Computer nerdout inside! Go Go Go

[Tsar]

Ok I'm not that computer advanced as some of you so I need some help. Last night I was just browsing the internet and working on my resume, that's about it. I decided to go to sleep and as usual I left my computer running (I do not turn it off during the semester).

Today I woke up to this picture (not exactly mine says lifestyle ASUS and my monitor is better, but that's semantics )


First thoughts were along the lines; well it DL'ed some updates and its restarting. The screen was still there after I ate and came back up to my room about 20 minutes later. So I went downstairs and got a wired keyboard, and attempted to click either Delete or Tab - no luck. I guess it was frozen (doh )

I pushed the restart button and started to ram the delete button - it worked or so i though, the screen said "Entering setup" and that was it - it froze...

Ok another restart - Taped the tab button a few times, it switched to the next screen where it gave me two more options but that was irrelevant because it once again froze and no matter what I pressed nothing would happen.



So um...I'm thinking it DL'ed some update over night (the only reason it restarts on its on really, at least from what i can remember) and something went wrong, and now I have this dilemma.. Can anyone assist me with some help? The only way I know how to fix it is to pop in a new OS cd and reinstall but that would get rid of all my stuff - which is not favorable to say the least. BTW I DO NOT HAVE A CD (it was Noah's) So i would have to go out and buy one.


At least I still have my laptop for school work, I guess

[WildBillyT]

Tsar-

Desktop or laptop?

If it's a desktop, is it giving a beep code (strange beeps at startup) or does it have an LED array on the back of it with red and green lights (also will tell you what's wrong in code)

[cdacda13]

Um, unplug it and then plug it back in?

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

Tsar-

Desktop or laptop?

If it's a desktop, is it giving a beep code (strange beeps at startup) or does it have an LED array on the back of it with red and green lights (also will tell you what's wrong in code)

Desktop

It does have one short beep but that's has always been there since day one. As far as LED array goes, the mobo only has one LED and I'm fairly sure its for power. In any case its green just as always.

[shane27]

i think your memory is shot. if not its the motherboard

[ryanfx]

Tsar that's stuck @ a BIOS level - nothing to do with your operating system.

unplug absolutely everything including harddrives (so... floppy if you have one, harddrives, CDROM, any other peripherals including printers and sorts, EXCEPT your keyboard, yes, even yank your mouse)

If it moves past this screen and fails with the OS load then you have a problem with one of your hardware pieces, start replacing your hardware one by one until it freezes again and you know what the problem is.

If you still get this error unplug all but one of your RAM chips if you have more than one, if that still hangs swap the one ram chip with one you have unplugged.

if that STILL doesn't work there's a 99% chance your mobo is fried. cheers.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by ryanfx

Tsar that's stuck @ a BIOS level - nothing to do with your operating system.

unplug absolutely everything including harddrives (so... floppy if you have one, harddrives, CDROM, any other peripherals including printers and sorts, EXCEPT your keyboard, yes, even yank your mouse)

If it moves past this screen and fails with the OS load then you have a problem with one of your hardware pieces, start replacing your hardware one by one until it freezes again and you know what the problem is.

If you still get this error unplug all but one of your RAM chips if you have more than one, if that still hangs swap the one ram chip with one you have unplugged.

if that STILL doesn't work there's a 99% chance your mobo is fried. cheers.

This is basically letter for letter what I would do. It's a hardware problem and you need to isolate components.

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by ryanfx

Tsar that's stuck @ a BIOS level - nothing to do with your operating system.

unplug absolutely everything including harddrives (so... floppy if you have one, harddrives, CDROM, any other peripherals including printers and sorts, EXCEPT your keyboard, yes, even yank your mouse)

If it moves past this screen and fails with the OS load then you have a problem with one of your hardware pieces, start replacing your hardware one by one until it freezes again and you know what the problem is.

If you still get this error unplug all but one of your RAM chips if you have more than one, if that still hangs swap the one ram chip with one you have unplugged.

if that STILL doesn't work there's a 99% chance your mobo is fried. cheers.

Thanks, that's is kinda what I did. I just unplugged everything to make sure everything was still ok and connected. After I reconnected everything and turned it on, it was fine. I'm posting from the desktop in question now.

So wtf just happened to it? it's like a giant hick up...
I checked the event viewer for any errors and the only error was from fallout 3 crashing on the 1/9/09 otherwise there was nothing there besides little info messages (anti virus has updated, etc) ...


I'm glad that its back up and and working but I already priced out other parts for a nice upgrade, damn it!

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Tsar

Thanks, that's is kinda what I did. I just unplugged everything to make sure everything was still ok and connected. After I reconnected everything and turned it on, it was fine. I'm posting from the desktop in question now.

So wtf just happened to it? it's like a giant hick up...
I checked the event viewer for any errors and the only error was from fallout 3 crashing on the 1/9/09 otherwise there was nothing there besides little info messages (anti virus has updated, etc) ...


I'm glad that its back up and and working but I already priced out other parts for a nice upgrade, damn it!

Could have been a loose memory stick or something like that.

[bobb1589]

Originally Posted by Tsar

Thanks, that's is kinda what I did. I just unplugged everything to make sure everything was still ok and connected. After I reconnected everything and turned it on, it was fine. I'm posting from the desktop in question now.

So wtf just happened to it? it's like a giant hick up...
I checked the event viewer for any errors and the only error was from fallout 3 crashing on the 1/9/09 otherwise there was nothing there besides little info messages (anti virus has updated, etc) ...


I'm glad that its back up and and working but I already priced out other parts for a nice upgrade, damn it!

The event viewer won't tell you anything really if it doesn't get bast the bios. Your bios MAY have an event log. But yeah, most likely a loose memory module or something

[Tsar]

I didn't touch any of the 4 memory stick, I only played with PSU connections and whatever SATA connections I have connected to the mobo. Everything seemed pretty secure too. Not that my desktop is under any kind of constant movement either. It stands on the floor for 15 weeks straight


The mystery continue, but in any case thanks for the help

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Tsar

I didn't touch any of the 4 memory stick, I only played with PSU connections and whatever SATA connections I have connected to the mobo. Everything seemed pretty secure too. Not that my desktop is under any kind of constant movement either. It stands on the floor for 15 weeks straight


The mystery continue, but in any case thanks for the help

Sometimes random stuff can happen. I had a web server act all funky when the baseboard heating used to blow on it. When I moved it, problems went away.

Who knows?? But I'm glad to hear you got it working OK now.

[bobb1589]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

Sometimes random stuff can happen. I had a web server act all funky when the baseboard heating used to blow on it. When I moved it, problems went away.

Who knows?? But I'm glad to hear you got it working OK now.

That isn't too random, kinda expected when you blow hot air on a server that needs to stay cool.

[WildBillyT]

Well, it wasn't forced hot air, and it always ran very cold. No overclocking or other BS. The machine itself didn't overheat- I think it was static or something.

[bobb1589]

Oh ok.

[ryanfx]

SATA connections are notoriously flakey. Evil harddrives or harddrives with bad SATA connections do weird things @ the BIOS level as the comp continuously tries to re-read over + over.

[enRo]

Bring it over n00bsauce. Ill fix it for ya

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by enRo

Bring it over n00bsauce. Ill fix it for ya

It fixed itself But thanks for the offer!