PC issues....

A freind built a AMD computer not too long ago for another friend of mine. The pc was running fine for a month or so, maybe two, and then it started crashing, freezing, normal windows problems.

He brought it to me and i put a fresh copy of xp on it, new ntfs and all. About two days goes by, and he brings it back to me says its dead again. WTF.

Ok, so i go to turn it on, nothing. It powers up, but nothing loads on the monitor (ie it never syncs in), and theres no error codes coming from the motherboard.

I tear the whole pc down, rebuild it. Get it running and load in windows. Ok, looking good it seems. So i restart it, no changes made i just want to check it for a secure reboot.

The computer starts up, slams into the bios on its own, and tells me to double check the processor speed. So i check, and its set to 2000MHZ, which is correct.

So i confirm this setting, and the pc reboots and tries to load windows....no hard drive detected....wtf.

Reboot, loads into windows.....blue screen. W...T...F....

So i tear it all down, wash, rinse, and repeat.

Now its back to turning on, nothing happening, and no error codes. I'm at a loss on this thing. My tech instincts say that we have an obvious mobo/proc issue, but that means trying to get ASUS and AMD to cough up some warrenties, and he never sent in ANY cards.

So....heres some system specs, let me know what you think.

AMD Athlon XP chip, 2GHZ
ASUS Mobo...not sure which one cuz i cant get that far and theres no tags.
40gig Western Digital
256MB Ram
Windows XP (somewhere in there)

Quote:

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Originally posted by RoD
My tech instincts say that we have an obvious mobo/proc issue...

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I'm not sure about this specific one but in my experience, I've found the Memory (RAM) many times responsible for the unpredictable behaviour.

I have to agree with the mobo/processor issues. Tell him he f-ed himself by not sending in the cards. They give you those for a reason.

I'd definitely say that it's a mobo/proc issue.

that's what it sounds like to me... if you really can't get a new mobo, try replacing the CMOS battery, and if that doesn't work, try flashing the EEPROM... if that doesn't work, get a new mobo

Quote:

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Originally posted by major_small
try replacing the CMOS battery

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No offense, but replacing the battery isn't going to do a damn thing in this case.

Yea the battery isnt too blame, alot of comps can run without them.

I told him to go ahead and send in the warrenty information cards if they arent out of date, i was really hoping you guys wouldnt agree with me lol. I tried different ram, no good.

Crap. Thnx guys.

You sayed you went into the bios and saw that it was set to 2000 MHZ, but this is not correct. An Athlon XP 2000 does not run at 2000 MHZ. I think it actually runs at 1400 or something like that (not sure exactly). Could this be your stability problem?

I just noticed now you did not say it was an Athlon 2000XP. What model is it? Also, I have had a bad hard drive cause the same problems. Do a scan disk, wouldn't hurt. Good luck.

its not an xp2000, its like 2800 or something but i dont know which one cux i never got too look.

Where did he get the stuff from? I don't think he has to worry about warranty cards, as generally it is the retailer's responsibility to handle RMA's and not the manufacturer. I've had very good luck with my local retailer, have RMA'd 4 motherboards, a stick of RAM, and a CPU (CPU wasn't actually dead :)). Lot's of people have had pretty good luck with online retailers as well, though these can be a little finiky.

I think you're probably dead on with it being either a mobo or CPU problem. Chances are if it was the RAM instead of giving a BSOD it would just hard reboot. Random BSOD sounds more to me like a CPU issue, how is the cooling?

Anyway, good luck :)

He doesnt know.