This question may seem rambling, but I figure anything I did could be important to the solution.
I picked up a computer from a client yesterday, and the computer constantly reboots at random times. Sometimes it crashes at the welcome screen, other times it stays on for a random amount of time, then reboots, no blue screen.
So I brought it to the office and ran MemTest on it, showing the RAM was fine, then ran some other diagnostics on this Hiren's boot CD. All the hardware I can check comes up fine, so I assume it's the power supply and replace it. Still get the problem, so I move on to software error and attempt to repair the XP install. I get to the point where it's "Installing Devices" with 32 minutes left before it reboots. It does this at the same point every time.
So I take the hard drive out and plug it into another computer and back up all the data, then format the drive and attempt a full windows install. It gets to the second reboot after it asks for the key and date/time info, but it crashes as it's trying to load into windows for the first time. This machine was built in 2001 so it was full of dust and grime that I had already mostly cleaned up, but when I looked at the CPU fan I noticed it was pretty terrible, and barely spinning. So I took it off and cleaned the gunk off the heatsink and fan, pulled the processor out to make sure it was ok, then went to put it all back together. I plugged in the fan just to make sure it was spinning better before I put the processor back in, and when I turned it on, I got a beep that I assumed meant there was no processor. When I started putting the processor back in (Socket A (482)), it wouldn't slide in easily. It finally went in, and I've removed it twice since then and it has gone back in smoothly after the first time.
Now that I've put it all back together, the fan is spinning fine, but I'm getting a beep every few seconds and no video output. I've looked around the ASUS boards for their beep codes, but can't find them. Here are the specs:
ASUS A7N8X-X Motherboard
AMD Socket A (482) processor, not sure of the speed
I can provide other details if they're required. What I want to know is what's causing the problems with this computer and what can I do to fix them? The client has said they're fine with buying a new one, but I'd rather avoid that as I've invested a lot of time into fixing this one.
Thanks in advance!
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Here my troubleshooting procedure :
with a new motherboard : verify if all mounting standoffs correspond with the holes in the mobo !!
Or test the mobo ouside the case, on a wooden (non conductive) surface
clean the system from dust, then test with the minimum setup - disconnect also all peripherals and network cables :
connect only motherboard + cpu + 1 ram stick, video card, power supply
verify that the 4-pin or 8-pin CPU Aux power plug is connected
on boot, do you have a display?
if NO it is one of the connected, swap ram, Power supply, video card or monitor - leaving only motherboard and cpu
if Yes, add devices till the problem shows
you can also check the motherboard for bad capacitors as shown here : www.badcaps.net
additional tests and things to try :
boot without ram, it should beep; (also, without video card)
try bios default settings,(if possible) or clear the bios by removing AC and bios battery
renew the CPU heatpaste
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by: LANWrenchPosted on 2009-09-15 at 12:22:34ID: 25338291
I would try removing the memory modules and reinserting one at a time just to make sure your memory isnt causing the issue.
Have you tried removing the video card and reseating it?
Reseating components helps a lot with issues similar to this.