Hi all. Newcomer here.
I have a frustrating problem that I'd like your help with.
Here's the lowdown.
About a week ago, the performance of my computer started to deteriorate dramatically (slowing down, crashes). I decided to take some temperatures and the processor was about boiling point (yikes). I blew all the dust out of the heatsink (lots of it) and everywhere else in the PC. I also made sure all cables were connected properly. Upon restart, temperatures were down, performance was improved slightly, but I was still getting the slowing down and crashing. Before these problems, the PC has been running fine for more than a year.
At this point I just ragequit and turned the PC off. Next time I turned it on, all of the booting screens ( graphics card, motherboard, 'express gate' ) were taking unbelievably slow to change. I mean in excess of 10 seconds, rather than a couple at most. When it comes to loading windows, either three things happen:
- 'Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected'
- Windows loading screen stays for a few seconds and then a blue screen flashes too quickly to see what it is (can't get - pause break to work either), then an instant reboot.
- Boots to Windows with a mention of Windows startup repair screen (doesn't work)
- Boots to Windows normally.
Most of the time, it takes me a few reboots to get to Windows, and even if Windows loads, a blue screen happens (then reboot) or it loads fine. I thought that if it takes 'x' amount of reboots to get to Windows, then it might be an issue with the HDD taking too long to spin up, thus BIOS not recognizing it. (Which, most of the time it doesn't.) However, booting is like russian roulette, it's just so inconsistent.
I formatted all partitions on the HDD (only have one in the PC) and reinstalled Windows and it booted fine. I updated Windows and some drivers, thinking that I solved the problem. However, on reboot same problem again.
This leads to me believe that something is wrong with the HDD or mobo or etc. (hence storage category) The HDD does not rattle, however it does make some strange, unhealthy noises during booting.
I am truly and utterly stumped on what else to do apart from having to buy new components, which I really don't have money to do. I have a friend bringing his HDD round to try later on, and see if his Windows boots.
I am running a custom build of
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core
nVidia 9800GT 2GB
ASUS M3N78-VM
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
(all I can think of, off the top of my head. Ask for more if needed)
Sorry for the long, drawn out post, i've probably lost you in the details. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
- Jacko
I have a frustrating problem that I'd like your help with.
Here's the lowdown.
About a week ago, the performance of my computer started to deteriorate dramatically (slowing down, crashes). I decided to take some temperatures and the processor was about boiling point (yikes). I blew all the dust out of the heatsink (lots of it) and everywhere else in the PC. I also made sure all cables were connected properly. Upon restart, temperatures were down, performance was improved slightly, but I was still getting the slowing down and crashing. Before these problems, the PC has been running fine for more than a year.
At this point I just ragequit and turned the PC off. Next time I turned it on, all of the booting screens ( graphics card, motherboard, 'express gate' ) were taking unbelievably slow to change. I mean in excess of 10 seconds, rather than a couple at most. When it comes to loading windows, either three things happen:
- 'Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected'
- Windows loading screen stays for a few seconds and then a blue screen flashes too quickly to see what it is (can't get - pause break to work either), then an instant reboot.
- Boots to Windows with a mention of Windows startup repair screen (doesn't work)
- Boots to Windows normally.
Most of the time, it takes me a few reboots to get to Windows, and even if Windows loads, a blue screen happens (then reboot) or it loads fine. I thought that if it takes 'x' amount of reboots to get to Windows, then it might be an issue with the HDD taking too long to spin up, thus BIOS not recognizing it. (Which, most of the time it doesn't.) However, booting is like russian roulette, it's just so inconsistent.
I formatted all partitions on the HDD (only have one in the PC) and reinstalled Windows and it booted fine. I updated Windows and some drivers, thinking that I solved the problem. However, on reboot same problem again.
This leads to me believe that something is wrong with the HDD or mobo or etc. (hence storage category) The HDD does not rattle, however it does make some strange, unhealthy noises during booting.
I am truly and utterly stumped on what else to do apart from having to buy new components, which I really don't have money to do. I have a friend bringing his HDD round to try later on, and see if his Windows boots.
I am running a custom build of
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core
nVidia 9800GT 2GB
ASUS M3N78-VM
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
(all I can think of, off the top of my head. Ask for more if needed)
Sorry for the long, drawn out post, i've probably lost you in the details. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
- Jacko
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