much for your reply.

I have another HDD with Windows XP installed, I'll try installing that to see if it makes a difference.

Why do you think it switched itself off the last time I tried to boot, before I even had the chance to choose a way of starting windows?

[Sylvander]

"I have another HDD with Windows XP installed, I'll try installing that to see if it makes a difference."
Are you aware that all OS's are matched to, and arranged to work ONLY with, the hardware on which they were installed, or identical hardware?

"Why do you think it switched itself off the last time I tried to boot, before I even had the chance to choose a way of starting windows?"
I'd guess that WinXP is more sophisticated than earlier OS's, perhaps to the point that it will shut down automatically when it detects this kind of situation is happening rather than continuing to restart.
Or perhaps Safe Mode is set to shut down rather than restart into yet another Safe Mode.

How about trying a Repair Reinstall of Windows?

[b0x3d]

I meant I'm going to try installing the actual HDD from another computer that I know works into the machine that's restarting.

I'll try doing a repair install of windows as well.

Why do you think I can't get into the BIOS?

[Sylvander]

"Why do you think I can't get into the BIOS?"
A very good point; I hadn't considered that!
If you can't get into the BIOS Setup that suggests something amiss with the BIOS. That might be the root cause of your problems. Perhaps you should replace the CMOS battery with a new one and [if that doesn't produce a fix] reset the BIOS defaults.

[Whyzman]

I suspect that during the installation of the new fan you might have inadvertantly bumped something vital...

I would suggest pulling and reseating the video, and RAM, and all other connections from SATA to IDEs...

Of course, be sure all power to the motherboard is truly off. If your motherboard has an LED be sure it is off. I routinely turn off the Power Supply Switch or unplug and then push and hold the case Power Button for a couple of seconds to discharge the capacitors...often noticed with the fans slightly moving during this procedure...

[ski]

If the new fan was connected to a MB fan terminal and the fan's amp rating exceeded the amp capacity of the MB circuitry, then the fan may have fried that circuit.
Replace the new fan with the old one, and connect it to a different MB fan terminal. If the system boots up, then reinstall the new fan, but connect it to an unused Molex connector with an adapter.

[b0x3d]

Thanks so much for the advice. I was convinced I'd fried the processor but you guys haven't even mentioned it.

I'm going to do all these things and let you kow how I get on, I'm absolutely gutted and really want to get this fixed. It doesn't make sense, the installation of the fan went really well and everything was working fine beforehand.

If I have fried the curcuit will I be able to get a new MB with the warranty, it's less than a year old (I haven't overclocked or anything)?

[ski]

If the MB turns out to be the cause of the problem, then you should be able to get a replacement if it's still under warranty. Obviously, do not mention the installation of the new fan.

[b0x3d]

ok thanks ski.

You say connect fan to an unused molex connector with an adapter - what sort of adapter do I need?

When installng the old fan can I use any 3 pin molex connector that's on the MB?

[Whyzman]

http://www.casecooler.com/casecooler/rpmpowcabfor.html (http://www.casecooler.com/casecooler/rpmpowcabfor.html)
http://umaxpc.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/131?PHPSESSID=f2c3ca3713271098ea...
http://www.case-mod.com/store/3pin-4pin-adapter-wrpm-sensor-p-251.html

On most newer motherboards you will find two fan headers that also have RPM sensing capabilities. It seems just a good idea to take the 12V supplies to the CPU and the other fan away from the motherboard and power them directly. The RPM sensing can still be used with these adapters. And, most new motherboards require the RPM sensing to be able to boot. This helps to prevent any damage to the CPU if the CPU fan is not working at all or not spinning adequately...

[b0x3d]

ah this is same as the adapter that came with the fan as it's got manual speed control (which seems to work fine) - do you think it's worth a try connecting the new fan to another MB molex connector before re-installing old fan? I'm going through arctic silver 5 like there's no tomorrow!

[ski]

If the new fan was connected with a Molex adapter, then the MB's fan circuitry was probably not fried.
If nothing now runs(lights, fans, etc.) when the power button is pushed, then the power supply may have died. It can be tested as described here:
http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html
Or simply swap it out to see if it's bad.

If the PS is ok, then either the MB or CPU may have died.