Urgernt: Please help

Meloco · 27 Jul 2009 at 07:51

Last night I had to restart my PC as it froze unexpectedly. Next thing I know when it tries to turn on the fans are whirling, then suddenly spin down. This repeats 3 times then the whole PC turns off again, and then switches itself back on, even after I hold down the power button! Could some-one please tell me why this is happening and how to fix this?

Many thanks...

EdAllonby · 27 Jul 2009 at 08:44

Could be a number of things. PSU done in, maybe under wattage. Possible CPU damage, hardware failure. That's a starting point anyway, people can now elaborate.

bowza · 27 Jul 2009 at 09:13

I would start with a basic clean out all fans and vents, check cpu heat sink is still seated correctly,

leave psu disconected while doing the above,

re connect and test,

if still fails remove none essential components to get back to the bare minimum to boot to at least the bios, i.e disconnect dvd drives hdd's ect.

if it stays on in the bios then navigate and check the settings for a while. check temperatures etc.

Good look fella

outsourcedsoul · 27 Jul 2009 at 09:37

I would try resetting your CMOS as well, take the MB battery out for about 10 mins, might need some jumpers setting on the board as well.

Meloco · 27 Jul 2009 at 13:16

It turned out to be a memory problem. One stick of ram was dodgey!

SMN · 27 Jul 2009 at 13:29

Strange - sounds like what my mobo (the gigabyte DS3P) does when you overclock it with settings it doesnt like.

Meloco · 27 Jul 2009 at 14:19

SMN said:
Strange - sounds like what my mobo (the gigabyte DS3P) does when you overclock it with settings it doesnt like.

funny enough i had overclocked the memory ... Hmm

SMN · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:21

Have you tried changing the slot in which the RAM was / reset the BIOS? Whenever i push too hard on my gigabyte board it reboots about 4-5 times then starts with a flattened BIOS (Default) but with some elements kept from my OC, e.g. the lowered multiplier. Just a thought.

Meloco · 27 Jul 2009 at 19:17

SMN said:
Have you tried changing the slot in which the RAM was / reset the BIOS? Whenever i push too hard on my gigabyte board it reboots about 4-5 times then starts with a flattened BIOS (Default) but with some elements kept from my OC, e.g. the lowered multiplier. Just a thought.

Ye I checked the ram, it was definitely dead. Strange thing that just happened though:

The fuse box and everything in the house just went, including the doorbell ringing?! Could this be due to my PC? Possibly a surge from it?

edit: I've ordered some new ram, so hopefully that will rule out any dodgey ram left over.

SMN · 27 Jul 2009 at 19:55

I cant see that being the reason - i'm no sparky but surely if it was a surge the fuse in your plug would have blown before damaging anything else? Maybe someone who has a clue about AC / DC (not the rock band

) could shed some light.