Core dumps occured but after 3 or 4 I can't get a boot screen.

[asdfEliasdf]

Greetings,

My Vista Home Premium OS had, at least, a couple of complete core dumps.  The last one that I had seemed to hang for a minute or so and then I powered down.
     I can give some vague specs:       Quad core <3.0 gHz, 8GB memory, single boot, 1 HDD of < 1TB.
I have tried to turn my computer on but nothing shows up on my monitor (it works) and there is quite a long, single beep.
There was nothing connected through USB but a hub, holding onto the mouse + speakers.
I tried to take some professional advice: use alt+F10 (repeatedly) to attempt a restore but nothing showed on the screen.
I've never had my computer overheat but I have been reading for an hour or so, on this site.  I suspect that since:
    1. I haven't defragged in a while, nor CHKDSK but -
    2. I run a Kaspersky product which scans three times a day
    3. I haven't looked at any hardware temperatures in months
        (a heat wave hit recently [relevancy?])
- I might have had a real overheating issue for the first time in 20+ years of (using) computing. 

Hopefully my first post here is timely and useful or else I am asking somebody to "reinvent the wheel"

[Allan]

What's a core dump?

[asdfEliasdf]

As a moderator, Allan, I thank you for asking.  I got the Blue Screen of Death because of a fatal error.  I haven't had a "core dump" since the 90s but, from what I remember, the memory is disposed of as best as Windows can.  At that point, the user is asked to restart their computer because their Windows session has reached its end, for the moment.

[Allan]

Okay - that's a crash dump. A core dump relates to a nuclear reactor.

Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next reply

[asdfEliasdf]

I have this program to use for later crash dumps.. I'm on an alternate computer, though, a situation which disallows me from using any means to access this program to scan minidump files from my non-operating computer.

Is there any hope for me to proceed, without testing hardware components? I haven't done that before but I read about some tests today.  I'm always open to safe learning experiences; it could be time for me to peruse the WWW in hopes of rehashing some points of my former readings of the day.

[Allan]

Are you saying the computer won't boot?

[asdfEliasdf]

Yes, that is correct.

<start quote>

I have tried to turn my computer on but nothing shows up on my monitor (it works) and there is quite a long, single beep.

<end quote>

My monitor works (on another computer) but:
  1. I get a long beep when I press the power on button.
  2. My monitor is on, but it's blank.
  3. I don't get the, usual, logo of my manufacturer (Gateway - I don't know the make of my comp., though)
    a. I can't do anything but wait for the beep to end with nothing on my screen.

Are the, unexpected, crash dumps as well as the fact that I can power on with no access to anything signs that I had an overheat? I can hear a fan in there when I power on but this won't mean anything to me until, perhaps, I inspect the inside of my computer case.

[Allan]

Sorry - I missed that. But I have to say I find your posts hard to follow. For example, I don't understand this at all:

My monitor works (on another computer) but:
  1. I get a long beep when I press the power on button.
  2. My monitor is on, but it's blank.
  3. I don't get the, usual, logo of my manufacturer (Gateway - I don't know the make of my comp., though)
    a. I can't do anything but wait for the beep to end with nothing on my screen.

Does that mean you get a long beep on the other system too? Is your display blank on the other system or the first one? You don't get the Gateway logo but it isn't a Gateway.

I really don't understand any of that - I'm sorry.

Does your display work properly on another system - yes or no?

Does a different display work on your system - yes or no?

What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (ie, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?

[asdfEliasdf]

My other system works. I'm on it right now.

I have a full display on this system.  It is the same monitor that I used before.  I guess that rules out a defective monitor.

As for changes, I have not added any hardware components.. the crash dumps came out of the blue.  I had no fatal errors nor anything that made me worry about using windows in its last known-working-properly state.

I've had a few trojans but no viruses that I remember since good functioning that I remember.  Unfortunately, I use the WWW to access some sites that, Kasperky tells me, are risky.  I hadn't used any of those sites from Vista boot up until the first crash dump.

Allan, do you know what happens if the message on a Vista user's screen says that a memory dump is initializing but then it doesn't complete after 1 minute? It seems like too long to wait, being that my system resources include quad core technology and 8GB of memory.  I think that my processor overheated too much or some of my memory was affected.  I have 4 sticks but I haven't the experience to test them, yet.  I want to do safe, simple physical tests though.

[Allan]

You can try any or all of the following:

1) To check the ram, download memtest (http://memtest.org/). Burn it to a cd using a dedicated .iso burning utility (http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm), make sure the cd drive is at the top of the boot order in bios, then boot to the newly created cd and run the utility.

2) Open the computer case. If it is dusty, use a can of compressed air and CAREFULLY blow out the dust from the system

3) Go to the website of the HD manufacturer and download their diagnostic utility. Burn it to cd, boot to it, run the diagnostic

4) Try a different video card (one long beep may or may not indicate a problem with the video card)

[asdfEliasdf]

What does one long beep mean? I'm not trying to get fancy with this hardware topic but I know that beep codes exist.  One long beep, from my reading today, isn't a code.

BTW - I am so hardware inexperienced that I am not going to open up my computer until I find out what one long beep means! There's no reason to test anything under the hood of my box.  Since it's a Sunday and I haven't the patience to see if my CD/DVD drive will boot I am going to hang back on opening the computer up too.

Allan, I thank you for your suggestion too but I can't change the boot order because nothing shows up on my screen to let me know that I can enter setup.

[Computer_Commando]

1 short beep is normal, anything else is not.
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
What is make & model  of computer?  You said Gateway.

Since nothing shows on the display, it's likely a graphics card problem.

[asdfEliasdf]

Yes I own a Gateway and it is a LX Series.  I asked Gateway for help.  They told me to try a system restore with data loss which I did try and it didn't work.

Now that you asked me about the make and model of my non-operating computer I can go to Gateway to get the specs!

[asdfEliasdf]

My dad and I got it to boot.. thanks for the replies.

It needed cleaning so that at least it could do some cooling; the heat sink is clean now and it got a moderate dusting in other areas.