Hand-built 2 years - Suddenly problems starting

[Rivalyn]

Alright, came home last night and the power had turned off so the computer was off. Turned the computer on, tried to open up internet explorer, the whole computer locked. It never recovered, so I hard rebooted. When I brought the system back up, it suddenly started doing a memory test on the 4 gigs of ram (never done that before). Then it mentioned a PS/2 mouse error or no PS/2 mouse present. At this point it wasn't detecting any of my four sata drives. Rebooted, messed with the bios, no real changes, recognized the sata drives at this point but when Windows XP Pro began loading, it was sporadic on the loading bar whereas normally it's a smooth load. Finally locked on the load screen, hard reboot into safe mode. Safe mode loads until it hits Windows\System32\Drivers\mup.sus

Now, here's my potential troubleshooting roadmap. Replace the power supply, eliminate it as a potential problem. If I'm still having problems, pop the CMOS battery, reseat the CPU and graphics card, and reattempt.

I'd almost think it's a hard drive problem, but for the fact that it didn't see any SATA drives in the first place (3 hd, or dvd-drive) and it's popping the PS/2 error all of a sudden. I'm hoping it's power, but afraid it's prob the mobo (RMA's take forever)

Anyone had this problem and know the right solution offhand, or has any other suggestions? I'll be doing all this tonight.

Thanks!
-Ed

 

[g-paw]

I'd clear the CMOS before the new PSU, easier. Check your RAM as well. Unlikely but could be a Windows problems

 

[bobbknight]

Go into bios and look at the time. is it correct?
If time is not correct set it.
Turn off computer.
Unplug computer.
Wait 10 Minuets.
Plug in computer.
Check time in bios.
If time in bios is correct, cool.
If time is not correct, get new battery for bios.
If time is correct check voltages in bios.
Run tests on memory and hard drives, Memtest for memory, and your hard drive makers software for the hard drive.
If ok.
Backup needed data.
Format hard drive and install OS and other software.

 

[baddad]

Looks like you need to repair XP.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Try resetting the cmos, and if that does not work, do the battery trick, if those don't work, start narrowing it down. Get in the bios and see if you can monitor your voltages on your PSU, that may tell you if your PSU is ok or not.

 

[Rivalyn]

I wish I knew exactly what it was just for future reference, but popping the CMOS battery worked. I replaced the PSU first, and had the same problem. Popped the battery, waited 15 minutes, put it back in and I'm back on just perfect.

Thanks guys.