Major Computer Problems! (Blue Screening, Wont Boot, Nothing Displayed

[BENBOB]

Hi,

Ive got serious problems with my PC. Probably easiest if I run through the series of events (some might just be coincidental);

1. About a week ago my PC started randomly turning itself off and blue screened. Thought it was probably overheating so cleaned the inside of my PC with vacuum cleaner (was pretty dusty). Also did a system restore and ran various anti-virus/malware/spyware programs just to make sure. Stopped turning itself off, but still blue screeing occasionally.

2. Turned PC off overnight. When I turned it back on it said couldnt boot into Windows. Tried doing a startup repair - said cannot complete. Restarted then selected Start Windows Normally and amazingly booted fine.

3. Continued to blue screen about once or twice a day. Cant remember exact messages but something like "Process Has Locked Pages" and various others. I raised the voltage of RAM to 2.45v in BIOS as this fixed BSoD errors in the past.

4. Used my computer this morning, blue screened. Came up with cannot boot windows etc. Restarted selected start windows normally as before. This time said "Welcome to Windows", "Preparing Desktop" then BSoD before even getting into Windows!

5. Booted in safe mode to try and back up files. Said user profile was not properly loaded and blue screened after about 5 mins.

6. Thought maybe it was RAM causing errors. So tried to do some tests so I removed two sticks and restarted.

7. Then oddly NOTHING is displayed on the monitor. Not even the POST screen! So put the two ram sticks back and checked connections. I also tried using another GFX card (7800GTX) and two different monitors, still nothing!

So now I cant even format the HDD or do anything! What could it be? Motherboard? RAM? Or could my HDD be so screwed that all the display drivers are corrupt?

Some extra info; My computers about 2.5 years old and have never reformatted. Ive had problems in the past of booting taking forever which I solved it by using a program called SpinRite which repairs bad sectors. But its probably not in good shape.

Please Help!

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CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad Core

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (updated)

MOBO: Asus P5N-E SLI

PSU: 550W

RAM: 4GB DDR2 667MHz Memory (4x1GB)

GPU: nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB

SFX: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS

HDD: 2x 500GB SATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer

LCD: Samsung T220 22" Widescreen

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[Lilrich]

First thing that rings alarm bells in my head is that you used a vacum to clean the inside, them can cuase alot of static when they suck air in the plastic tube at high speed this in itself could cuase anyone of the parts you were cleaning to blow including the mainboard.

Have you tried the ram in different slots? I know you have taken it out but have you moved it physically on the board

I would run some diagnostics on the machine starting with your RAM (mem test is a good start) also what is the status of your virus protection etc?

Richard

[BENBOB]

First thing that rings alarm bells in my head is that you used a vacum to clean the inside, them can cuase alot of static when they suck air in the plastic tube at high speed this in itself could cuase anyone of the parts you were cleaning to blow including the mainboard.

Have you tried the ram in different slots? I know you have taken it out but have you moved it physically on the board

I would run some diagnostics on the machine starting with your RAM (mem test is a good start) also what is the status of your virus protection etc?

Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the fast reply. Yeh perhaps wasnt the best idea, but I was mainly just cleaning the fans.

I cant try other slots unfortunately because I have 4 sticks and only 4 slots. Also I cant run any diagnostics on my machine because nothing is displayed on screen!

[Lilrich]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the fast reply. Yeh perhaps wasnt the best idea, but I was mainly just cleaning the fans.

I cant try other slots unfortunately because I have 4 sticks and only 4 slots. Also I cant run any diagnostics on my machine because nothing is displayed on screen!

Is the internal case speaker attached to the motherboard? If so is it beeping.....

[BENBOB]

Really appreciate the replies.

Just a quick update... I took two memory sticks out then reset the CMOS by taking the mobo battery out and waiting a few minutes. Then switched on and the display is back!

Do I have reset the CMOS everytime I change the memory configeration? Should I be able to use the two in any of the four slots (two are black and two are yellow)?

[Lilrich]

Cmos should not need resetting after a memory re-configutation at all.

I am unsure about the yellow and black slots i always just use two next to eachother Yellow & Black

Rich

[philcruicks]

the black and yellow is because your mobo uses dual channel ram so say if you only had 2 sticks they should be in the same coloured slots to make a matched pair (not the 2 next to each other), as you said you had 4 sticks then if they're all the same you can put them anywhere but say you have 2 1GB sticks and 2 2GB sticks match those pairs with colours.

if you now have your screen then i would deff run mem test since your posting i'm guessing you have access to another computer you can download it on. obviously make sure your pc is set to boot from CD and let it run at least 3 passes, will take several hours.

if it shows up errors try it with just 1 stick in, if that passes try the next etc...until you find the bad one(s).

then i'd run a check disk on your HDD, either pull it and put it in another pc and run the check from that machines OS in cmd or use the repair console provided on you windows boot cd.

type: chkdsk c: /r then hit enter

c being the drive letter to scan

/r makes it run a full 5 part check and repairs errors if it can.

Phil.

[Lilrich]

Nice one phil - was unsure what the coloured slots were for :)

[BENBOB]

Ok I think we've found the culprit! Ran memory test with first two sticks - 'pass complete, no errors'. Then put second lot in and got 6912 errors in about 20 seconds of running! It doesnt give a gauge of how bad this is, but Im guessing I need new RAM?

My current RAM I dont think is anything special; Samsung 1GB DDR2 667MHZ RAM (code on it is; 1GB 2Rx8 PC2 - 5300U - 555 - 12 - E3). Though I probably wont be able to a replacement stick, so guess Im gonna have to buy completely new set of RAM?

Whats the best RAM that my motherboard (Asus P5N-E SLI) supports? DDR3?

[philcruicks]

you can replace the RAM no problem any site should do it, newegg (dono any other US sites cause im UK) if your US or ebuyer microdirect, overclockers etc.. if your UK. but before you do check each individual stick from the second lot you may only have 1 bad stick.

Phil.

[BENBOB]

Hi Phil, thanks for the reply.

Im from the UK too. Only 1 or 2 sticks are faulty, however Im wondering if I would be able to a replacement of that type? Do they have to be the exact same brand/model? Or can I get any 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM?

Or would it be worth upgrading to better RAM as I run lots of memory intensive applications on my PC?

If you could provide exact links of which I should buy it would be much appreciated, as I want to be sure its compatiable with my computer!

Many Thanks.

[Black Leopard]

Any brand will do as long as it's DDR2 PC2 5300 (667 MHz) or you could try DDR2 PC2 6400 (800 MHz) but you'll need to replace both sticks (and posibly the two good ones too if they're of the 667MHz variety).

[philcruicks]

yeah black leopard is right, any 667 will be fine, if you want a performance boot while you at it then the 800MHz would be you best option, you can just replace the 2 at 800 just make sure you put the 2 800's in black and 667's in yellow, or the other way around, but yeah upgrading them all to 800 is you best performance boot.

Of cause it depends on the rest of your hardware...is it worth it if your CPU isn't too powerful, maybe save a few quid now and upgrade the whole lot later this year, there's a lot on the horizon intel just releases a 6-core i7 processor and SSD i'm sure will be dropping in price by the end of the year.

[Black Leopard]

Also, he should check if his board supports DDR3, if it does he will be able to put 1066MHz DDR3 sticks in it. And that's some serious boost in RAM speeds.

[Max Veteran]

If you are replacing memory, be sure that it is not the slot on the motherboard causing the problem. Swap the module between the slots to make sure it is certain.