I give up.. Help please!

Jacob (:

Jacob (:

Jacob (:

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Joined
24 Jun 2008
Posts
806
Location
Droitwich
Short:
PC stopped booting - 3 quick bios beeps when windows 7 nearly loaded. - Will generally boot and work happily in safe mode.

Tried everything - Then reformatted - Problem still there - cant complete windows 7 install

Tried swapping ram sticks/graphics card/hard drive

The long:
I went on holiday for 2 weeks and when i got back my pc wouldn't boot.. (it was plugged in but the plug switch was off while i was away)

The problems are quite strange, sometimes it would get all the way to the login screen but as soon as you clicked on an icon to start typing the password the screen would turn off.. once i managed to login then 10 minutes later the screen turned off.. by going into standby i could get it back on but only for a few seconds.

Since then i haven't managed to get back into windows.. i tried lots of things even had problems getting into safe mode a few times. Would never load back into windows even with diagnostic startup selected in msconfig.

When loading after the windows logo the screen just turns off.. a few seconds later i get 3 fast bios beeps the computer restarts and does nothing.

In the end i gave up, backed up everything and reformatted... the initial set up worked ok.. then it rebooted and started the next bit and bam the screen went off again + same beeps.

Was really hoping it wasn't a hardware problem as it would work happily once it was in safe mode.


I plan on trying another power supply tomorrow.. but i am just really frustrated now ive spent a lot of time trying to get it sorted.

Just looking for help on advice on what the problem is and how to fix it/what to replace.

Thanks (:
 
Sorry, should have remembered that! (:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3R
CPU: C2D 6550
Memory: Geil, 4gb (4 x 1GB) pc 6400
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 500
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB - PCI-E
 
Those beeps possibly indicate a video adapter issue. You mentioned you tried another gfx, were the symptoms the same?

I used to have a system very similar to that, never had much trouble, but that gigabyte board has been known to suffer from corrupt BIOS problems sometimes. Are you able to reflash a BIOS without issue do you think? I would not attempt this if there is a chance of it turning off or similar.

Another possibility is a problem with a PCI-E slot or somewhere on the motherboard close to that.
 
I agree entirely I have come across many of the same issues with Gigabyte boards with the PCI slot not getting proper contact. I used to like Gigabyte but now I would not touch them as far as I could throw them.
 
Just reflashed and problem is still occuring.. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Symptoms are exactly the same with both cards (though they are both x1950s)

So the likely hood really is that im looking at needing to replace the motherboard?

Just so wierd that it would work fine in safe mode (logged in for 2 hours browsing internet etc before reformat) yet it died with normal booting.

Edit: I can't see the contact being the issue.. i had no problems before i went and the pc didnt move at all between uses.
 
I'm just scratching my head thinking what it could be.

Have you tried a different monitor signal cable?

You could check your hard disk for errors too, though unlikely.

Also try disabling CPU fan control via the BIOS and the fan fail warning, this has been known to cause phantom beeping (though crashing is not a symptom).

The other thing that does come to mind is a power supply issue. You mention you can get into safe mode. Can you download prime95 and run that in safe mode to see if it causes a problem to appear? Also, check your CPU/NB/other temperatures if you haven't already.
 
I only have the one cable i think as its dvi to dvi so cant test that easily.. When the signal to the monitor went the signal to the tv did too.

When i was first trying to resolve issues i did a chkdsk /r on the windows drive that didnt sort anything :(

Il play about with fan control options just in case!

I will get a psu to test tomorrow to try and eliminate that too, i cant get to safe mode now as i wiped the drive and started to reinstall windows 7.. i thought there was a chance it was software as safe mode worked.. so no chance with prime.

Temperatures are showing as fine from what i can see in the bios.

Any suggestions on a bootable program similar to prime i could use?

Thanks again for the help! So frustrating that the problems dont seem to follow a fixed pattern.
 
Download the UBCD, it has Prime 95 on it! I take it you have another machine and CD burner.

You could also try a linux boot cd. Ubuntu should be fairly compatible and could get you at least up and running for some time (depending on your issue) and it could help narrow things down.
 
i dont have another machine with a burner setup at the moment, but il sort something out with a bootable usb and ubcd now if i can!

Il post back when i find anything out from prime
 
try other memory dimms maybe...

But from the way you say it lasts a while I'm even thinking it's just your HD about to grind to a halt...

so I'd try other dimms &/or a different HD ;)
PSU's normally just go boom along with mobo's (but the pci-e slots for the gfx cards could possibly be an issue still yet to be rules out)

I'll place my bets on memory going bad or a dying Hard Drive buddy ;)
 
I have 4 ram sticks ive tried using the pc with just 1 in and different ones different slots etc, and i did a memtest on it which was fine!

i copied 80gb of stuff from that hard drive to another while in safe mode and it all transferred over quite happily and quickly, could the hard drive still be an issue with that in mind?

Fun fun!
 
I would have also suspected memory had the tests not already been done, and since it was running OK in safe mode, hard drive seemed less likely.

The idea behind prime (incase you were wondering or hadn't figured it out) is to put a bit of load on the machine to try and stress the PSU somewhat and perhaps uncover an issue. Prime, however, does test a variety of components (including RAM, CPU) also, so it isn't a sure thing, but if a RAM test comes back fine it's more likely a power or motherboard thing going on.

How many passes of memtest did you run? I've heard it can take some people up to 8 passes to discover faults sometimes! Perhaps you could try running one overnight, or even underclocking your memory and giving it a tiny bit more juice. IIRC, those GeIL sticks need 2.0V, default gigabyte voltage is 1.8V for DDR2, so sometimes adding +0.2V is needed in BIOS. Of course, you'll have to confirm that with the memory model, but I'm guessing it's the orange sticks of PC2-6400 (Ultra low latency 4-4-4-12)?

Oh, and if you have an overclock on of any kind, of course remove it. I image you probably don't as you would have mentioned that already.
 
Il set it up and leave it overnight then to make sure, and if any errors come up il change the volts and try again! Didnt leave it all that long the first time tbh due to the computer not lasting long normally..

How long should i leave the stress test on?

You were correct with your assumption of my memory btw (:

If i make a ubuntu bootable usb/cd then i can probably move some stuff around on the other hard drives and try another one as the main drive..

Ah got to pass 6 on the prime and the screen just went blank.. though its still on o.o

Edit: well it was still fine, pressed a key on keyboard and it stopped the test and said 10 minutes 0 errors, il start it back up again
 
Last edited:
Jacob (: said:
I have 4 ram sticks ive tried using the pc with just 1 in and different ones different slots etc, and i did a memtest on it which was fine!

i copied 80gb of stuff from that hard drive to another while in safe mode and it all transferred over quite happily and quickly, could the hard drive still be an issue with that in mind?

Fun fun!
Click to expand...

your memory tests were omitted before... (doh), but yes, your hard drive can last a few hrs & still go bang... plenty have done so before & plenty will do so again... ;)
 
Yeah, prime does blank the screen after a while, fooled me more than once before!

I'd check the memory voltage and timings are correct before running memtest again or you may be wasting your time. I'd also try booting normally again if the memory wasn't at 800MHz, 2.0V, 4-4-4-12 just in case that was a simple fix.

As for prime, with the symptoms expressed so far, I'd expect a pretty quick failure if it were power related, certainly within 15 min. Normally to test stability I run it for much longer, but here you're having problems not long after boot.

I know you said you don't have another monitor cable, but can you boot up the PC without one attached and see if it crashes again with the beeps? That should have the same capability to eliminate an issue as finding another cable. I take it you can make it crash fairly reliably now.
 
Sorry spent last few days playing about assuming it would just work in the end!

il whack another memtest on over night then and try a different power supply tomorrow, then go for the hassle of trying to sort another hard drive!
 
Memory was set to 5-5-5-18, because of flashing the bios earlier. I set to 4-4-4-12 and + .2 and tried booting with and without the cable attached, same thing both times, same duration before the error beeps occurred.
 
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