Booting problems

[Regia Marina]

Hi.

I bought a new computer from a retailer (As much as I'd like to build my own, I could not at the time) and all was fine for about a year, then it just started freezing, randomly turning off and one day I could just not boot it at all. I looked inside but could not see any signs of damage; all seemed fine. Recently I've replaced the old, junk PSU they gave me, with something more powerful, a 550w XFX. But this did no difference at all.

When booting, I only get the beep sometimes; if I'm lucky enough and I do a few things might happen. Either the computer will work, but turn-off later (very rare), the monitor will exit sleep mode but no screen appears (quite common) or it sort of stops responding or powers off in the middle of booting.

I tried both the RAM sticks separately and noticed no difference. When I remove them both and turn it off it just starts beeping like mad.

I don't really have another Mobo or more RAM to swap it - I've already sunken in quite a bit of money into this computer (The PSU needed a whole new case, as the old one was purposely built.) and if I buy another one and have it fitted in and it does no change, I'll probably spend more money on repairs than the computer is worth.

 

[Chaz21]

Hi.

I bought a new computer from a retailer (As much as I'd like to build my own, I could not at the time) and all was fine for about a year, then it just started freezing, randomly turning off and one day I could just not boot it at all. I looked inside but could not see any signs of damage; all seemed fine. Recently I've replaced the old, junk PSU they gave me, with something more powerful, a 550w XFX. But this did no difference at all.

When booting, I only get the beep sometimes; if I'm lucky enough and I do a few things might happen. Either the computer will work, but turn-off later (very rare), the monitor will exit sleep mode but no screen appears (quite common) or it sort of stops responding or powers off in the middle of booting.

I tried both the RAM sticks separately and noticed no difference. When I remove them both and turn it off it just starts beeping like mad.

I don't really have another Mobo or more RAM to swap it - I've already sunken in quite a bit of money into this computer (The PSU needed a whole new case, as the old one was purposely built.) and if I buy another one and have it fitted in and it does no change, I'll probably spend more money on repairs than the computer is worth.

Details please:
PC mfg?
Model?
Some (dis)reputable manufacturers *cough DELL * used proprietary PSU's that meant without changing the motherboard you had to use their PSU. We need the above info to determine if that's what happened in your case.

 

[Twiddledum]

This Issue sounds Like it may be the Mobo itself, but as to not jump to conclusions would you mind posting your Computer Model and Mobo model number. It will be good information to start looking into this issue. Also if you can get it to boot between now and the next post try hitting F12 if it will stay on. If you can get to that menu and have any diagnostic tools there it can not hurt to try them and see if they come up with anything.

 

[Regia Marina]

The computer was made by Packard-Bell. The model is iMedia S3210 - and something interesting - when I googled this it came up with a computer that looked similar but had completely different innards. Strange.

The MB says "MB DA061/078L". What I have not tried yet is hard re-setting the CMOS, which I will attempt later. I tried restoring factory settings but that did not really help.

Some vague specifications:

AMD Phenom 3, 64 bits
4GB ram
NVidia Ge210 512mb ddr2
750GB HDD

 

[Chaz21]

The computer was made by Packard-Bell. The model is iMedia S3210 - and something interesting - when I googled this it came up with a computer that looked similar but had completely different innards. Strange.

The MB says "MB DA061/078L". What I have not tried yet is hard re-setting the CMOS, which I will attempt later. I tried restoring factory settings but that did not really help.

Some vague specifications:

AMD Phenom 3, 64 bits
4GB ram
NVidia Ge210 512mb ddr2
750GB HDD

And what is the new PSU?

 

[bumnut53]

If it beeps like mad with no ram installed, that usually indicates the motherboard is fine (it is detecting it has no ram, which is good)

Do you get any beeps if you start it up without the graphics card (with ram installed) ?

 

[Regia Marina]

XFX Core Pro 550w. Made pretty much no difference at all, although I intend to keep it for future builds and even If I fix this computer I don't want it to get broken by a crappy PSU again.

 

[Regia Marina]

Bumnut, I have not yet tried that and I doubt I'll try it today as I have to go soon and it takes a lot of effort to remove the graphics card in this set up. My dads friend tried putting his Graphics Card in, but sadly I was not there to observe it. However they said it made no difference.

 

[Twiddledum]

At this point I Would try A minimum boot. Take everything out of the system except the CPU/Cooler and ram and use the on board video see if you get anything. If you do not you can try reseating the CPU (Sometimes this takes more than one try) and try the minimum boot again. If that does nothing for you then the last thing to do before calling it the Mobo would be to check the signal from the power good relay. Sometimes the board Power good line will go bad telling the PSU that it is off when it is on resulting in a quick kick of power then shutting off. I have repaired several Dell's about a year or two old with this issue. I do not recomend checking the power good line unless you know exactly what you are doing with a multi meter and the parts due to the fact there is live voltage involved.

 

[XmortisX]

At this point I Would try A minimum boot. Take everything out of the system except the CPU/Cooler and ram and use the on board video see if you get anything. If you do not you can try reseating the CPU (Sometimes this takes more than one try) and try the minimum boot again. If that does nothing for you then the last thing to do before calling it the Mobo would be to check the signal from the power good relay. Sometimes the board Power good line will go bad telling the PSU that it is off when it is on resulting in a quick kick of power then shutting off. I have repaired several Dell's about a year or two old with this issue. I do not recomend checking the power good line unless you know exactly what you are doing with a multi meter and the parts due to the fact there is live voltage involved.

^Agree, OP use psu tester if it comes back psu is ok then definitely there is a issue with he Mobo.

 

[Regia Marina]

I tried two PSU's, one that is crap and one that is fairly good. Both gave the same results. I don't have the money or time to fit a new Mobo in right now, so I'll probably just give it to a local "specialist", so he can diagnose the computer. But I somewhat doubt his skills; normally he just sells you new parts or computers without really looking at the issue properly. Also, from what I've looked at on the internet, it seems people with such troubles got no results from fitting in a new Mobo, so I'm quite worried this might be a waste of time and effort.