Bjossi on 24/5/2009 at 15:27
This started happening several days ago and it is worrying me.
As the title says my computer freezes during POST and displays other odd behavior. I'll list the process in steps:
1) When I turn on the PC (cold boot) I can hear the fans spinning and I see the mobo screen few seconds later.
2) It starts listing the hardware; first CPU, then RAM, and then mobo chipset, but it freezes at that point, only shows nForce 4 and stays there.
3) But step 2 is only temporary, after about 10 - 15 seconds it lists the hard drives among other things and pops up a message below that says the CPU fan is either malfunctioning or too slow. Usually I could just press F1 to continue, but this time it doesn't work.
4) What DOES work however is to reboot. If I wait some time while it stays in step 3 and reboot, POST will go the entire way through just fine, hardware lists without delays, F1 works and Windows starts up.
5a) But that ain't the end of the weird behavior; the audio card is suddenly not present when I'm finally in Windows. And naturally that means no sound will play anywhere since the onboard audio is disabled.
5b) I had this happen only once so far; Windows starts up but mouse and keyboard do not work. Well, either that or the OS simply froze, impossible to tell. But seeing how step 5a goes I see the former option as the more likely one.
6) As with step 3, a reboot resolves both step 5a and b. Upon the reboot it goes through POST, Windows starts up, and audio works as well as kb+mouse.
So to summarize, I need to reboot twice before my PC finally boots up properly.
My question is simple: What the hell is going on? :weird:
I'm suspecting the PSU may be going bad, at least it would explain the behavior POST displays and the random hardware failure.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
gunsmoke on 24/5/2009 at 15:40
The only thing I can say for sure is to find some spare parts, and swap them in and out one at a time until you figure out the culprit. I usually start w/the Memory, PSU, then I rip all of the cards in the expansion slots out, and re-enable the onboard audio/video/LAN. Also, check and make sure all of the connections are properly seated.
I have twice had a problem similar to this, though, and the motherboard itself was the culprit. Can't say for sure what yours is, though.
Bjossi on 24/5/2009 at 16:12
Unfortunately I don't have any spare parts lying around. . . :erg:
The mobo did cross my mind (especially since the delay always happens when it is detecting the mobo chipset) but the fact that a reboot more or less fixes that, I started looking suspiciously at my PSU since cold boots require more energy than reboots (as far as I know at least).
I will probably give my computer's maintenance guy a call after the weekend and ask him if he can shed some light on this. In the worst case scenario I will have to take my computer to him for repairs. That seems like a better deal than waiting for the PSU to deep fry my system. . .
bikerdude on 24/5/2009 at 17:53
Quote Posted by Bjossi
It starts listing the hardware; first CPU, then RAM, and then mobo chipset, but it freezes at that point, only shows nForce 4 and stays there for about 10 - 15 seconds it lists the hard drives among other things and pops up a message below that says the CPU fan is either malfunctioning or too slow.
* As its stopping on the nforce screen, this would suggest a faulty hdd, unplug all the HDD's and see what it does.
* But regarding windows not picking up the sound card, try moving the card to a different slot and see what happens. Sounds like the mobo is possibly faulty though. Is it under warranty..?
Bjossi on 24/5/2009 at 17:58
I doubt it, bought it off NewEgg over 3 years ago.
And don't forget that these problems only happen during a cold boot, I'm not seeing how the hard drives can only be faulty during that period but work fine when the computer has successfully booted up with all hardware functioning normally. But I won't rule anything out, easy enough to unhook the HDDs and see what happens.
Thanks for the replies so far by the way!
Ostriig on 24/5/2009 at 18:08
This may sound weird, but I remember having a similarly progressive problem some years back, and if I remember it right, it was due to a dying PSU. At first, it would take a couple resets before getting into the OS, and it would work fine afterwards, but quite soon it got to the point where my system boot wouldn't get past POST, and it's then I finally noticed a burnt smell coming from the back of the machine, like that of freshly ironed clothing. It was during a hot summer, with a no-name 350W power supply that was being put through a lot of pressure on account of a recent system upgrade.
Could your symptoms be related to insufficient power being delivered to the system? It's been a long while since I studied electrokinetics, and even if I'm right it may not apply here, but if I recall correctly, electrical conductivity can theoretically be influenced by heat.
Bjossi on 24/5/2009 at 18:17
Hmm, that does sound very similar to my current experiences. I suspect that the PSU is either not delivering enough power or there are power fluctuations. In either case my entire system is in great danger if it is in fact the PSU. :erg:
Ostriig on 24/5/2009 at 18:22
On the bright side, that's easy to test, all you need is a friend with one powerful enough in their PC. But that was just me, there's no guarantee you're facing the same problem.
Bjossi on 24/5/2009 at 18:28
To be perfectly honest I hope it is the PSU, those are easier to replace than ancient socket 939 mobos or hard drives with lots of precious data on them. :erg:
bikerdude on 24/5/2009 at 23:01
Quote Posted by Bjossi
To be perfectly honest I hope it is the PSU, those are easier to replace than ancient socket 939 mobos or hard drives with lots of precious data on them. :erg:
if it is the PSU, you'd be well advised to rip it out now before it takes the mobo with it when it dies...
