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Homebuilt stuck on MOBO splash screen

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I have had my computer working fine since April. Recently, I was in the middle of a word document when my computer froze and started buzzing through the speakers. When I turned it off and back on, I couldn't get past the motherboard splash screen. I unplug the optical drive and I get past the splash screen, then after it finishes loading XP, it goes to a black window then to "No Video" on my monitor, and then back to the motherboard splash screen. Safe mode does not work. It goes to a black screen with a command line then starts listing a bunch of registry entries or something, then back to "No Video" and the Motherboard splash screen. I replaced my crappy Orion PSU with a good Antec NeoHE 550watt PSU yesterday because I thought my Orion was sending my hardware bad power, or it was defective. But still, nothing has changed. Is it possible that it could be a video card driver? I know the 8800gts's drivers are pretty iffy and the one I installed recently didn't have Microsoft certification or whatever. I also think it may be my motherboard or CPU because the CPU fan sometimes does not fully spin so it might have caused the CPU to overheat and maybe damaged it. If I unplug the HDD it will still not boot, so I do not think it is the HDD.

My setup
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
Corsair 2gb ram
Seagate 400gb HDD
EVGA Geforce 8800GTS 640mb
Intel Conroe E6600
Antec NeoHE 550watt
Philips optical drive

More about : homebuilt stuck mobo splash screen

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You might try resetting your BIOS to defaults; clear first using the mobo jumper.
If that helps, great, if not...
Do you have another working HDD? If you unplug your hard drive, the system may just sit there looking for it, or may time out with an error. With a known good HDD connected, will it boot off your O/S install CD?

I was able to boot my windows cd, but near the end of loading the settings, my screen went black, then "No Video" then once again, the motherboard splash logo. I can see at least there is some repetitive errors, not just random shutdowns. Next I will try to clear my bios, and then if I have another internal HDD, I will try to boot that. Will taking out the battery on the mobo have the same effect as jumping the clear cmos thing on the mobo? Or will taking out the battery totally erase cmos?

Thanks

It is not necessary to remove CMOS battery, just use Clear CMOS jumper. If you can aquire Bootable CD with Memtest, test the RAM. You could try removing one stick of RAM at a time. Disconnect HDD, you dont need it to boot from Windows CD. A Knoppix CD can also boot without a hard drive.

Mike.
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Will taking out the battery on the mobo have the same effect as jumping the clear cmos thing on the mobo? Or will taking out the battery totally erase cmos?

Thanks
Taking the battery out will not damage your mobo but it might not reset the CMOS. Use the method outlined in your manual e.g., shorting the CMOS reset strap etc.

The manual says taking out the battery will "erase" the cmos and then there is also a "clr_cmos" part of the mobo where it supposedely "resets" cmos. But if I take out the battery and "erase" the cmos, will it come back?

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The manual says taking out the battery will "erase" the cmos and then there is also a "clr_cmos" part of the mobo where it supposedely "resets" CMOS. But if I take out the battery and "erase" the cmos, will it come back?
Good question. Clear CMOS strap should be sufficient. My guess, and this is just a guess, is that since there are alternate BIOS setups that can be saved, the reset strap would reset the current BIOS to default, and removing the battery would wipe all data in the CMOS and load defaults. This would wipe any saved BIOS configurations. Since the manual has specifically stated that removing the battery would erase the CMOS within 1 minute it is clear that there are no capacitors that might hold it up for an extended time. So pull the battery for 5 min. to be sure, and see what happens. You might try the strap first for shits and grins

Hello, just from experience; generally if your system freezes while in use like that generally you either have some overheat (or your PSU fan has failed causing the overheat) / weird issues with your motherboard, OR in most cases I have found that your hard-drive may be failing. Since you have a Seagate hard-drive, go to the Seagate website and download Seatools at:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seat...

Test your hard-drive with full test. I would also agree about testing the RAM of the system using Memtest86 or Memtest86+. If you spot no errors using Seatools (I find this manufacturers tool is not the greatest), I would recommend using Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test (or DFT for short) as well to test the drive.
All of the tools, and many many more free tools are available on the handy free boot CD called the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD for short) at:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

I wouldn't just clear the CMOS and be done with it as this may temporarily fix the problem, you are eventually going to have to deal with the inevitable (as your system would not freeze, then go into a reboot loop if there was NOTHING wrong with hardware, or even spyware / viruses can cause this type of behaviour).

Good luck, and God Speed!

EDIT: To your statement about not booting with the HDD unhooked; of course it would not boot when you have the HDD disconnected, no OS to load..

I think I will just try the battery removal because I am not exactly sure how to jump the thing on the MOBO. Removing the battery is just more simple. Yes, I am pretty n00b. UBCD looks really great. I will dl that and maybe seatools. I hope I will be able to boot them. Also, when the HDD is unhooked I know it wouldn't be able to boot, but it just didn't go to the "No bootable device" screen ever. Just thought that was weird. It would just shut off after the XP loading screen.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

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I think I will just try the battery removal because I am not exactly sure how to jump the thing on the MOBO.
As I said removing the battery for at least 1 min preferably longer is OK. Reference page 29 in the manual. With the mobo un-powered short pins indicated by the circle in the drawing for 1 sec or more with a paper clip or screw driver etc. Touch only the pins. CMOS will be defaulted.

Ya mine says on pg.28 "Gently take out the battery and put it aside for about one minute. (Or you can use a metal object to conect the positive and negative pins in the battery holer to make them short for five seconds.)" Same thing basically. Do you also have the 965p-ds3?

Thanks

Quote:
Ya mine says on pg.28 "Gently take out the battery and put it aside for about one minute. (Or you can use a metal object to conect the positive and negative pins in the battery holer to make them short for five seconds.)" Same thing basically. Do you also have the 965p-ds3?

Thanks
Don't short the pins in the battery holder just remove the battery for a few minutes. That is not the same as the CMOS reset pins. The reset pins are just above the battery holder at about 1:00 position.

Anyway reset the damn thing already and post your results.

Ok, ok, sorry I've been busy. I reset CMOS successfully but still it will not boot. The first time after I reset it after the XP loading screen loaded it flashed a blue screen then went back to the motherboard splash screen. Then after that it got stuck on the XP loading screen, it wouldn't stop loading, and the bar was lagging. Now it just goes to the splash screen. Can't get past it.

Ok, ok, sorry I've been busy. I reset CMOS successfully but still it will not boot. The first time after I reset it after the XP loading screen loaded it flashed a blue screen then went back to the motherboard splash screen. Then after that it got stuck on the XP loading screen, it wouldn't stop loading, and the bar was lagging. Now it just goes to the splash screen. Can't get past it for now.

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Ok, ok, sorry I've been busy. I reset CMOS successfully but still it will not boot. The first time after I reset it after the XP loading screen loaded it flashed a blue screen then went back to the motherboard splash screen. Then after that it got stuck on the XP loading screen, it wouldn't stop loading, and the bar was lagging. Now it just goes to the splash screen. Can't get past it for now.
Have you tried pressing the delete key while it is in POST, to get into the BIOS?

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Yes I am able to get into BIOS setup.
Get into BIOS and select "Advanced BIOS Features". On this screen enable "HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability" and disable "Full Screen LOGO Show". Boot up and look at the POST screen and see if the SMART for the drive is ok or you get an alarm, and post back.

Post doesn't say anything about SMART. It just detects my HDD. I was able to read my HDD model number ST34........ but It flashes the detecting part so fast I couldn't make out anything else.

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Post doesn't say anything about SMART. It just detects my HDD. I was able to read my HDD model number ST34........ but It flashes the detecting part so fast I couldn't make out anything else.
Yeah, it's getting hard to see as the CPU speed increases. It would have been after the detection. But if it fails it should throw an alarm.

Does the BIOS hang or does it try to load xp?

After POST it goes to a hardware screen. I was never sure exactly what it was, but it lists a bunch of stuff like USB and like IDE; hardware stuff. It is normal for my startup though. But after that the screen goes black, and not even a cursor shows up. So no, it doesn't load XP

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After POST it goes to a hardware screen. I was never sure exactly what it was, but it lists a bunch of stuff like USB and like IDE; hardware stuff. It is normal for my startup though. But after that the screen goes black, and not even a cursor shows up. So no, it doesn't load XP


Go back and read GD6464s post above. Try booting to the the seagate tools cd or the ultimate CD. and post back.

Edit: In the BIOS, on the "Standard CMOS Features" page, change "halt on" to No errors. Also, On the "Advanced BIOS Features" change the boot order to make the CD the first boot, for when you do the cd booting. Go into the "PC Health Status" and check the Temps of the CPU etc.

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Set your cpu fan to "legacy" in the bios and it will spin full speed all the time.
That assumes it is overheating, which has not been established yet.

I don't think it is overheating. When I checked PC health status in BIOS my CPU temp was only 29celsius. I am burning UBCD right now, but I am starting to think more that it is my mobo because BIOS keeps freezing.

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I don't think it is overheating. When I checked PC health status in BIOS my CPU temp was only 29celsius. I am burning UBCD right now, but I am starting to think more that it is my mobo because BIOS keeps freezing.
Freezing, what exactly do you mean by that? While you are in the BIOS it freezes or only on boot.

ok, first of all, go into your bios and DISABLE the LOGO SCREEN. The logo screen is displayed while your computer checks your RAM and detects all hdds. It shows any hdd, keyboard or mouse errors. Most of the time is will sit there, telling you the error it detects. If the LogoScreen is displayed you don't see dick, and it just sits there. The LogoScreen is usually displayed by default during this process and i ALWAYS disable it. I like to see what my computer is doing. I also disable the QuickPost feature, as this skips certain checks like Ram testing. Had a problem with a stick of RAM before and disabling that in the BIOS saved me a lot of headache. I don't feel like an extra 20-30 seconds to check the RAM is a big waste of time, how many times do you actually (re)boot?
Just my 2 cents..

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ok, first of all, go into your bios and DISABLE the LOGO SCREEN. The logo screen is displayed while your computer checks your RAM and detects all hdds. It shows any hdd, keyboard or mouse errors. Most of the time is will sit there, telling you the error it detects. If the LogoScreen is displayed you don't see dick, and it just sits there. The LogoScreen is usually displayed by default during this process and i ALWAYS disable it. I like to see what my computer is doing. I also disable the QuickPost feature, as this skips certain checks like Ram testing. Had a problem with a stick of RAM before and disabling that in the BIOS saved me a lot of headache. I don't feel like an extra 20-30 seconds to check the RAM is a big waste of time, how many times do you actually (re)boot?
Just my 2 cents..
Before you post your 2 cents read the whole thread. he already disabled the logo.

Ok cool, I did pausebreak but I don't see any errors or anything abnormal. Also, wouldn't I want to have all hardware checks enabled so I can see the problem? I turn off my comp. usually after I am done, so I reboot a lot. What I meant by the BIOS freezing is that it would freeze in the setup, not the startup screen. Well sometimes the startup screen would freeze, but I was talking about going into BIOS setup and I was trying to change the fan speed but it would freeze once I entered that category.

Thanks

Quote:
Ok cool, I did pausebreak but I don't see any errors or anything abnormal. Also, wouldn't I want to have all hardware checks enabled so I can see the problem? I turn off my comp. usually after I am done, so I reboot a lot. What I meant by the BIOS freezing is that it would freeze in the setup, not the startup screen. Well sometimes the startup screen would freeze, but I was talking about going into BIOS setup and I was trying to change the fan speed but it would freeze once I entered that category.

Thanks
If your machine is freezing in BIOS then you have a hardware problem. Start by removing one stick of ram and then swapping sticks. What corsair ram is it. Maybe download a copy of Memtest 86 and make a boot disk or cd and test the ram.

Ok, memtest is actually on the UBCD. Originally it had said LRAND had failed and now it is also saying that INVC has failed after the second time I did this test. The first time INVC passed.

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Ok, memtest is actually on the UBCD. Originally it had said LRAND had failed and now it is also saying that INVC has failed after the second time I did this test. The first time INVC passed.
That doesn't sound to good. Do you have access to other ram to test with. That ram could be bad or incompatible, that's why I asked for the model of ram. It could still possibly be mobo or even cpu, but I would focus on the ram.

Yes I definitley have a dead memory stick. Just took one out and it booted fine, everything seemed normal. Took that one out put the other one in, and I was in the same situation. Past the XP screen it would just flash a blue screen and then turn off video and go to POST. Sorry for so much trouble and time wasting. I didn't think my problem was this simple.

Thank you everyone who helped :D 

Just for your own piece of mind... This was not a simple problem for a beginner PC technician. I have had customer replace their ENTIRE PC except for RAM and find out it was just a bad RAM module to tell me "Oh I didn't think RAM could go bad? Maybe I should have listened when you told me to test the RAM". Just for comforts sake, I would test the drive as well, and always when we find an issue with a bad RAM module, or motherboard watch for weird issues with Windows. If you have more blue screens, and rebooting issues ect.. Format the PC with a fresh install because the RAM module may have corrupted a file(s) because all processing goes through that part of the system (as well as the motherboard). I'm glad you found your issue! Contact Corsair, as I believe that they have en exchange policy and lifetime warranty on their RAM. Go to their website, and fill out an RMA request; they should replace BOTH RAM modules (especially if you have done the dirty work for them and tested the sticks with memtest), if they came as a part of a dual-channel kit. Glad your problems were solved! (although as I said, if you have little glitches and problems in the future, test your HDD and if it tests ok, format and reload to eliminate the possbility of a corrupt file)

Good luck, and God speed!
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