Renzatic on 20/10/2016 at 17:54
I've never seen anything like this before in my life. One minute, my computer is working just fine. The next minute it's just gone.
The worst part is that I didn't even see the moment it crashed. I step downstairs to grab a drink, and when I come back up, the computer's rebooting itself. I watch it for a second, thinking it must've grabbed an update, but...no. It just keeps constantly turning itself off and on. Even when I turn it off for a few minutes manually, then fire it back up, it'll only repeat that same cycle.
This isn't a Windows problem, because the EFI splash doesn't even show up. The most that'll show is a little dash prompt and a mouse cursor (which I can move around) for a couple of seconds before shutting itself back down to repeat the process.
I've unplugged anything extraneous to see if that'd fix the problem, but no. It's still doing the same thing. I'm not even sure what this would be. It could be the PSU, or it could be the motherboard. The whole thing is entirely a mystery to me.
Anyone seen anything like this before? Got any advice or suggestions?
Pyrian on 20/10/2016 at 18:04
Actually, if it reaches a working mouse cursor, then the problem is most likely in windows. Try safemode.
voodoo47 on 20/10/2016 at 18:28
I'd start swapping components around, but that might be problematic if you don't keep a stock of spares. maybe someone can lend you a psu and an extra memory stick? almost sure that would be enough to pinpoint the failing piece of hw.
Renzatic on 20/10/2016 at 18:41
It's more like it's trying to do something with EFI settings menu, which uses a mouse cursor. It never even touches the Windows splash.
I'm almost definite it's hardware now, and likely the result of a quick power surge. There are Georgia Power trucks running around the neighborhood, doing something random off near my house. I'm willing to bet they pushed a surge through the grid, and since I was downstairs, I didn't notice it.
I'll see if I can borrow a PSU. God forbid if it's anything worse.
edit: just turned it on again. Under normal circumstances, when I first fire it up, it'll only take about 2 seconds before I see the EFI splash, then about 8-10 after that before I'm in Windows. Right now, it's not even firing up my monitor. The fans spin, and my indicator light is blinking, but now it isn't even getting to that cursor.
Azaran on 21/10/2016 at 02:24
How old is your computer?
Could it be the HDD that's starting to die maybe?
Renzatic on 21/10/2016 at 03:10
About a year and a half, and it's in good condition, too. I take it and dust its innards out about every 6 months or so.
I'm almost definite it's the PSU now. I just turned it on right after reading your post, and all it does is spin the fans and light up those obnoxious LED lights on the mobo. It doesn't initialize anything at all now, won't even go through that cycle of resets it was doing when it first went problematic on me.
My biggest hope is that's all it is. I'm borrowing an old PSU to test it out with tomorrow, so I'll find out soon enough. If it took out the RAM, or the SSD, or anything else, I will be pissed.
Azaran on 21/10/2016 at 03:19
I had my PSU(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140826) die on me a few years back, but my PC just wouldn't turn on anymore (my pc was custom built, and turns out they forgot to activate a booster on the motherboard - it fried the PSU. They fixed it after though). I figured if it was the PSU, it would just be dead, but maybe not...
Nothing else was affected in my case. They replaced the PSU with an identical one, activated the booster, and 3 years later it's still going
Renzatic on 21/10/2016 at 03:27
You can blow out an individual rail in a PSU, which means they'll keep working, though only supply enough power to do the bare basics, like spin the fans and HDD if you've got an old platter drive, and maybe access the BIOS on older PCs.
The weirdest thing for me is that I had no prior warning before it happened. Nothing was acting weird, no strange noises, no degradation in performance. Nothing. It worked fine when I got up, wasn't working when I came back.
zoog on 21/10/2016 at 04:53
Have you tried to back up bios? Check if your m/b capable of sometrhing like "dual bios".
zoog on 21/10/2016 at 04:55
Quote:
which means they'll keep working, though only supply enough power to do the bare basics
No you can't - it's protected.
