Computer problems, what to do?

zAndy1

zAndy1

zAndy1

Associate
Joined
1 Jan 2004
Posts
412
Hi,
I built a PC last year, the main components are a Biostar TP45 motherboard, Intel E7400 CPU, 4GB RAM (can't remember the exact make). In the last few weeks it's started crashing and getting BSODs quite a lot, they are mainly SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION or it fails to recognise the HDD and won't boot up saying 'Disk Read Error'. What tends to happen if I do mange to get it started is I'll go into internet explorer and a few minutes later the PC will freeze, IE will go to 'not responding' and then it will BSOD with the SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION error.
The PC has always seemed to suffer from intermittent startup problems whereby sometimes it simply wouldn't boot up but eventually it would start and be ok after that. Recently though it's getting unusable as it's always crashing or failing to start with the 'Disk Read Error' problem. Tonight I haven't managed to get it started and the HDD isn't appearing in the BIOS. So my question is, what would you do to try and resolve it? Should I just get a new HDD and see if that works and reinstall Windows 7 from scratch (not ideal really). Tempted to get a new motherboard / CPU and HDD to be honest as like I said it's always been tempremental , what's the best bang for buck motherboard / CPU combination at the moment (something comparable or better than an E7400)?
Any advice much appreciated

Cheers
Andy
 
And this morning (as usually happens to be fair) it started ok first time! It's when it crashes that it tends not to start again for ages and usually needs leaving overnight until it will start again.
 
Right, ran the Samsung HUTIL HDD check and it came up with no errors, ran Memtest 86+ and it came up with no errors. Yes I have made changes in the BIOS so going to put them back to normal and see how it goes. I suspect I'll get another crash within the next 24 hrs :(
Bloody frustrating when it gets to this point trying to work out what's to blame isn't it!

One thing that might be worth mentioning, I've always had problems with this PC when it comes to shutting it down and restarting it again. If I shut it down invariably it won't start unless it's left for quite a while (usually overnight). When it starts ok the fan spins at high speed for probably 2 or 3 seconds then slows down and the system posts but when I get this problem the fan spins at an audibly lower speed for about a second and then slows down and nothing happens i.e. it doesn't post (nothing on the monitor). Also I've just flashed the latest bios and after it did that it was supposed to restart but it's now sat in limbo not starting (I'm writing this from my laptop). If I leave it overnight I'm confident it will start ok. I'm getting more and more convinced I've got (and probably always have had) a dodgy motherboard.
 
Last edited:
As expected it started first time this morning. I've applied a bit of an overclock, FSB 315 so with the 10.5 multiplier about 3.3 Ghz, RAM voltage is at 2.1V but it does seem to be running a bit slow at a DRAM frequency of 473.5Mhz when should ideally be 533Mhz but not sure how to improve that really (ratio is 2:3). Let's see how it behaves now....
 
I'll put the BIOS settings back to default and leave it like that for a while. The PSU is this one:-

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-031-OC

Would have thought it was powerful enough but possible it could be faulty I suppose (although proving that might be difficult!). If HUTIL didn't find any errors with the HDD can I categorically rule that out as the problem? Same with Memtest and the RAM can I rule that out as well? If it comes down to it I don't mind replacing something if it sorts the problem out, just working out what to replace first that's the problem...
Anyway I'll see how things go or if I can get any other clues somehow, thanks for the advice so far folks
 
Yeah, I'm just not sure how I'm going to determine whether it's the PSU or the motherboard (if indeed it is one of those). I've got a hardware monitor installed and the voltages look ok on there. I guess both items should still be under warranty but I'd need to prove they're faulty to RMA them :(
 
HardwareMonitor.jpg


Can't see anything particularly worrying there...
 
UnderStress.jpg


After 5 mins of Prime95 (ok not long). Doesn't seem to be any chance really, apart from the CPU temp obviously (not very clear but it's 52C).
 
Spoke too soon, started ok this morning but within 2 minutes it froze, everything showed not responding and then it went to a black screen, rebooted and got 'Secondary Master Hard Disk Error' on posting. Rebooted again and started ok. Bloody frustrating!!
 
No, not overclocked now. I've disconnected my external USB HDD and gonna see how it goes , been ok tonight so far (but then I said that last night!)...
 
Hi,
Right just an update. I've had my USB HDD disconnected all week and up until last night it had been ok but then I got another freeze and I've had problems tonight as well with it rebooting and then not recognising the HDD. I might try another HDD if I can find one, think I've got an IDE one somewhere (the current one is sata). I've updated the motherboard bios and chipset drivers already.

Cheers
Andy
 
Aaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! This is driving me mad now. Been having problems all night, start up , freezes, reboots then won't start cos doesn't recognise the HDD being there. Reboot, same again, reboot same again, reboot and starts then does the same... fingers crossed this time it'll last more than 10 mins!
 
Right, started this morning, froze within 5 mins. Switched it off and removed one stick of Ram, let's see what happens now...

Edit: 1 hr later and ok so far :)
 
Last edited:
Well it's been on all day and still ok at the moment, been out most of the day to be honest but I left it on to see if it was ok when I got home and it seems to be fine.. I get the feeling it's teasing me though and it's only a matter of time :(
 
Been ok this morning so far :) The system seems a lot quicker as well, might just be more imagination but it seems to be a lot smoother and faster than it was before.
 
Well since taking the 2nd stick of Ram out it behaved absolutely fine. I've now swapped sticks so still just got one stick in but it's the stick I originally took out and therefore thought was faulty and causing the problem. So far it's been fine (go figure). Perhaps it's a dodgy slot, will revert back to 2 sticks in if it behaves itself for a few days and see if the problems come back...
 
Been fine with the other single stick of Ram in as well for the last couple of days. Will put both back in later and see how it goes then..... if it starts crashing again presumably that points to a motherboard problem does it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom