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Computer shat itself =( Lets fix it =D

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Hey all, my trusty old ASUS G1S just ate *** and died immediately after i returned from south america, which means i literally have no money to buy or build a new computer.

Plus I love my old G1S so if i can fix it and keep using it until i scrounge up enough money to build a new rig, then so help me god, i will.

Basically upon startup it doesnt go past the "American Megatrends" load up screen where i get the option F1 to enter setup or F2 to run using normal settings.
I choose F2 and it allows me to launch startup repair (which can not find a solution) or to Start windows normally

Either option results in my seeing a screen littered in artifacts and junk strewn all over the screen which makes me suspect my GPU - an 8600m gt or its drivers has crapped or is in the process of crapping itself... or maybe something else... thats why im here i dont really know that much about computer problems or how to fix em.

It will typically run for between 5 seconds to 2 minutes after boot up before it powers off and restarts.

ok this isnt actually my screen, but i hunted google and this looks about the same =)



Anyway guys, any suggestions or solutions to my problem?

More about : computer shat lets fix

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If the BIOS screen is good and windows is bad then it a software bug or a config problem (or a 3d hardwre problem on the card)

Bring up windows in SAFE mode. Is the video OK in safe mode?

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These are roughly your specs ?

Specifications as reviewed:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, 2.2 GHz 4MB L2 Cache 800MHz FSB,
Santa Rosa Intel Mobile 965 PM Express Chipset + ICH8M
2 GB RAM 667MHz (up to 4GB supported)
Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT, 256 MB onboard, 512 MB Turbo Cache DX 10 Capable HDCP support for DVI port

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Also, see if the BIOS has a temp monitor screen. IF so please post your temps. If you have a ton of dust in your laptop the video could be overheating which will cause problems.

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Also there are a number of USB bootable diagnostic disks that can be booted from a cheap 2GB USB flash drive. See if your laptop lets you boot off USB, then use google to find a diagnostic you like (e.g. the one from corsair) and see if the computer is stable with this device.

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Anti viruse up to date?

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Did you let windows load a new device driver? If SAFE mode is clean, go back to the ASUS support web page and dowlaod exactly teh driver they have for your laptop -- sometimes laptops get customized so that standard drivers don't work well.

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Finakl thought, and it's a bad one. There were known endurance problems with the nvidia 8600 family. http://www.notebookforums.com/t/219030/nvidia-8600-chip...

Hey, thanks for the response mate,

When i boot in BIOS the screen is still littered with artefacts and just recently I've managed to boot in safe mode and it does not crash, but still shows heavy artefacts all over the screen until they spontaneously resolve themselves at a random time interval. It then works perfectly - in safe mode.

If i reboot the system it is very unstable, sometimes lasting only seconds before artefacts appear and then the computer restarts and sometimes lasting several minutes, up to an hour or two.

I've checked all the temps using speedfan and also cpuid and they all look pretty regular for this lappy (60-70*c)

The specs you listed are exacly mine =) except im running windows 7

On this boot, as in right now, the screen is littered with artefacts, but not crashing which is interesting and new, also it will not detect a video card... this adds credibility to my 8600m GT simply kicking the bucket, but its a bit random since ive always kept the heatsink and fans clean and temps havent been a problem in the past. Sucks tho..

I just downloaded the latest driver for the 8600m gt from the nvidia site and it ran perfectly for several hours before crapping itself again.

also what is the USB boot software you mentioned? ill give it a go!

Again, cheers for your help mate =)

The two things that jump out at me are the PSU and Windows itself.

You may want to try reinstalling Windows to see if that fixes anything (somewhat unlikely, but it costs 0 if you have your install CD and CD Key handy).

Also, I don't know if you mean to say that you took the computer with you to South America and you subjected your poor PSU to the power grids available in South America, but if you did then a PSU problem is somewhat likely.

Even if you didn't do this, it is possible that the PSU has just aged and can no longer supply power adequately.

If you can borrow a PSU from somebody and stick it in your PC, you can test this for $0 as well.
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First test with an EXTERNAL display. If you have internal cable problems or if the LCD panel is going both of those are replaceable. If the artifacts show on the external display also then that rules out LCD problems.

Very sorry to hear temps were good, that also would have been fixable.

"If you can borrow a PSU from somebody and stick it in your PC, you can test this for $0 as well. " One good thing about laptops, between the battery and the external power supply it easy to check if the PSU is bad, just run off battery.

"also what is the USB boot software you mentioned? ill give it a go!" There are a bunch of linux based boot disks that you can download for free. You put them on a 2GB or 4GB or whatever USB flash drive. Then you set your laptop BIOS to boot off USB first and power up. If Linux is seeing the same graphical distortion then it's not a windows problem. There are also versions where you download and burn a CD/DVD then boot off those. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ I've used this one when trying(failing) to get a f120 SSD to work in a thinkpad t61p. http://blog.corsair.com/?p=2619 HOWEVER: Since the BIOS is also messed up, no need for this test to rule out windows problems.

Again, thanks for replying guys,

My copy of windows 7 is a IT student provisional copy given to me by my university for free and i'm not allowed another copy, nor can the CD key be reused, so that sucks hahah. Ill see if i can scrounge up a copy off one of my mates and give it a go, but first ill try the USB boot method.

I bought a new power cable from a friend when my original one broke after repeated droppings so i guess its very possible that that is the issue, i dont know how old my replacement cable is ... plus i think it was made for a dell laptop lol

Oh and yes the artefacts are still present on my external LCD monitor, i've been using an external for a few months now because my screen gave out a couple of months back XD .
No idea why, the screen is still backlit and all that but just shows a plain black screen... doesn't show any picture.... come to think about it, i feel like that was a foreshadowing to this problem...

Cheers

Check the cable on the external monitor. Wiggle it a bit at both ends. See if the artifacts come/go when you wiggle the cable.

Verify the external monitor works on another system.

Don't bother with either the reload windows or the USB test. If video is messed up in the BIOS then its not a windows problem. Bot the USB boot and the reload windows were to reul out windows problems.

OK i'm not sure whether the computer gods are smiling upon me with favour, whether my computer has become sentient and began regenerating or whether one of the multitude of things i tried upon your advice kicked my computer back into life.... but either way i just rebooted and the artefacts are gone, its not restarting AND the primary display on my laptop has magically started working again after months of not working O.o

All i can say is thank you so much for your time and help, youve been great!

-Paul

I just wanted to say that your CD key probably CAN be used again, if you still know it, even if you need to reinstall.

Microsoft is very lenient about a lot of restrictions when people buy legal copies of Windows whether it is through schools or whatever.

As long as you do indeed own a legal copy and you do indeed only want to run one copy of it on one computer then they will usually do whatever is necessary to allow it even if the license terms say they don't have to.
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