Computer guys...need some help for an interesting problem
 

I'm pretty much at my whits end with this machine. I've tried a lot troubleshooting but the machine is consistent and non-consistent with its issues.

Here goes....

I got a virus on the computer a while back and I reformatted the computer. Since that time, the computer would need multiple restarts and it would eventually run perfectly fine. During the restarts it would freeze at different spots for whatever reason but each time would get farther into running just fine.

Eventually the computer would just turn on and I would have no video. I thought maybe the video card went out so I reordered another.

Since then, I've been unable to complete a reformat of Windows. It froze occasionally during the blue screen copy files version, but it would consistently get caught up on the "tour of windows" type screen where it would begin to copy files.

My friend recommended trying to install linux and it eventually was able to do this after multiple attempts.

As of right now, this is where the computer is at.

- Computer has been stripped down to the video card, motherboard, HD and 2 sticks with 512 DDR RAM each.

- Cannot install Windows, hard drive was reformatted on another comp to verify there were no errors after numerous failed attempts on the base comp. Reformatted and there were no errors.

- I've tried swapping the RAM, removing one, putting them in different slots but I still get the same type of issues.

- I cleaned out a lot of the dust in the system but it didn't seem to help any.

Anyone have any ideas? I have never seen a computer have to be restarted numerous times and finally run the way its supposed to. Something finally gave up I guess and it just becoming a problem that the computer keeps getting hung up on.

Specs:

2.53 ghz P4
GB of RAM
120GB Hardrive
Intel motherboard

Thanks for any information.

-Brian

Have you tried to use a different HD? Sounds like the HD has bad sectors or something.

Try pulling the HDD out and booting from an optical drive with a Linux live cd of your choosing. If it works fine then most likely the drive is your problem. If not then I would check the CPU fan and power supply.

that REALLY sounds like a bad HD.

Haven't tried a new HDD but like I said, I reformatted and did error checking on my new comp using a USB external enclosure. I'm not saying that its not the problem but could the error checking miss something?

I tried this but when went to boot from the CD, I got this message:

Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root FS on unknown block (0,0)

Second time around, it started to boot with the bars going across the screen and freezes at different points.

CPU Fan is running and power supply was replaced shortly before this problem with a slightly upgraded unit.

Any ideas?

its a bad HD, what brand is it?

I want to say its western digital 120gb 7200rpm drive. Did you read my above post? Without the drive in, I can't get even linux to boot without freezing.

error checking can miss problems with hard drives

http://www.memtest86.com/ download that and then use IMGBurn to burn it to a CD and boot from it. (this will test your memory. memory rarely goes bad, but it is possible)

Do you get any beeps when you start up the computer?
What Brand / Model computer is it?

Your MoBo could be bad too. (Does your MoBo have an error log in the system setup?)

Well if you pulled out the drive and you still have the same problem then its not the drive. Do you have any spare parts to swap around? video card, mobo, proc, etc. That's really the only way to rule out what the issue is now. I used to have about 2 or 3 computers worth of spare parts which really came in handy when stuff like this came up.

I do not get any beeps currently. I did before which led me to replacing the motherboard watch battery. I'll attempt to do this memory check again, but like I said, I tried swapping both sticks in different slots and configurations with no difference. I would find is extremely odd that both sticks failed. I'll still give it a shot though.

The computer is a custom build from a company still in business (Cyberpower PC). The system ran without fault since 2004+ up until about 6 months ago after it got a nasty virus (my fault).

I think it may be the motherboard but if thats the case then I might just say screw it. I'm sure it would not be too difficult to track down an old motherboard but I ask if it's worth it...I dunno.

I purchased a new video card when I thought the last one took a dump. I was getting video out of it no problem but now I get vertical multi-colored bars on the screen. Switched back to the old video card which does actually work and everything is fine.

I got a laptop from Cyberpower and I'll never buy anything from them again. /Rant

They seem to be hit or miss but in my experience, everything has been excellent up until this point. I really would like to get this comp. going if I can for minimal $$ so I can use it as a media server.

Anyone have any other thoughts?