ok here is what happened..
one thursday last week i came home and the computer was frozen. rebooted ok no problem. the next day the same thing happened and now i don't even have the bios come up when i try to reboot.
system:
processor intel 2.4 ghz
memory 512mb
m/b asus p4t533-r (raid is not enabled)
vid geforce 2
things i have tried:
swapping the video card.
" " power supply
" " monitor
the post works fine because i took out the cpu and it told me i had no cpu when i turned it back on.
i also bought another cpu and tried it out but didn't think my m/b wouldn't support 1mb of l2 cache instead of the 512 the older one has. the post said the new cpu was bad so hopefully the older one is still good.
last but not least... it has been really hot here. i noticed the memory controller chip has a fan of it's own. if the cpu is still good could this chip have overheated.
could the bios have gotten wiped some how?
any help would be greatly appreciated
j9k
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: j9k on 2004-07-27 02:09 ]</font>
my computer doesn't work at all
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kensuguro
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d'you check the cmos battery? It's possible that it ran out.
I had something similar happen to me during new years. Froze, rebooted, and nothing worked. I've replaced the motherboard and now everything works. So, it could be a motherboard thing.. As for me, my mb was getting kinda old so it was a good excuse to upgrade. (I had one of those RDRAM mb, and I wanted to upgrade to DDR)
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2004-07-27 04:01 ]</font>
I had something similar happen to me during new years. Froze, rebooted, and nothing worked. I've replaced the motherboard and now everything works. So, it could be a motherboard thing.. As for me, my mb was getting kinda old so it was a good excuse to upgrade. (I had one of those RDRAM mb, and I wanted to upgrade to DDR)
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2004-07-27 04:01 ]</font>
Can you enter the bios after the post?
Anyway, looks very much like a whereever however melted part.
Do you use Asus Probe? This program can give you a hint about overheating parts. Normally it shows up before the crash and points to a damaged cooling unit. So you have at least a hint at the "killer" burned in the screen.
Anyway, looks very much like a whereever however melted part.
Do you use Asus Probe? This program can give you a hint about overheating parts. Normally it shows up before the crash and points to a damaged cooling unit. So you have at least a hint at the "killer" burned in the screen.
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ScofieldKid
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Yeah, pulling all the power supply cables and attaching them one-by-one might tell you something.
I had a short on the 4-pin-to-SATA-power connector here last night. Good one! Replacing that little power adapter cable fixed my system.
Sometimes moving the power plugs around can get you better. [ Most common cause of this seems to be an unseated AGP card, or a conflict with a network card or extra sound card... but I digress...
]
I had a short on the 4-pin-to-SATA-power connector here last night. Good one! Replacing that little power adapter cable fixed my system.
Sometimes moving the power plugs around can get you better. [ Most common cause of this seems to be an unseated AGP card, or a conflict with a network card or extra sound card... but I digress...
]
i actually bought a new mother board but it likes to crash if i leave it on for too long. it's an asus p4p800. i used to leave the p4t-533-r computer on for weeks or even months without rebooting. dvd's make the new mother board crash also but not regularly.
i'm not really happy with this mother board yet but it will do for now.
j9k
i'm not really happy with this mother board yet but it will do for now.
j9k
sorry for the bump but i wanted to remind people how important proper cooling of the computer is. i have noticed an increase in bsod posts.
my new motherboard hasn't crashed once since i took the side of the computer off. i also noticed that the fan is running slower now which is good. the heat from the cd/dvd player must have been pushing the heat in the computer just over the edge. another side effect of the fan running faster could have been affecting the power supply also. whether one thing leads to the other or cumulative is anyones guess but still lead to the same end result BSOD.
thanks to everyone that helped or responded!!!!!
j9k
my new motherboard hasn't crashed once since i took the side of the computer off. i also noticed that the fan is running slower now which is good. the heat from the cd/dvd player must have been pushing the heat in the computer just over the edge. another side effect of the fan running faster could have been affecting the power supply also. whether one thing leads to the other or cumulative is anyones guess but still lead to the same end result BSOD.
thanks to everyone that helped or responded!!!!!
j9k
j9k you might want to investigate fans that offer low rpm's but more fan blades and/or larger diameters with 'adaptors' to mate to 60mm and 80mm holes. Creamware cards do generate a lot of excess heat when in heavy use, and this combined with all the other stuff in a modern system can definately cause problems. This is compounded by the extra heat that modern chipsets/cpu's and graphics cards produce (even matrox).
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interloper
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Two things:
The most traumatic thing you can do to a computer is turn it on and off. The inrush of current into the circuits over time can wear your components down. The expansion and contraction from the heating up and cooling down will invariably render some components or pathways defective.
At the same time, if you have your PCI slots filled in your box and your air throughput is not high enough, you will experience the same effect, even if you leave your box on all the time.
I regularly keep the side of my case open. Back in school the metric was that for every 1 degree that you cool your components in your box, you should expect a minimum of 1 - 2 years of extra life out of them.
This is beside the point, but the technology used in fabricating the Centrino processors will lend itself to reducing these type of problems. My laptop stays really cool, compared to an older P4 Mobile solution.
The most traumatic thing you can do to a computer is turn it on and off. The inrush of current into the circuits over time can wear your components down. The expansion and contraction from the heating up and cooling down will invariably render some components or pathways defective.
At the same time, if you have your PCI slots filled in your box and your air throughput is not high enough, you will experience the same effect, even if you leave your box on all the time.
I regularly keep the side of my case open. Back in school the metric was that for every 1 degree that you cool your components in your box, you should expect a minimum of 1 - 2 years of extra life out of them.
This is beside the point, but the technology used in fabricating the Centrino processors will lend itself to reducing these type of problems. My laptop stays really cool, compared to an older P4 Mobile solution.
Might I add that regular cleaning is a good idea.
When dust builds up on the boards it acts as as insulator and adds to the overheating dilemma. Get a can of compressed air and blast everything every three months or so, and clean the fans and screens and everything else. This can give you a lot of extra hours of trouble free computing.
I also second the concept of not turning things on and off. A technician friend of mine always said, "When does your piece of gear fail? When it's sitting there running? Not very often! They always break when you turn them on. Electronic gear was designed to run at temperature. Every time a part heats and cools you cause stress on the components. Leaave you gear on!".
Also have you noticed that people with Intel boards don't seem to have as many problems? I don't know how much of a price difference there is in other parts of the world, but the few dollars saved here in Canada to go with another manufacturer are not worth it compared to the hassles.
R
When dust builds up on the boards it acts as as insulator and adds to the overheating dilemma. Get a can of compressed air and blast everything every three months or so, and clean the fans and screens and everything else. This can give you a lot of extra hours of trouble free computing.
I also second the concept of not turning things on and off. A technician friend of mine always said, "When does your piece of gear fail? When it's sitting there running? Not very often! They always break when you turn them on. Electronic gear was designed to run at temperature. Every time a part heats and cools you cause stress on the components. Leaave you gear on!".
Also have you noticed that people with Intel boards don't seem to have as many problems? I don't know how much of a price difference there is in other parts of the world, but the few dollars saved here in Canada to go with another manufacturer are not worth it compared to the hassles.
R
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interloper
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I also use a tower case. It has a larger volume of air that I can move with the 5 fans.
I agree with leaving your gear on. The only problem is if you live where there are a good number of thunderstorms and you get hit by lightning, the most expensive protective gear can't help you. Lost two cable modems, two regular modems, and a tape deck. Because my gear was unplugged, it was ok.
I agree with leaving your gear on. The only problem is if you live where there are a good number of thunderstorms and you get hit by lightning, the most expensive protective gear can't help you. Lost two cable modems, two regular modems, and a tape deck. Because my gear was unplugged, it was ok.
I've got UPS's attached to pretty much everything in my studio. 2 standard 600W 'PC' type units for the computers and normal rack power conditioners for my synths & gear.
I never turn anything off here either (especially since there's 9 harddrives in here and 3 of them are 10000rpm scsi drives costing over $500 a piece). In addition to the compressed air I vacuum my machines out regularly (using the plastic attachments).
I never turn anything off here either (especially since there's 9 harddrives in here and 3 of them are 10000rpm scsi drives costing over $500 a piece). In addition to the compressed air I vacuum my machines out regularly (using the plastic attachments).
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interloper
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One thing about power distribution, if you live in a building that gets it's electric power from underground cabling, that's generally better than overhead lines.
Here's why: when anything larger than what your power conditioner or protective circuits can handle comes down the pipe, if the cabling is underground, chances are it will fault to ground before reaching your gear. Higher potential (voltage) always wants to return to the earth the quickest way. If it's near the ground already, then it might just fault at that point.
In lab tests I've seen the most expensive gear crap out with a direct hit, if the voltage is large enough.
Here's why: when anything larger than what your power conditioner or protective circuits can handle comes down the pipe, if the cabling is underground, chances are it will fault to ground before reaching your gear. Higher potential (voltage) always wants to return to the earth the quickest way. If it's near the ground already, then it might just fault at that point.
In lab tests I've seen the most expensive gear crap out with a direct hit, if the voltage is large enough.
A few tips that I have learned out of necessity:
If you are trying to maximize circulation and minimize noise (which usually means your case is closed, you have to carefully calculate the amount of airflow coming in to the case and make sure it is the same amount leaving the case. (most PS's and fans, or devices which contain fans will have an airflow rating on the box or product pages) So if your whisper-quiet Power Supply is pushing out a lot of air, and you don't have an equal amount of airflow coming in, the cold air won't always make it to the back of the machine to displace the hot air accumulating around the PCI cards before getting sucked out the top.
Conversely, If you have a ton of air coming in the front and there's not enough current leaving the back of the case, some of the hot air may get caught in a convection cycle instead of leaving the case, which is better than sitting still, but not the desired result. Plus, if you have temp throttled fans on your CPU, north-bridge, Vid cards, etc., poor in/out matching will cause them to speed up (what with the extra heat) creating more noise and complicating your internal airflow pattern.
If anyone can still find those plastic airflow directors that sit just below the removable panel, those -with a carefully matched system of in/out fans, can dramatically help your temp and noise output.
I like to keep my boxes in rack units to save space. It's just easier to stack up than across. Anyway, if you are using a rack, be sure to keep 1U of space between PCs and put a rail of fans in that space. After all, your case acts much like a heatsink. Most of the 1U fan rails are pretty quiet, but you can also swap them out with some Zalman 20mm's or whatever your preference is.
Lastly, if you're on the Athlon side of the PC, upgrading to the newer variants will save you a few degrees as the newer chips draw less power. The entry level Athlon 64s, some have reported, were capable of running with just a heatsink and no fan, but I do not recommend such a configuration for the reasons above.
On the Intel side, you may wish to DOWNGRADE (heaven forefend!) as the newer P4s -last I checked anyway, were starting to get really hot. Competition has its casualties.
Hope that helps,
Sam
If you are trying to maximize circulation and minimize noise (which usually means your case is closed, you have to carefully calculate the amount of airflow coming in to the case and make sure it is the same amount leaving the case. (most PS's and fans, or devices which contain fans will have an airflow rating on the box or product pages) So if your whisper-quiet Power Supply is pushing out a lot of air, and you don't have an equal amount of airflow coming in, the cold air won't always make it to the back of the machine to displace the hot air accumulating around the PCI cards before getting sucked out the top.
Conversely, If you have a ton of air coming in the front and there's not enough current leaving the back of the case, some of the hot air may get caught in a convection cycle instead of leaving the case, which is better than sitting still, but not the desired result. Plus, if you have temp throttled fans on your CPU, north-bridge, Vid cards, etc., poor in/out matching will cause them to speed up (what with the extra heat) creating more noise and complicating your internal airflow pattern.
If anyone can still find those plastic airflow directors that sit just below the removable panel, those -with a carefully matched system of in/out fans, can dramatically help your temp and noise output.
I like to keep my boxes in rack units to save space. It's just easier to stack up than across. Anyway, if you are using a rack, be sure to keep 1U of space between PCs and put a rail of fans in that space. After all, your case acts much like a heatsink. Most of the 1U fan rails are pretty quiet, but you can also swap them out with some Zalman 20mm's or whatever your preference is.
Lastly, if you're on the Athlon side of the PC, upgrading to the newer variants will save you a few degrees as the newer chips draw less power. The entry level Athlon 64s, some have reported, were capable of running with just a heatsink and no fan, but I do not recommend such a configuration for the reasons above.
On the Intel side, you may wish to DOWNGRADE (heaven forefend!) as the newer P4s -last I checked anyway, were starting to get really hot. Competition has its casualties.
Hope that helps,
Sam