Please help! PC won't boot...

lukeflegg · #1 July 12th, 2009, 07:19 PM

Hello,

Thank you for reading-

I've been having a nightmare with my self-built PC (Which has been reliable the last 4 years)
Basically I can't boot my PC fully into Windows (XP)...

First, I got graphic faults (including in the BIOS) and then lost my second monitor.
I tried a few things, including installing new drivers for chipset and graphics, asked around on some forums and people believed it was a dying graphics card. By this point I was just getting a black screen and not really loading Windows peroperly, though safe mode worked.

I replaced the 6800GT with my friend's 8500GT and it solved the computer worked for a while, though my other problem- the nVidia RAID0 is still split into to unaccessible drives.

Now, the computer will literally not boot. Even in safe mode.
It will start to load Windows but go black just before the Welcome screen.
In safe mode, I get the Logon screen but keyboard/mouse are unresponsive.

LATEST:
PC will not get past intial BIOS stage.
I get 5(?) beeps and a warning my chipset fan speed is too low (but I'm 99% sure this is because I replaced the rubbish original fan with a huge overkill incompatible one)
F1 to continue now doesn't get me past this as it used to...

Thanks : )
Luke

**Murray S.** · #2 July 12th, 2009, 07:22 PM

Howdy:

What BIOS version are you using?

If AMI..

5 Short Beeps: Your motherboard is complaining. Try reseating the memory and rebooting. If that doesn't help, you should consider another motherboard. You could probably get away with just replacing the CPU, but that's not too cost-effective. Its just time to upgrade!

Murray

craisin · #3 July 12th, 2009, 08:53 PM

Try an ATI card
And replaace the original fan and maybe put you bigger fan on so it runs off the power supply

lukeflegg · #4 July 12th, 2009, 09:35 PM

I think it's 6 beeps... Anyway, it's a warning about the fan as my post details x

lukeflegg · #5 July 12th, 2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craisin

Try an ATI card
And replace the original fan and maybe put you bigger fan on so it runs off the power supply

Can I ask why to try an ATI card? I would have to buy one..

Runs off the power supply as opposed to what, the mobo? It's fed directly from the supply...

**Murray S.** · #6 July 12th, 2009, 11:46 PM

Take a look HERE for the various BIOS and their beep codes.

6 beeps in AMI BIOS means a keyboard controller failure.

You will have to really listen to the beeps, their length and frequency.

Murray

craisin · #7 July 13th, 2009, 01:00 AM

you are using 2 monitors one on the onboard and one on a graphics card and the card maybe conflicting with the onboard

2 screens are good but you must drag the secondary display back to the primaary display beforeeee you shut-down as yyou may have problems starting next session

lukeflegg · #8 July 13th, 2009, 11:47 AM

Murray
Do you not think the beeps are about the fan speed? I have disabled the fan warning in the BIOS and it no longer beeps. Again, I strongly believe this is a seperate issue that doesn't matter!

Craisin
There is no onboard. It's a ASUS A8N-SLI

I only have one monitor connected via the 8500GT's VGA port.

craisin · #9 July 13th, 2009, 12:23 PM

if its AMI BIOS 6 beeps keyboard error
Lukeflegg follow the links that were kindly left for you

lukeflegg · #10 July 13th, 2009, 02:14 PM

Craisin
The beeps stopped happening when I surpressed the Fan warning in BIOS (not the CPU fan, but the nForce chip fan) I am not certain if it's 6, it's pretty hard to tell. Sounds like 5 or 6. But it always sounded with an onscreen message about the Fan.

The full story if you're interested:
ASUS A8N-SLI boards ship with rubbish chip fans. (the fan for the nForce chip between the PCIe slots)
For the last couple of years I've replaced it with a loose big fan that I've wedged into position. It's less than ideal but certainly cools it enough and hasn't caused me any problems.

**Murray S.** · #11 July 13th, 2009, 02:18 PM

Got your install cd handy? Can you get into BIOS (setup)? That will tell us exactly what your BIOS version is.

Murray

lukeflegg · #12 July 13th, 2009, 02:57 PM

Murray
Well on the BIOS screen it says

Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
copyright etc

asus a8n0sli acpi bios rev 1010

blah blah

primary ide/sata/etc (all seem present and correct)

Also, I've noticed when booting (in normal mode; not sure about Safe, I'll check) my G15 keyboard just says the deafult LOGITECH logo when the screen goes black (when the Welcome screen should be up)

but after a few minutes it changes to the 'dashboard' which includes the clock, how many unread emails I have, CPU/RAM monitor etc
(In case it's useful- RAM apparently is at about 20% which is about what it normally is once it's fully booted and loaded all startup items..)

So it looks like it's 99% of the way into Windows, though blindly typing Run...dxdiag (for example) causes no activity, nor is the CAPS key etc responsive...

lukeflegg · #13 July 13th, 2009, 02:59 PM

I don't think I have my XP disk in this house... (I haven't touched it for a about 3 years!)

Is there anything else I can do that would be useful? Photographing the setup?..

**Murray S.** · #14 July 13th, 2009, 03:02 PM

Okay.. what about the install cd? Have you ever run the "repair" option?

Murray

lukeflegg · #15 July 13th, 2009, 03:16 PM

I don't recall having ever run the repair option...

Just discovered the computer is able to shutdown, using the power button (Pressing the button [not holding] and waiting for about 8 seconds while the activity LED flashes)