Vovik November 30, 2005 Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 Well, it all started when I decided to take my pc and do a major cleanup. I took everything apart, cleaned it up and put it back together. It worked fine when I put it back but then I managed to hit it and from Windows it went to blank to restarting. As it restarted the 'Windows XP' screen came up (the one with the bar). The bar was going, going until it stopped and nothing happened after that. The HD light was weirdly going on and off in the same time intervals. I tried restarting couple more times to no avail (same result). I restarted in Safe Mode and it worked fine but then as I restarted normally same thing. I decided that I might have shook the case too much and HD corrupted the files on it (It is an old 2001 HD). So I rebooted in safe mode and backed up all my important files to another HD. Then, I decided to reinstall Windows on the same drive. It loaded from CD just fine and freshly installed Windows with reformatting the drive. Then I proceeded to installing main programs (ATI drivers, sound drivers). As I was installing Sound Blaster drivers at the end of installation it said something like 'configuring your system it may take a few minutes'.....it took me 15 minutes to realize it wasn't gonna do anything...I noticed HD light doing the same thing as it did when it didn't want to start Windows....weird I rebooted and tried installing SB drivers again...same thing...So, naturally, I thought that HD died.... I ordered a new one 74G Raptor from Newegg, as I was planning to do anyway even if this thing didn't 'die'. I received it today. It was SATA (my first SATA drive). After figuring how to plug it in I decided to install Windows XP. Well, I put in my XP cd. It starts reading it, loads that blue screen and loads all those drivers or whatever (on the bottom of the screen). Then, the screen where it asks you if you wanna install a fresh copy of XP or Repair or Quit comes up.........and NOTHING HAPPENS! I try to press Enter or R or F3 as it says and its stuck. The HD light blinks in the same way as it did when it didn't work. SIGH............... I've got tons and tons of schoolwork so I can't just start troubleshooting and figuring what is wrong with it right away. I'm thinking I'll take everything apart and put it back together again when I have time in hope of seeing maybe a wire came loose somewhere or something burned but I can't really put my finger on anything right now.... Any ideas? Do these symptoms of blinking HD light and crashing tell you guys anything? Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfsblood November 30, 2005 Share Wolfsblood Member November 30, 2005 Just a thought about the sata drive, and the inability to load XP. I had that same issue with my system when I built it last Jan. I had to load SATA/RAID drivers from a floppy, even though I wasn't setting up a RAID array. I don't know if RAID is an option on your system, but you might want to check that. I tried to install XP 4-5 times, before a friend asked my about the SATA/RAID drivers. After loading the drivers, it installed like it should. Anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik November 30, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 Just a thought about the sata drive, and the inability to load XP. I had that same issue with my system when I built it last Jan. I had to load SATA/RAID drivers from a floppy, even though I wasn't setting up a RAID array. I don't know if RAID is an option on your system, but you might want to check that. I tried to install XP 4-5 times, before a friend asked my about the SATA/RAID drivers. After loading the drivers, it installed like it should. Anyone else? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, I thought that might be a problem (new SATA drive, that is), so I tried also putting my other IDE drive in (and unplugging new HD) in place where previous boot drive was....same thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruten November 30, 2005 Share Kruten Member November 30, 2005 A major solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_Berge_00 November 30, 2005 Share Ice_Berge_00 GC Alumni November 30, 2005 lol kruten, let me know when they have CS:S client for linux and we'll talk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik November 30, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 A major solution. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That can't be a solution. My computer has an amnesia problem, so I don't think it would matter if I gave it some other stuff to remember...I gotta cure the brain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWarrior November 30, 2005 Share HWarrior Member November 30, 2005 Sounds like SATA not being recognized. I'd said unplug all drives except Raptor. Have SATA drivers for your SATA controller on a floppy. You can usually get those by going to your motherboard manufacturer's site. Boot to CD. When you see message at bottom saying "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver" hit F6. After a little bit it will ask for drivers. Pop in the floppy and load those. Should be good to go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-wix November 30, 2005 Share k-wix Member November 30, 2005 Sata/Raid Setups and arrays are still in their infancy and can be VERY picky, i've come to find out - so i'd suggest removing it entirely until you get it back up and going, to eliminate the issue entirely. I've configered 2 of them and 1 of them gave me a days worth of problems and the other i had to exchange for a non-sata Entirely. As far as the problem goes, it seems to be HD related - You keep mentioning the blinking HD light.. that honestly isn't a good sign of much. It generically means your computer is 'thinking' .. even a specific pattern doesnt really represent much of anything. Your safest and best route is to gain access to a new, undamaged, unquestionably working non-sata Hardrive and try to boot off that to verify the integrity of the rest of your computer, once you do that then you can relate all your worries to the HD. Find one that works. Or take your new HD to another system and see if that system can load it - again, Sata is SO finnicky its rediculous, it will work on one setup but on another it wont touch it. g/l - i've had nothing but problems with Sata and stuff and the speed boost isn't *really* worth the frustrations, its only 133 vs 100. (as far as i know, which isnt a whole lot, but that was my understanding) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo November 30, 2005 Share Cujo Member November 30, 2005 k-wix, he's not doing raid though. he's just installing xp on a single sata drive. vovik, do you have an xp cd with integrated sp2? if so then i believe you do not need those raid drivers unless actually using raid. i agree that re-building it again is a good idea. if you can get windows installed the run some stability tests before installing stuff. also, try dling memtest and seeing if that passes a couple times. it's strange that this issue would affect both your sata and ide drive. that leads me to believe you have other problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik November 30, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 k-wix, he's not doing raid though. he's just installing xp on a single sata drive. vovik, do you have an xp cd with integrated sp2? if so then i believe you do not need those raid drivers unless actually using raid. i agree that re-building it again is a good idea. if you can get windows installed the run some stability tests before installing stuff. also, try dling memtest and seeing if that passes a couple times. it's strange that this issue would affect both your sata and ide drive. that leads me to believe you have other problems. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah I got WinXP with SP2. Yeah, I tried installing on IDE with that SATA drive unplugged. It just freezes at that point when I have to decide to intall, repair or quit... I'm sure by hitting my comp something else got screwed. I don't know exactly what. Why did I hit it?!?!?! I'm a dummy. But then, what the heck is it that doesn't let it go on with it's stuff??? Do you guys know maybe there's like a protective resistor/transistor (or whatever) that burns in case of surges or vibrations (earthquakes, or in my case me)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruten November 30, 2005 Share Kruten Member November 30, 2005 lol kruten, let me know when they have CS:S client for linux and we'll talk <{POST_SNAPBACK}> CS works for most Linux versions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookie November 30, 2005 Share mookie GC Alumni November 30, 2005 lol kruten, let me know when they have CS:S client for linux and we'll talk <{POST_SNAPBACK}> CS works for most Linux versions... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd be interested to hear a bit more about this. Let's pretend I know nothing about Linux (almost kinda true) but I already use free apps for most things (very true), and CS:S is the last thing I think is holding me back. There are probably others like me out there. I tried a Red Hat distro (7 I think, maybe 9) but got discouraged after my NIC wasn't detected (it was an exotic NIC, no longer with me) and I couldn't [figure out how to] recompile the kernel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher November 30, 2005 Share Preacher Member November 30, 2005 (edited) my guess is that when you jarred the PC it burned out a transister or circuit somewhere on the motherboard. I had a similar problem (even though I wasn't irrationally violent with it) everything seemed to work, but when I installed windows it would just stop at different points during the instalation. I had an extra motherboard at the time and it worked fine with all of my old hardware. When I looked closely at the bad board I discovered a small leak in the transister. Time for a motherboard upgrade If I recall you are a P4 user: cheap: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813186011 Nice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131492 I would be remiss if I didn't point out that what you really need is this though: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813138253 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103562 and then 2 of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814150100 Edited November 30, 2005 by Preacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo November 30, 2005 Share Cujo Member November 30, 2005 (edited) try a rebuild first. it could be that one of your pci cards came loose or something. you could also take a look for physical damage like burn marks or a burst capacitor. wait does it actually freeze there or you just can't use the keyboard? is it possible your bios got reset and you have a usb keyboard not set to work in legacy mode? Edited November 30, 2005 by Cujo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik November 30, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 (edited) try a rebuild first. it could be that one of your pci cards came loose or something. you could also take a look for physical damage like burn marks or a burst capacitor. wait does it actually freeze there or you just can't use the keyboard? is it possible your bios got reset and you have a usb keyboard not set to work in legacy mode? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Cuj, is always on point...hehe Yeah my mobo is not really aligned with my case and pci cards sometimes slide out (only have one of them)...i'll check it out but i doubt it's the case. I'll closesly examine my mobo for burns and leaks preach talked about. Oh yeah, it freezes. AND BIOS is reset!!! BUT I tried a normal keyboard (non USB) and it doesn't matter so it for sure freezes. Only, when it froze in Windows (before reinstall) my mouse would work but that's about it. Could it be that when my BIOS reset I forgot to set something up there? Like, maybe, time so when Windows installs it checks time and confused since BIOS resets it to 2002 and it sees that CD is like 2004 or something?.....meh....I doubt that too but I'll check it out Yeah....so I haven't had time yet to do any of this stuff yet...got my last midterm tomorrow and work/study today all day.... *edit: Oh yeah, preach that second mobo (ASUS one) is what I have. Only maybe not the 'E' edition, but Deluxe no less. Edited November 30, 2005 by Vovik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookie November 30, 2005 Share mookie GC Alumni November 30, 2005 I've got a P4C-800 Deluxe, and it's a solid board. Only problem I had was I thought one of my RAM channels was causing memory errors, but when I went back and tested later none of them had a problem. Looks like my hijack attempt was denied though. First and easiest thing I'd try is to reseat all the RAM and cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX November 30, 2005 Share NOFX Member November 30, 2005 lol kruten, let me know when they have CS:S client for linux and we'll talk <{POST_SNAPBACK}> CS works for most Linux versions... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd be interested to hear a bit more about this. Let's pretend I know nothing about Linux (almost kinda true) but I already use free apps for most things (very true), and CS:S is the last thing I think is holding me back. There are probably others like me out there. I tried a Red Hat distro (7 I think, maybe 9) but got discouraged after my NIC wasn't detected (it was an exotic NIC, no longer with me) and I couldn't [figure out how to] recompile the kernel. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> get a program called WINE. basically a windows application emulator. search for it on google. It was recently updated with Direct X 9 support. Im unable to test it out because EVERY distro of linux hates my video card for some reason and Im never able to get into a desktop enviroment, check it out sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters November 30, 2005 Share stutters GC Alumni November 30, 2005 mooks - check out what mrX posted a couple weeks ago. minus the missing boxes thing, sounds pretty neat. sorry to hijack vov, gg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox November 30, 2005 Share appalachian_fox Member November 30, 2005 Sorry this is off-topic... NoFX, are you suggesting WINE for running CS:S? Do you do this (Or rather, have you done this with a different video card)? How much processing power do you lose through the emulator, and how much do you make up in terms of overhead efficiency by switching platforms? I must admit I am very curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX November 30, 2005 Share NOFX Member November 30, 2005 fox, I have been unable to test this, but I have read that the new WINE is ALOT better than previous releases. the processing power to run the emulator is probably not noticable. I'm sure there is some overhead in the emulator, but not as much as one would think. You probably wouldnt notice much a frame loss at all, if any... Linux makes much more effecient use of your PCs Resources..hence why you dont loose much with the emulator. Just try to install XP on a 233Mhz, then do it with a linux distro.. the linux will run smooth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX November 30, 2005 Share NOFX Member November 30, 2005 if your interested in playing with linux, I would get a second hard drive to install it on. You can partition yours off, but that usually doenst go to well. oh.. I forgot, I have *tried* wine before for non games and it works pretty good. I actually used a program called cedega, which was a rip off of wine meant for gaming so they could charge you for it. I did manage to get BF1942 to run, but it ran very poorly.... this was over a year ago and I dont think I had my video card drivers installed properly, things have progress alot since then and I really want to try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo November 30, 2005 Share Cujo Member November 30, 2005 vovik, as long as the bios was reset to default and you didn't play with anything that you don't know about then you should be fine. what are your temps saying in bios? i'd check your pci cards for sure. maybe look into get a new case if it's not lining up right. that's usually not a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik November 30, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member November 30, 2005 Alrighty guys, thx for replies. I'll post back after I try things out, maybe later today or tomorrow (depends on how stuff goes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovik December 1, 2005 Author Share Vovik Member December 1, 2005 Alrighty here's what I did: I set up my system on the big table instead of putting it in the case and started troubleshooting. First off, I put it all back together and it froze at the same place of installation of XP. To make it short, I tried 2 of different things to eliminate the possibilities. It's NOT: PSU, Videocard, CD Drive, RAM or PCI card that wasnt fully 'in' the slot before. I also, installed the latest full version (non-beta) of BIOS (version 1019). What I also noticed is from time to time, at the restart, the screen comes up and says something about CMOS. Then, it gives me 2 options 1. go to setup (which is going to BIOS screen) or 2. go ahead with defaul configurations What the heck is that CMOS? And, where is it stored? I'm pretty sure that this sucker is on the motherboard and it doesn't want to work properly...am I doomed with this mobo? I'm gonna try to get my dood Gleb's old mobo (he upgraded few months back) hopefully at least by tomorrow and try doing some runs with that. It has a A Socket AMD 1500+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo December 1, 2005 Share Cujo Member December 1, 2005 cmos is the chip that your bios is on. clearing cmos is clearing the bios. sounds like your mobo is messed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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