Computer problems

[exalted512]

So I got a new desk today. My top exhaust fan also broke a while back and antec sent me a new one.

So today, I take out everything from my desk, disconnect my computer, and take off the side pieces of the computer to get the fan out.

I got the fan out. To do so I had to take out a ground that goes from the metal inside the case to the top piece of the case to get the top piece out. Took the old fan out, put the new one in. There were 2 screws that held in the top piece about 3-4" away from each other...both on the same piece of metal, so I put the ground in the other hole because it was easier to get to b/c of my video card. I dont know if that has any importance, but I just wanted to state everything i did.

Get the computer back together, get all my wiring figured out for the new desk, power up the computer, seems to start up fine....then stops.

This is what it does:


I can get into my bios settings but I dont really know anything about computers. I did build this one though...with a friends help.

I looked inside and made sure all the connections were good. Had power disconnected for at least 15 minutes. Also moved the ground back to the other side. At the end of the video, the prompt is blinking, although my awesome camera phone doesnt pick it up.

Ideas? Thank god i have 3 laptops...haha.
-Cody

[BIZILL]

personally, i'd first try hitting the bios reset switch. did you overclock at all?

[exalted512]

No. Nothing is over clocked. What is the reset switch? I went into bios and did the load fail-safe default, then hit save and exit...nothing. So i did the same with load optimized defaults. Nothing.

Also, before I took the comp back apart and moved the ground back over and checked all the connections, I could press the power button and it would shut off immediately, which it never used to do. But now, i have to press and hold it to get it to shut off like normal.
-Cody

[BIZILL]

that last part you described just shows you did in fact load a different bios setting. there is a setting for the power switch for instand off or the delayed hold.

the bios reset swith should be a tiny little round button and the mobo should say reset right next to it. this MAY fix your issues, even though it seems you're able to get into the bios in the first place.

also, you may just have an incorrect bios setting now. without complete knowledge of your hardware components, i cannot help you there. i will say at least it's a good thing you can get into your bios at all. this can be solved.

[BIZILL]

sorry, reset CMOS. my bad.

here's my reset button:

[nadams]

Hmm... power on, then immediately off sounds like a power supply gone south. However, you are now getting further than that. Maybe a damaged hard drive in moving?

Hard to say without having the system in front of me. If it were mine I'd start by running memtest and whatever utility is available for your HD. Seatools is generally my favorite, and will work with any brand HD.

[BIZILL]

it doesn't power off. it just doesn't boot. right? i see a cursor after it loses the MSI screen. and agreed on the hard drive possibly being to blame. the bios is not stored on the hard drive. it's on the mobo, that would explain being able to get into that at least.

[exalted512]

Here's the setup:
PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703005

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130095

video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130415

ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220091

proc:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115052

hdd:
250 gb hdd from my old dell computer

running vista

That would be absolutely awesome if it was my hard drive! Because my fiancee just knocked over my back up 750 gb hdd in its enclosure from 3 feet up and i have no idea if it stills works or not.

It will power off if i press the button. It just doesnt boot all the way.

I can go into my bios and it recognizes the hard disk drive under standard cmos features. I also could not find a reset button on my mobo?
-Cody

[BIZILL]

i'm stabbing in the dark here, but can you remove the battery backup. the thin lithium battery on the mobo. leave it out a couple mins then pop back in. see if that helps ANY.

and zooming in on that board, yeah, i don't see a reset switch. i have to go for now. but try playing with your bios options. seems nothing was changed but your ground wire. hopefully no ****y static shock or spike took anything out on any hardware components.

[exalted512]

Did that, same thing...god i freakin hate computers!
-Cody

[wizzy]

What happens if you insert a bootable CD/DVD (such as windows or linux) and go into bios and set it as first boot drive?

Does it boot then?

[wizzy]

also, load defaults, not optimized defaults in BIOS.

Many MB's don't have a bios reset button, but a jumper you have to move from one jumper to the other, wait a few seconds, then move back. Some of them you need to do with the power off and disconnected.

BUT just that you can get into bios and load defaults hints that while it is worth a shot, it probably won't make a difference.

[exalted512]

Well, of course, I just let a friend borrow my vista cd to get his laptop up and running...
-Cody

[exalted512]

I also did the reset thing. Took the power cord out, took the battery out, held the power button for 30 seconds, hit it like 10x more good measure, put everything back in...same results.
-Cody

[wizzy]

well the fact it starts fine, you can get into bios, and it gets to a point where it just sits ... that's all a good thing. Given it happened after you took things apart, I'm thinking the PS is probably fine as it is too much a coincidence that a PS would go bad exactly as you take it aprt & put it back together again.

In the BIOS does it show your hard drives(s)?

[zeppage2]

I would disconnect that fan...

[bobman1235]

If the hard drive were gone you'd get some kind of error message "bad system disk" or the like.

[exalted512]

well the fact it starts fine, you can get into bios, and it gets to a point where it just sits ... that's all a good thing. Given it happened after you took things apart, I'm thinking the PS is probably fine as it is too much a coincidence that a PS would go bad exactly as you take it aprt & put it back together again.

In the BIOS does it show your hard drives(s)?

It does show its there under standard cmos features. But I keep getting told thats what msi does when it cant find a bootable drive. If I cant figure anything out, I'm going to get my disc back from my friend, put vista on my back up hdd and put it in.

I would disconnect that fan...

just tried it, still nothing
-Cody

[exalted512]

If the hard drive were gone you'd get some kind of error message "bad system disk" or the like.

but what if it reads it fine, just for some reason wont boot from it?

I also tried unplugging it and booting. It does the EXACT same thing. So wouldnt it give me an error saying no hdd? I also put it in another port on the mobo, same thing.
-Cody

[exalted512]

it also doesnt detect anything in bios when i boot with no hdd...obviously, but just wanted to make sure.
-Cody

[bobman1235]

Interesting....

You said you had a bunch of laptops, it might be worth burning a DVD of some free Linux distro or something, something that's bootable that you can pop in a drive to see if it loads up.

[fatchowmein]

First, reseat everything in case something got jostled during the fan replacement (e.g. memory, peripheral cards, power cables, sata cables, ide cables, but just visually inspect the CPU+HSF). Reboot. If that doesn't work, power it off and unplug the hard drive and CD/DVD/BR drives/writers and turn it on. Check to see if you get an error about a missing bootable drive. If you do, your boot hard drive or the O/S has issues and can't boot up.

If none of the above works, yank out everything but mobo, cpu, memory, vid card, and boot drive. See if the system will boot with the minimum requirements.

Double-check your media drive (CDRW, DVDRW, etc) in terms of cable (Sata or ide) or power connection (molex or SATA). I once bumped the power cable loose on my DVDRW and the system stopped when attempting to bootup because my boot sequence started with the DVDRW but the molex was only partly inserted (I fried the DVDRW).

Good luck!

[exalted512]

im going to try and get my vista disc back tomorrow, ill try that then.
-Cody

[exalted512]

First, reseat everything in case something got jostled during the fan replacement (e.g. memory, peripheral cards, power cables, sata cables, ide cables, but just visually inspect the CPU+HSF). Reboot. If that doesn't work, power it off and unplug the hard drive and CD/DVD/BR drives/writers and turn it on. Check to see if you get an error about a missing bootable drive. If you do, your boot hard drive or the O/S has issues and can't boot up.

If none of the above works, yank out everything but mobo, cpu, memory, vid card, and boot drive. See if the system will boot with the minimum requirements.

Double-check your media drive (CDRW, DVDRW, etc) in terms of cable (Sata or ide) or power connection (molex or SATA). I once bumped the power cable loose on my DVDRW and the system stopped when attempting to bootup because my boot sequence started with the DVDRW but the molex was only partly inserted (I fried the DVDRW).

Good luck!

already took out everything and put it back in (twice). Tried booting with no hdd or disc drives, same result.

In your next step, when you say yank everything out, you mean just disconnect the disc drives and try just the hdd?
-Cody

[exalted512]

When I unplug the disc drives and the plug from the floppy drive to the mobo, while its booting up i see it says "no hard disk is detected" but it does list it in BIOS.

I have nothing but bad luck with computers...lol.
-Cody

[fatchowmein]

When I unplug the disc drives and the plug from the floppy drive to the mobo, while its booting up i see it says "no hard disk is detected" but it does list it in BIOS.

When you say you've unplugged the disc drives but it's listed in BIOS, are you talking about the hard drive being listed but your media drive (CDRW/DVDRW) is unplugged? If so, check your boot sequence in the BIOS. Make sure the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd boot device lists your hard drive.

I'm assuming this desktop worked before the fan change and that there were no changes in IDE cable position or Master/Slave/Cable Select changes on the hard drive.

[exalted512]

If so, check your boot sequence in the BIOS. Make sure the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd boot device lists your hard drive.

that was it! For some reason it no longer listed my hard drive. Any reason why that wouldve happened? Man, thats a huge relief.
-Cody

[fatchowmein]

that was it! For some reason it no longer listed my hard drive. Any reason why that wouldve happened? Man, thats a huge relief.
-Cody

Sometimes a weak CMOS battery will cause your BIOS to lose its configuration. Hitting the BIOS reset button would also do it but the problem occured prior to the reset.

[BIZILL]

right after i read post 22 i was thinkin' about the boot sequence as well. good lookin' out fatchowmein. glad you got your **** workin' cody.