Help! Sick Computer

slobbery

Sorry in advance for the long post....

I have an Athlon 1700xp comp with 512 ram and Radeon 8600 pro graphics card. For a while I have been having boot problems. Sytem does post and then just carries on repeating the test with accompanying beep anywhere up to 30 odd times before we get past it. Once past it we then get several attempts to start xp with no difference whether I press start normally or last known config. Eventually it will boot and is then fine and will start or restart first every time time all day unless left off for longer than about an hour.

I have tried everything I can think of - cleaning out the components, unplugging all boards and memory, cleaning and putting back. Done all the obvious virus check etc although system is up to date and firewalled. Cleaned system, error checked, system restored, windows repaired etc.

Installed hdd health which tells me I have a spin up problem with the hard drive,but the "date of death" it has predicted has gone from the 15 Jan to 3rd march, so not sure I trust this.

Anyway Yesterday I bit the bullet and reinstalled xp from scratch.

Today - no difference! Please can anyone shed any light or give me more things to try - I'm getting desperate now!

rogerramjet

Could be a multitude of possible problems....with the most suspect being your hard drive..especially with the message your getting.

The usual suspect would be memory...I have on a good few occasions tied down this problem to IDE cables becoming faulty..especially if you delve into your system regularly.

With the fact you say it becomes worse if its been on a while, it could be something like a dry solder joint on the mobo, processor overheating, memory (again), IDE cable (again)....or the most likely suspect...hard drive read errors on boot.

rogerramjet

How many beeps occur before it restarts and do you know what mobo is in your system...only scanned message first post read with a little more detail this time. The beeps are an error code and although most board manufactures apear to agree to a "standard" some don't. One beep is just "post" more than that could help tie down what your problem is

slobbery

Mobo is Micro Atx MS-6327.
Beep is the same as post beep, just occurs every 15-20 seconds as if comp is starting up over and over. No set amount of beeps. Yesterday took approx 30 minutes to finally get to desktop, today approx 15.
I have another hard drive I could try but it is a SAta interface and motherboard only has ata. I've tried to find a converter online but with no luck. Don't want to fork out for a new hdd in case that isn't the problem.

scheming_gypsy

easy starter... unplug the hard drive, disable in BIOS and switch on. See if you get the beeps. If you do then it ain't the hard drive. Never seen a hard drive cause the system to beep, i'd be looking more to a memory problem myself.

Bob_the_Builder_5

Is the CPU fan spinning okay? I'm wondering whether the processor might be overheating.

slobbery

Yep is spinning fine although for several weeks a while ago we had a grinding noise from one of the fans, but despite taking the side off and fiddling whilst it was running, we never managed to pin it down to which fan (was reluctant to forcefully stop them whilst running in case they shattered). It all sorted itself out after a while and has now been ok for several months.

albertross_2

It look like you've tried everything.. Is it a self build, did you use heatsink paste on the CPU?

slobbery

No made by Evesham. Funnily enough my other Evesham Athlon (running win 98)gave up completely on 1st Jan and had to be reformatted. I'm beginning to wonder whether they have a built in self destruct!

albertross_2

There is some non destuctive low level HD diagnostic software at grc.com called spinrite, but it's about £50, which is more than a new HD..

Toxteth_OGrady

But loads of free low level diagnostics on Ultimate Boot CD

:cool:

TOG