How do you tell if your motherboard is about to die?
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 by kona0197 | Discussion: Personal Computing
I have a small problem. Every so often while booting my machine I get a blue screen of death and then the system reboots. It happens so fast I can't read what the error is. I changed a few things in my BIOS and it would finally boot. Actually the only thing I changed was the memory timing resulting in OC my RAM. Guess I will have to fix that. So how do you find out if your mobo is dying? I'm running Windows XP Pro with SP2 (Yes I'm using SP2 finally) and I have 512 megs of DDR RAM.
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kona0197
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:22 PM
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:22 PM
Well this is a fresh install of XP - not even a week old. I guess it could be a virus I will check. The HDD is about a year old. Maxtor 40 gig. I should replace it and see if that helps. I believe the CMOS battery is OK. The motherboard hols it's settings pretty good.
Weaksid
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:22 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:22 PM
If you changed something in the BIOS, try going back to Default settings and see what happens. If it still does it, then you might want to see if you can get into SAFE mode, still no luck, try going into the Recovery Console using your XP disk and running a check disk.
That should keep you busy for a while and maybe one of those will fix it or give you a different error
If you are able to get into safe mode and want to view your blue screen without reboot.. Start -> Right click (My Computer) -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Click on Settings button where it says System Start Up -> Uncheck "Automaticlly Restart".
That should keep you busy for a while and maybe one of those will fix it or give you a different error
If you are able to get into safe mode and want to view your blue screen without reboot.. Start -> Right click (My Computer) -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Click on Settings button where it says System Start Up -> Uncheck "Automaticlly Restart".
Snowman
Reply #4 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:31 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:31 PM
| (Yes I'm using SP2 finally) |
tsk tsk tsk..... another one bites the dust
(My system is an OS-PFA - Official Service Pack Free Area)
Anyway, back to your regular scheduled thread
kona0197
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 4:47 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 4:47 PM
OK I did a few things and it seems to have worked. First off I used my XP cd and ran a recovery console and performed a CHKDSK /p and then ran FIXBOOT. The next thing I did was I went into safe mode and ran another CHKDSK but this time with a /f parameter. Finally I uninstalled SP2 and now the computer works great just as it should. I think I shall also perform a SFC /SCANNOW as well just to be on the safe side. 
Weaksid
Reply #7 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 5:17 PM
Reply #7 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 5:17 PM
Wow, reallly making sure that the disk is checked
Chris TH
Reply #9 Thursday, April 21, 2005 1:45 AM
This is usually because of a setting in the 'My Computer->Properties->Advanced' dialog. In the 'System Failure' group is an option to automatically restart. Uncheck it if you want to see the details on the BSOD.
HTH.
Reply #9 Thursday, April 21, 2005 1:45 AM
| It happens so fast I can't read what the error is |
This is usually because of a setting in the 'My Computer->Properties->Advanced' dialog. In the 'System Failure' group is an option to automatically restart. Uncheck it if you want to see the details on the BSOD.
HTH.
Double Zero
Reply #10 Thursday, April 21, 2005 9:35 PM
Reply #10 Thursday, April 21, 2005 9:35 PM
Kona, a bad Motherboard will usually just beep at you, more times than not, if it isnt beeping away to a very annoying tune then the probelm is most likely something else..not in all cases but more than 85% of the time.
Looks like you "cured" it for the time being..just wanted to give you a heads up about MoBo's.. If they are shorted out they will beep, if the sautered connections are no longer making the "connection" they will beep. etc, etc.. Never assume the MoBo, thats a *worst case scenario.
Zero.
Looks like you "cured" it for the time being..just wanted to give you a heads up about MoBo's.. If they are shorted out they will beep, if the sautered connections are no longer making the "connection" they will beep. etc, etc.. Never assume the MoBo, thats a *worst case scenario.
Zero.
kona0197
Reply #11 Thursday, April 21, 2005 10:04 PM
Reply #11 Thursday, April 21, 2005 10:04 PM
Yeah I forgot about the beeping BIOS thing. thanks Zero. I think I need a new HDD and a fresh, clean install of XP and/or Linux.
yrag
Reply #12 Thursday, April 21, 2005 10:38 PM
Set the memory to default and the errors will stop.........
Reply #12 Thursday, April 21, 2005 10:38 PM
| changed was the memory timing resulting in OC my RAM |
| Believe me it found PLENTY of errors |
Set the memory to default and the errors will stop.........
kona0197
Reply #13 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:15 PM
Reply #13 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:15 PM
What is the "defualt" setting for 2100 DDR RAM? It is running at 266 MHz right now Yrag.
yrag
Reply #14 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:20 PM
Reply #14 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:20 PM
266 is correct...I didn't say you have your memory over clocked....you did...
yrag
Reply #16 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:48 PM 
That's why your files got corrupted and your mobo kept talking to you........
Reply #16 Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:48 PM
That's why your files got corrupted and your mobo kept talking to you........
kona0197
Reply #17 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:07 AM
Reply #17 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:07 AM
I doubt it. When I installed XP a week ago the memory was at 266 MHz. I OC it on the day I started this thread to see if it would help me get into XP so I could uninstall SP2. In the past it worked for some strange reason. My mobo has NEVER beeped at me ecept the normal one beep at boot time. The whole problem was with XP. It seems a I had a problem with SP2 and another problem with a bad driver.
Jafo
Reply #18 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:39 AM
Reply #18 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:39 AM
Kona....I'd seriously be listening to yrag....if you overclocked your ram you will eventually incur errors...including data corruption, aka fragging the OS itself.
Mem has a 'designed speed' where it is determined to be 'stable'...exceed that at your own peril.
Once you overclock you can expect the OS to fail at one level or another....it's simple cause and effect...
Double Zero
Reply #19 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:46 AM
Reply #19 Friday, April 22, 2005 12:46 AM
Overclocking is just not wise in any case..Unless you have a box that is a spare and you have no care what happens to it,,dont OC..it shortens the lifespan dramatically..
Zero.
Zero.
HG_Eliminator
Reply #20 Friday, April 22, 2005 8:51 AM
Reply #20 Friday, April 22, 2005 8:51 AM
instead of over clocking .. buy a faster unit ...
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Reply #1 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 3:14 PM
ok do ya get the blue screen of death during windows loading process?
if it is during the windows loading i would venture to say there might be a problem with the XP installation.. a virus .. or the HDD may be going out ...
typically if it wont even start to load windows it could be a simple cmos battery.