HELP! My computer died and can't figure out why...

[SupaCoopa]

This is really strange and I have no clue what more to do, please give any serious ideas you can think of. And I'm not computer illiterate, I built this computer myself and it had worked for a year or so with no trouble at all...

Here it goes... I disconnected my monitor and got rid of a Fast Movie Machine II ISA card -it couldn't capture even though it was "working proprely". I assembled the case again and connected an older monitor. I press "On" button...

Windows starts loading... and just before it showed the desktop... blue screen and "Windows protection fault. You need to restart your computer". I tried several times, same result.

I then tried "Safe mode". It shows the desktop but when I try to click on something (taskbar or icon) "General Protection Fault. Press Ctrl..." but the computer is not responding to any key presses.

Some times it just hangs right after completing the memory test! I even plugged out the PCI modem, SB Live and G-Force and booted with an old PCI 1MB graphic card, the results were identical so I plugged everything back.

I tried booting with Norton 2001 CD-ROM. It boots OK, I start to scan the hard disc for viruses, but it just hangs and says "Error 35" - in a different file every time. I can access the hard drive through DOS, and tried all the above with both "Optimised" and "Fail Safe" BIOS settings.

HELP! I need somebody... Is it the motherboard? Is the memory? Is it the proccessor? The BIOS says the temp on the proccessor is 65*-140F even though the fan whirls at 5200 rpm, isn't this too high? Please if anyone has any idea of what might be happenning, share your wisdom.

Thanks a lot.

PS: QDI Advance 10e, Pentium III 800, 256MB 133Mhz, IBM UltraATA-100 30GB, Ricoh CD-R, G-Force 2 MX, SB Live, PCI modem under Windows ME

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SupaCoopa on 2001-09-18 09:32:46 ]</font>

[hitechjunkie]

not sure what's wrong, but this writeup might get you past that error 35 when running Norton...

[zzyzzx]

If your really perplexed then remove all unnecessary devices (and their drivers) and then get it working then add each device (one at a time) and get them working. Did you remove the drivers for your Fast Movie Machine II ISA card?

[Dragonsf]

Are the memory chips ok? if you have more than one, try to swap positions. feel if every chips is in its place. remove soundcard, try to boot in save mode and start msconfig and uncheck system.ini.

[TwistedPair]

Try reseating the memory modules - I've had more problems with memory than I can remember.

[SupaCoopa]

Thanks for the input guys. Will try swapping/reseating memory modules this evening, I'll even try an older SIMM I have somewhere - do SIMMs work with PIII? The memory test completes OK every time though. Hmmm....

zzyzzx, I unplugged all cards and booted with just a 1MB PCI VGA card from the old days, nothing changed. I can't remove any drivers as I can't access Windows, even in safe mode!

hitechjunkie, thanks for the tip about Norton, will try it.

I just remembered something else, a couple of seconds before Windows tries to start which is a couple of seconds before it hangs too, the black background flashes to blue (but don't picture the "DOS blue" colour, it's hardly noticeable) a couple of times. This happened with both the AGP and PCI adapters, but I had never seen this happenning before...

Thanks for the tips guys, anyone else willing to help a man in despair?

[neomaine]

SupaCoopa,

It initially sounded like a heating problem as someone else recommended. However, at this point with all the hardware swapping you've probably hosed Windows to the point of now return, and may even have multiple problems.

I'd pull out the Windows install disk and reload the operating system, effectively doing an upgrade. I've had to do this before when playing around and usually get to keep all the programs that have been installed and their settings. Then start adding your hardware back one piece at a time.

Good Luck!!!

[sean madison]

yes, your right. By swapping hardware out is cuasing windows to load drivers for that hardware that was previously for the original hardware and when it sees new hardware, it "freaks" out. You dont need to take out anything, ok! just put everything back, reformat and reinstall. If that doesnt fix it, stay in dos before booting into windows, FDISK the hard drive, recreate a new partition, then reinstall windows.

[zzyzzx]

Have you tried reinstalling Windows on top of itself?

[bigmicka]

This definetly sounds like a driver problem, Have you thought about putting the dud capture card back in? then remove the device from device manager, turn off your computer and remove the card?

i hope that helps a bit.

mic

[Chris X]

Maby your PSU is going bad, or uncertified for your system???

[SupaCoopa]

Again thanks for the input everyone.

I think (to my despair) that it's more of a hardware problem than Windows/drivers one. This is why:
One out of three times when I boot the system it hangs just after completing the memory test. This means that it doesn't even get to the point where it says what disks you have. Surely no Windows is responsible for that.

If it boots, I get to the DOS prompt and can access the hard disk, but when I try to do anything, even simple stuff like open the config.sys in Edit, it hangs. I tried to reinstall Windows (without deleting anything) but it hangs right after it starts to read from the CD-ROM. I loathe the thought of having to format my hard disk, about 20 GB of "precious" files (MP3s, DivXs and graphics) and no back-up!! but I don't think this would help anyway.

Doh! The only thing I have left to try is install some other memory modules, I will try this during the day and see what happens. I strongly suspect memory is causing all this trouble, either this or the proccessor or the motherboard or...

Thanks for the help everyone. Now, where was that screwdriver again...?

[TurboRunner]

If reinstalling windows or none of the following helpfull infomation from the others maybe it best to consult your local computer repair shop.

[ebaldino]

Turborunner is right. This is beginning to sound like a hardware problem. Your HD might be hosed. Try to get as far as you can in booting *something* so you can see your HD contents, backup as much of it as you can, then call for help. You might want to try a low-level format of your HD too.

good luck
E.Baldino

[zzyzzx]

Have you tried making a boot disk and running it off that? I'm beginning to suspect the HD also. Can you borrow one from somebody for test purposes?

[SupaCoopa]

OK, problem finally solved!

Want to know what was to blame? The darned processor fan, for God's sake!!! I got a new one and everything is fine again. It took me half a week to find out the cause, but since it only cost me $6 to get my computer back to normal I can only say "never mind"...

Remember me saying that the processor temp was 65*C? Eventually that was way to high... If I hadn't done the conversion to Fahrenheit degrees wrong (65*C = ca 165F and not 140F) maybe someone from USA would have guessed it earlier.

Anyway, many thanks to everyone for their time and interest.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SupaCoopa on 2001-09-21 05:46:31 ]</font>

[sebringsc]

at least it's working! i have fans that are attached to on/off switches on my comp and the one powersupply came off the switch and wheni turned it on it killed power to EVERYHING. All new pieces as of monday and i thought i KILLED my comp.took me a while to realize how dumb i was