PC Not Booting (kinda) Problem

[smeltzerinho27]

allo

I was wondering if anyone can suggest (appropriate) ideas/solutions of how and why my PC has almost died

Briefly....Working on my PC, I go away to answer the phone, come back and PC has turned itself off.  So I turn it back on and it makes the sound it makes as if it's been on for hours (quite fast) but it's not booting up or even attempting it. No lights on keyboard. Nothing, just the noise and the PC LED lights.  As if it's pretending to be working quite hard, when really it's sitting in a sun lounger sipping cocktails.

This would be fine, not fine, but understandable (as it's 8 years old) and I had suspected that something had finally exploded inside it.  However, following advice from some website....I opened it up, blew imaginary dust away off things, took out the RAM, and processor, and just put them back in  ...did this twice, second time it started working!! as if nothing had happened, boots up fine, up comes my desktop and I start singing "I'm a genius" go on explorer, click off it, go into it again....and it freezes , completely.  So i reset it, stops half way through boot up, and again, and again.....then finally it stops working all together and I'm back to square 1 with just the noise :|

So, it's not as serious as I suspected (as it started working) but what's going on?  generally? oh and with my PC.

Any ideas? (apart from calling a repair man)

[patio]

Since you've already done the housekeeping and reseated things we can skip those steps...
The next 2 things you should try:
Borrow a known good PSU of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there to see if that is the culprit...
DLoad the diagnostics from the hard drive manuf. site and use the file to create a bootable floppy/CD and run them to see if the drive is getting ready to or has already failed.
Good Luck and let us know.

[smeltzerinho27]

Thanks....okay, tbh I didn't do that, because getting handy PSU isn't the easiest of things.....but the main reason was that it started to work again.....for a WHOLE 2 days, non stop, brilliant! i thought.....that was well, last week.  From there on in....it manages to last at most 10 minutes, before resetting itself, and then struggling to even manage 10 seconds of desktop until it freezes.......then I leave it for 24 hours....and the next day it works for 5 minutes, freezes....etc. etc.

So, I'm thinking it's the RAM (as I noticed it gets pretty *censored* hot) when I tried taking one out, swapping them round etc etc. Plus sometimes (not always, about 20% of the time) I get CheckSum Bad

Anywhoooooo, what way is there to determine that it is indeed the RAM? and not a faulty motherboard? as I don't want to go out and buy some needless replacement RAM if it's not going to make any difference.....and if it is the Motherboard I might as well chuck the thing in the local skip  .....so...how do I accurately 100% know which one it is? bearing in mind I have all of 5 minutes to do something, so downloading internet scanners etc.....isn't really going to do it.

Ta.

[TheEmperor]

You can download and run Memtest http://www.memtest.org/ and that should tell you for sure if your RAM is bad.

[patio]

.so...how do I accurately 100% know which one it is? bearing in mind I have all of 5 minutes to do something, so downloading internet scanners etc.....isn't really going to do it.

And judging by this tight schedule i'd suggest running MemTest right before you go to bed as it needs to run for a few hours...
Any errors at all then you have bad RAM. You will need to re-run it on one stick at a time to find which one is bad.

[dahlarbear]

took out the RAM, and processor, and just put them back in  ...did this twice, second time it started working!!

Is there a heatsink/fan attached to the processor?  Did you take them apart while cleaning?  There's something called "thermal paste" that may need to be applied between the processor and heatsink/fan components.  It's supposed to help eliminate any air pockets between the two components and facilitate the transmission of heat away from the processor. (Although I don't know why your computer would work for two whole days before quitting.)

    Thermal Paste

    Artic Silver

[smeltzerinho27]

.so...how do I accurately 100% know which one it is? bearing in mind I have all of 5 minutes to do something, so downloading internet scanners etc.....isn't really going to do it.

And judging by this tight schedule i'd suggest running MemTest right before you go to bed as it needs to run for a few hours...
Any errors at all then you have bad RAM. You will need to re-run it on one stick at a time to find which one is bad.

Yeah, but doing that will only last at max 10 minutes before the PC crashes, rendering it pointless....unless it shows an error in that time.  I'll try it. ty

I'll try the paste thing as well.

[patio]

How do you know it will crash in 10 minutes ? ?
MemTest runs outside of Windows so if it's a Windows problem it shouldn't be affected.

[smeltzerinho27]

How do I know it will crash within 10 minutes?

because it always does.

I don't think it's anything to do with windows...i'm almost certain it's a hardware fault.

[treslek]

hi there firstly i read this then had to re-read it ,the first place i would start here is to follow the ram faulty path you said in one of your post,s you get "bad checksum" i,d be very inclined to say you got faulty ram but the good new,s is it,s the easiest place to start ,try to borrow some good ram off a mate and swap them over if your lucky the problem will lie there ,i,d also be inclined to think motherboard problem which aint such a good thing but even here all is not lost it's possible you may have a dud cmos battery on the board ,again try to get a new one or even a borrowed one and swap them over.
hope this help,s in some way please keep us updated and good luck.

[patio]

I don't think it's anything to do with windows...i'm almost certain it's a hardware fault.

OK don't take my word for it then. Let us know how it goes.

[treslek]

a wise man once told me "if you have nothing constructive to say shut up" 

[treslek]

The Checksum Bad Error is an error that occurs when the CMOS values are incorrect. Usually to guard your Bios software, your CMOS memory stores a specific value, each time you boot up your computer this value which is a number is checked against the stored value in the CMOS memory. If these two values are different, it causes an error message. If these values are the same, the computer proceeds as normal.

Each computer usually deals with the CMOS Checksum Bad Error differently. Some computers will warn the end user and continue to boot up using settings in the CMOS, other computers might warn the end user and then use the default settings in the BIOS as the correct settings and carry on with a normal boot or reboot. Usually, within the error message it will state which strategy your computer has employed.CMOS Battery Not Functioning Properly: If you suspect your CMOS battery is not functioning properly you can easily change it. Before changing your battery, reboot your computer to make sure that the error still exists. If it does, go into your CMOS and write down all of the settings. If all settings are lost, you can usually get them from your computer manufacturer. Now locate the battery and remove it, you might need to consult your computers manual or tech support to remove your battery. Take down the CMOS batteries information such as volt, size, etc. Once you have your new battery, you can replace it and reenter your CMOS settings. If your battery was the cause of the CMOS Checksum Bad Error, you should have remedied the problem.try this first as it,s the cheaper way to go :}

[patio]

a wise man once told me "if you have nothing constructive to say shut up" 

I'm assuming this was directed at me personally...have you ever considered taking his advice ?

[smeltzerinho27]

The Checksum Bad Error is an error that occurs when the CMOS values are incorrect. Usually to guard your Bios software, your CMOS memory stores a specific value, each time you boot up your computer this value which is a number is checked against the stored value in the CMOS memory. If these two values are different, it causes an error message. If these values are the same, the computer proceeds as normal.

Each computer usually deals with the CMOS Checksum Bad Error differently. Some computers will warn the end user and continue to boot up using settings in the CMOS, other computers might warn the end user and then use the default settings in the BIOS as the correct settings and carry on with a normal boot or reboot. Usually, within the error message it will state which strategy your computer has employed.CMOS Battery Not Functioning Properly: If you suspect your CMOS battery is not functioning properly you can easily change it. Before changing your battery, reboot your computer to make sure that the error still exists. If it does, go into your CMOS and write down all of the settings. If all settings are lost, you can usually get them from your computer manufacturer. Now locate the battery and remove it, you might need to consult your computers manual or tech support to remove your battery. Take down the CMOS batteries information such as volt, size, etc. Once you have your new battery, you can replace it and reenter your CMOS settings. If your battery was the cause of the CMOS Checksum Bad Error, you should have remedied the problem.try this first as it,s the cheaper way to go :}

Yeah I actually took the battery out and left it on the desk  ...but it was coming up with Checksum Bad before that, so yeah it does probably need replacing....but weirdly...this Checksum error doesn't always come up....even though there's no battery in it now.... plus the PC actually starts and runs without this battery....only thing it seems to have affected is the time of day (that's the least of my problems ) i.e. it hasn't made a difference.  Hence I guess even replacing this battery with a new one....wouldn't answer the problem of the PC crashing within 10 minutes.

I'm gonna go with the RAM thing I think....even though I have no idea what RAM to buy