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PC refuses to boot
Hello all,
I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. I have an oldish (bought 08/2001) Socket A motherboard (ASUS A7V133-C). The chipset fan was starting to whine after collecting dust for 6 months (since I last cleaned it up). As I've done several times, I unscrewed the chipset fan, partly lifted the sticker in the middle, put a drop of vaseline oil on the fan's axis, and used a vacuum cleaner to make the fan spin for a while. I did the same to the CPU fan. Is that stupid? Is there a better way to treat fans when they get dirty and start whining? Now, when I try to boot the system, all the fans start to spin for a few seconds (it varies from 1 to 4), then everything shuts down (I hear strange sounds in the PSU), and the POWER LED on the front panel blinks steadily (about 1 second on, then 1 second off) as if the PC was in some sort of deep sleep mode. Any idea what this means? After several hours testing different combinations, I noticed that I could boot if I unplugged my hard disk drive (uh oh!). My HDD is an IBM Deskstar 34GXP DPTA-372050. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/desk/ds34gxp.htm I don't understand how cleaning the fans could have damaged the HDD. NOTE: A few weeks ago, I thought the drive was experiencing the "click of death" (I thought it was a 75GXP, don't know if 34GXP were affected). I downloaded the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic tool from Hitachi, and ran it for several hours. It found no problem with the drive. I'm hoping you guys have some suggestions for me :-) -- Regards, Grumble |
Grumble wrote:
I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. I have an oldish (bought 08/2001) Socket A motherboard (ASUS A7V133-C). The chipset fan was starting to whine after collecting dust for 6 months (since I last cleaned it up). As I've done several times, I unscrewed the chipset fan, partly lifted the sticker in the middle, put a drop of vaseline oil on the fan's axis, and used a vacuum cleaner to make the fan spin for a while. I did the same to the CPU fan. Is that stupid? Is there a better way to treat fans when they get dirty and start whining? Now, when I try to boot the system, all the fans start to spin for a few seconds (it varies from 1 to 4), then everything shuts down (I hear strange sounds in the PSU), and the POWER LED on the front panel blinks steadily (about 1 second on, then 1 second off) as if the PC was in some sort of deep sleep mode. Any idea what this means? After several hours testing different combinations, I noticed that I could boot if I unplugged my hard disk drive (uh oh!). My HDD is an IBM Deskstar 34GXP DPTA-372050. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/desk/ds34gxp.htm I don't understand how cleaning the fans could have damaged the HDD. NOTE: A few weeks ago, I thought the drive was experiencing the "click of death" (I thought it was a 75GXP, don't know if 34GXP were affected). I downloaded the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic tool from Hitachi, and ran it for several hours. It found no problem with the drive. Another experiment: the PC boots if I plug the HDD's power connector, but leave the data connector unplugged. Would this rule out a problem with the HDD? Or can the disk send weird signals on the data path which cause the PC to refuse to boot? Could the power supply be giving out? Does HDD initialization draw a lot of current? (I might not make any sense, I'm just writing whatever comes through my mind.) -- Regards, Grumble |
Grumble wrote:
I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. I have an oldish (bought 08/2001) Socket A motherboard (ASUS A7V133-C). The chipset fan was starting to whine after collecting dust for 6 months (since I last cleaned it up). As I've done several times, I unscrewed the chipset fan, partly lifted the sticker in the middle, put a drop of vaseline oil on the fan's axis, and used a vacuum cleaner to make the fan spin for a while. I did the same to the CPU fan. Is that stupid? Is there a better way to treat fans when they get dirty and start whining? Now, when I try to boot the system, all the fans start to spin for a few seconds (it varies from 1 to 4), then everything shuts down (I hear strange sounds in the PSU), and the POWER LED on the front panel blinks steadily (about 1 second on, then 1 second off) as if the PC was in some sort of deep sleep mode. Any idea what this means? After several hours testing different combinations, I noticed that I could boot if I unplugged my hard disk drive (uh oh!). My HDD is an IBM Deskstar 34GXP DPTA-372050. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/desk/ds34gxp.htm I don't understand how cleaning the fans could have damaged the HDD. NOTE: A few weeks ago, I thought the drive was experiencing the "click of death" (I thought it was a 75GXP, don't know if 34GXP were affected). I downloaded the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic tool from Hitachi, and ran it for several hours. It found no problem with the drive. Another experiment: the PC boots if I plug the HDD's power connector, but leave the data connector unplugged. Would this rule out a problem with the HDD? Or can the disk send weird signals on the data path which cause the PC to refuse to boot? Could the power supply be giving out? Does HDD initialization draw a lot of current? (I might not make any sense, I'm just writing whatever comes through my mind.) I tried something crazy: I booted with the HDD's power connector plugged in, and the HDD's data connector unplugged. I stopped the boot process by going into the BIOS. Then, with the computer on, I plugged the HDD's data connector. I checked that the BIOS could detect the HDD and picked "exit discarding changes". The PC booted into Windows. I'm hoping this is a problem with the PSU, not with the HDD (I'd say that last experiment would point to a failing PSU, no?) What are the dangers of plugging the data connector with the power turned on? |
Grumble wrote:
snip I'm hoping this is a problem with the PSU, not with the HDD (I'd say that last experiment would point to a failing PSU, no?) That seems likely to me. What are the dangers of plugging the data connector with the power turned on? Don't do that. Most drives aren't designed for it (unless you've got an IDE drive spec'd for hot-plugging or a SCSI drive, which often are) and you can blow out the electronics on the drive by doing it. -- The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to minimize spam. Our true address is of the form . |
On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:08:54 +0200, Grumble wrote:
Hello all, I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. I have an oldish (bought 08/2001) Socket A motherboard (ASUS A7V133-C). The chipset fan was starting to whine after collecting dust for 6 months (since I last cleaned it up). As I've done several times, I unscrewed the chipset fan, partly lifted the sticker in the middle, put a drop of vaseline oil on the fan's axis, and used a vacuum cleaner to make the fan spin for a while. I did the same to the CPU fan. Is that stupid? Is there a better way to treat fans when they get dirty and start whining? I've done clean & lube of fans, usually with the intention of using it as a temporary measure but have rarely gotten around to the intended replacement.:-) Vaseline oil is not a good lubricant - I'd recommend going to a model shop and getting one of their special greases, like La Belle's(sp?) which are used with model trains etc. Now, when I try to boot the system, all the fans start to spin for a few seconds (it varies from 1 to 4), then everything shuts down (I hear strange sounds in the PSU), and the POWER LED on the front panel blinks steadily (about 1 second on, then 1 second off) as if the PC was in some sort of deep sleep mode. Any idea what this means? What happens if you press reset? After several hours testing different combinations, I noticed that I could boot if I unplugged my hard disk drive (uh oh!). My HDD is an IBM Deskstar 34GXP DPTA-372050. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/desk/ds34gxp.htm I don't understand how cleaning the fans could have damaged the HDD. NOTE: A few weeks ago, I thought the drive was experiencing the "click of death" (I thought it was a 75GXP, don't know if 34GXP were affected). I downloaded the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic tool from Hitachi, and ran it for several hours. It found no problem with the drive. S.M.A.R.T. is useless IME. I had an IBM drive (I think 34GXP) which was in obvious distress: heads clicking and clattering on startup but it would settle down and the system would work fine for hours. Running the SMART diags showed "healthy drive".:-) I'm hoping you guys have some suggestions for me :-) Try a fresh new IDE cable; check the HDD power connector for expansion of the split tube pins; the HDD power is not coming from a Y-adapter is it?... some of those have real junky metal in the pins but try a different power connector anyway. Whatever you end up with, I'd get your files off that HDD and onto a new one... tout de bloody suite. Rgds, George Macdonald "Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me?? |
On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:08:54 +0200, Grumble
wrote: Hello all, I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. I have an oldish (bought 08/2001) Socket A motherboard (ASUS A7V133-C). The chipset fan was starting to whine after collecting dust for 6 months (since I last cleaned it up). As I've done several times, I unscrewed the chipset fan, partly lifted the sticker in the middle, put a drop of vaseline oil on the fan's axis, and used a vacuum cleaner to make the fan spin for a while. I did the same to the CPU fan. Is that stupid? Is there a better way to treat fans when they get dirty and start whining? Yup, replace them! Seriously, just how much does a fan cost? I picked one up on sale a few months ago for $3.. and that was Canadian funny-money too! Now, when I try to boot the system, all the fans start to spin for a few seconds (it varies from 1 to 4), then everything shuts down (I hear strange sounds in the PSU), and the POWER LED on the front panel blinks steadily (about 1 second on, then 1 second off) as if the PC was in some sort of deep sleep mode. Any idea what this means? Sounds like an overloaded power supply to me, though you might want to check with your motherboard manual to be sure. This is usually caused by a short somewhere in your system, could be just about any component. After several hours testing different combinations, I noticed that I could boot if I unplugged my hard disk drive (uh oh!). My HDD is an IBM Deskstar 34GXP DPTA-372050. Well, looks like you've narrowed down the issue right there. Hope you've got good backups! http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/desk/ds34gxp.htm I don't understand how cleaning the fans could have damaged the HDD. A simple nudge of the wires could have been the final straw that broke a connection inside the drive and created a short. Or it could be pure random chance. Tough to say. NOTE: A few weeks ago, I thought the drive was experiencing the "click of death" (I thought it was a 75GXP, don't know if 34GXP were affected). I downloaded the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic tool from Hitachi, and ran it for several hours. It found no problem with the drive. Drives can often pass those tests with no faults at all and still be bad. The SMART tests are definitely better than nothing, but they are certainly not a sure-thing. I'm hoping you guys have some suggestions for me :-) Get a new hard drive? : ------------- Tony Hill hilla underscore 20 at yahoo dot ca |
Grumble wrote:
I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. Thanks Keith, CJT, George, and Tony! Your insight was very helpful. The problem was the PSU indeed. In my (rather limited) experience, PSU-funkiness is quite hard to diagnose, as there are many very different possible symptoms. I'm thankful the PSU didn't take out my other components when it died (which happened to a friend). In the end, I payed only 14.50 EUR for a no-name 400W ATX PSU. -- Regards, Grumble |
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:51:54 +0200, Grumble wrote:
Grumble wrote: I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. Thanks Keith, CJT, George, and Tony! Your insight was very helpful. The problem was the PSU indeed. In my (rather limited) experience, PSU-funkiness is quite hard to diagnose, as there are many very different possible symptoms. I'm thankful the PSU didn't take out my other components when it died (which happened to a friend). PSU's can certainly be flakey. L'Angel noticed this some few years back and designed a tester (don't know how far she got with the implementation) to stress PSUs. Actually I was hoping that someone would pick this up and report. Apparently it's no sexy enough to catch the attention of the webbers. In the end, I payed only 14.50 EUR for a no-name 400W ATX PSU. I don't like the sound of that! A good system cannot be built on a crap PSU! -- Keith |
keith wrote:
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:51:54 +0200, Grumble wrote: Grumble wrote: I've been pulling my hair for 3 hours over this problem, so I thought I'd ask in here, and see if people have had a similar problem. Thanks Keith, CJT, George, and Tony! Your insight was very helpful. The problem was the PSU indeed. In my (rather limited) experience, PSU-funkiness is quite hard to diagnose, as there are many very different possible symptoms. I'm thankful the PSU didn't take out my other components when it died (which happened to a friend). PSU's can certainly be flakey. Amen. I had smoke pour out the back of one once. They take a lot of stress. L'Angel noticed this some few years back and designed a tester (don't know how far she got with the implementation) to stress PSUs. Actually I was hoping that someone would pick this up and report. Apparently it's no sexy enough to catch the attention of the webbers. In the end, I payed only 14.50 EUR for a no-name 400W ATX PSU. I don't like the sound of that! A good system cannot be built on a crap PSU! -- The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to minimize spam. Our true address is of the form . |
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