OT-More Computer Help Needed

[PilotMan]

Ala QS, I now need some computer help. I got home from a trip last night and fired up my saved game of Cm4, and in the middle of the game I "continue game", and poof, the computer reboots. Usually this would just be really irritating, but it seems that now the computer is hanging on reboots.

I currently run a P3 866, and win98FE. As the computer is rebooting, it is hanging at the CD-rom drives, sometimes I can get it to continue and It now shows that instead of a 866mhz, my computer is running at 433Emhz. This is very strange. The computer eventually boots to the BIOS, where it informs me that the CPU speed is incorrect. I reset it to 433, and can manage to get the system back up for a short time. I ran through HD scans on both HD's last night and there were absolutely no problems. I feel like I have it narrowed down to a faulty MB of processor. Is it possible that the BIOS is just screwd up?

When I do get the computer back up, it stays up only for a short time, maybe 5-7 min, before it reboots itself. It seems also the I cannot do a "soft" reboot, and that I need to completely pull all power to reboot the system.

I am at an impass. Do I change out the whole MD/processor combo, or is there something else that I can try? What in the world would cause this? I have never had this problem before, and I really need to use the computer, so time is essential.


Thanks in advance for any help or advice you might have.

[FBPro]

Just a guess but my first thoughts are to check the following:

Power supply going bad.
CPU over-heating.

[PilotMan]

I think that the power suppy is ok, but how would I know if it was?

and the CPU overheating was a thought that had occured to me as well, but I can't get the system up long enough to run PC-Probe on it. Also, if that was the problem, how would it be remedied?

[FBPro]

Power supply, I really don't know. I had one go bad before but my local PC shop was able to check and replace it. CPU overheating is usually a fan issue and those are cheap and somewhat easy to replace yourself.

[PilotMan]

Well, just to update the situation. Now, when I push the power button, I get green power light, red hd access light, and the sound of the fan for the power supply. Nothing else. No whirring, beeping or attempts to access anything else.

Before I go out and spent money on a fix for this problem, can anyone confirm for me that this is indeed the motherboard failure, or is this perhaps a power supply failure? Also, if this is the motherboard, will the proccessor still be funtional, so all I really need to replace would be the motherboard, or are there other things that I need to account for?

Thanks

[MizzouRah]

At this point, I would say it's either:

1. Processor
2. Motherboard

In that order. Buy a processor from a local store, try that first. If that doesn't fix it, take it back and use that money towards a cheap motherboard. Or just goto www.newegg.com


Todd

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

At this point, I would say it's either:

1. Processor
2. Motherboard

In that order. Buy a processor from a local store, try that first. If that doesn't fix it, take it back and use that money towards a cheap motherboard. Or just goto www.newegg.com


Todd

Yeah, but if you don't know the problem, it's probably best to do it at a local store. Heck, they might even repair it if they knew whichever part was the problem, you'd buy from them/

SI

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Yeah, but if you don't know the problem, it's probably best to do it at a local store. Heck, they might even repair it if they knew whichever part was the problem, you'd buy from them/

SI

True, but I would buy both and if one was a fix, take the other one back.


Todd

[PilotMan]

Well, as it turned out the BIOS was corrupted on the HD. That pretty much made it an entire MB/CPU/MEM swap out. I haven't changed a MB in over 5 years so I was a little nervous. I ended up with an AMD Semperon, a Soyo MB, and 512MB of mem. I managed to get it all up and running only to run into the snafu that the MB was not compatible with the dinosaur of a OS. Today I ended up getting an upgrade of XP, and now am wondering how the hell I am going to get all the new authorization codes for FOF and OOTP among others. It seems as though the registry from win 98 and the new one from XP did not communicate at all. Just frustrating to lose all my web bookmarks etc.

Also, do to some wierd maneuvering on my part, I now have an OS on each of my HD's. Since I am unable to use the add/remove program, can I just delete the second copy, especially since I really didn't need it or use it? Or will I be messing things up on that HD too?

[MizzouRah]

Well, as it turned out the BIOS was corrupted on the HD

Maybe a misunderstanding here, but the BIOS is stored on the motherboard and can easily be cleared (reset) usually by jumpering a pin on the motherboard.

Anyhow, I hope you get it all back up and running again.

Todd

[PilotMan]

Yeah, it is on the MB, you're right. Anyway, although we really couldn't afford it, I got a descent upgrade on the system.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Yeah, it is on the MB, you're right. Anyway, although we really couldn't afford it, I got a descent upgrade on the system.

Todd