Endless freeze on Bios loading screen

[Yial]

Rig specs are :

Cooler master 650w PSU
Asus p5n32-e sli (running the newest bios)
Intel Core 2 duo e6850 (unlocked) (was overclocked 10%, now stock)
EVGA geforce gtx470
4 gigs of Crucial Ballistix ddr2 @ 800mhz
Unknown 350 gig hdd
Windows 7 ultimate (irrelevant?)


I went away for the weekend, and upon return my problems started. Initially, I started up fine, however, I went to load a youtube video and total lock up occurred. I was forced to do a hard restart (holding the power button in until it restarts) I got to the bios where it froze, odd, so I tried again.

This time I got into windows where it locked up. I then restarted and reset bios to defaults. Fast forward a bit, I have tested my ram, (all good, I have tried 8 different sticks), I even bought a new PSU (more on this in a second.) and am forced to conclude that it is the Mobo?

Now, interestingly, with the old psu I can get to the bios screen where it freezes, I did however go out and get a 850w black widow thermaltake psu, which, does not allow me to even get to the bios screen.

I am beyond confused.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I am about to go buy a new mobo, processor, and ram... but want to avoid this.

-Kieran

EDIT: just tried booting without HDD or Optical. Doesn't help.

 

[Automata]

Welcome to the forums Yial.

Here is what I would do, in order:

1) Reset the CMOS settings to default
2) Unplug any devices that are not required to boot (DVD drive, hard drive, video card if it has onboard, etc)
3) Unplug all the RAM, except for one stick in the first slot
----If this fails, try this stick in all slots individually
----If this fails, try each stick, one at a time, in each slot
4) Remove the motherboard from the case and try to run it on a non-conductive surface (Note: do not use static bags)
5) While the motherboard is out, verify the capacitors are in good shape. Make sure that none are bulging or leaking
6) Try a spare power supply

If playing with the RAM gets it working, slowly add more sticks until you either find a faulty stick or slot on the motherboard.

Let me know the results and I can give more suggestions based on the results.

 

[Yial]

tried everything except taking the motherboard out (which I will do now).

Still only intermittently boots to the bios screen and then freezes. Gives the one start up beep, and then sometimes give the ok beep before going to the bios where it then freezes. Ram location / sticks seem to make no difference.
Maybe a slight increase in booting to bios frequency when HDD is unplugged... not sure, I will try a different HDD that I know is 100% good.

Taking themobo out now.

 

[Adak]

To troubleshoot effectively, you need a plan that is methodical - absolutely isolating ONE component at a time, if possible.

In your situation, I would strip the pc down to the very barest essentials - minimal memory, one bootable disk, and just a cheapo graphics card, not a gamer type (should cost less than $20).

Then put the jumper over to reset the bios, on the mobo. Let it stay there for 10 minutes. Then switch the jumper back to the regular pins, carefully.

Now turn it on, and go straight away, into the bios and set it for the default (max compatibility, not default performance), mode. Save and reboot.

If it gets boots up, then add one component to it at a time, and reboot. Never add two at the same time. If it doesn't boot up, then continue stripping it down, by removing all the wires that lead to the case input/output - that means usb, power, led, hd led, jacks, everything that goes up to the front, or to the case itself - fans, etc. Leave only the mobo cpu heatsink and fan, plugged into the fan header.

Note that you're not creating extra work here, because if it still doesn't boot, you have to replace or remove the entire mobo, anyway - either for more testing out of the case entirely, or just to replace it.

Take your time, work methodically, and I like to try every combination a few times in a row, just to be sure. As your working with it, inspect the now minimal connections, wires, etc., for anything that might be a bit loose, have a nicked or cracked wire, or dirt, hair etc., that may have found a way into an empty RAM slot, etc.

If your ram is testing good, why replace it?

Don't be surprised by the psu's acting differently. Whether the psu detects the faulty condition and shuts off before the BIOS does, makes no difference here. Different psu designs will act a bit differently in how they detect the fault, and how fast they do it.

 

[Yial]

I took the mobo out of the case and set it up.

I tried resettng it according to

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5N32-E SLI/e2929_P5N32-E_SLI.pdf

no go.

I am thinking either the mobo or the processor is fried? It no longer even gets to the bios screen.

I am about ready to just buy a new processor / mobo config. as I need this up and running by Wednesday. T_T

 

[Adak]

If you have also tested the gpu, and it tested good, then I'd agree that it's either the cpu or mobo, or both.

Sounds like you need to pull the trigger on that.

 

[Yial]

I used an old old old pci card (that works) and pulled the gpu. Still the same results.

yes, I am thinking of buying an AMD mobo and cpu, along with 8 gigs of ddr 3 ram @ 1600mhz. I just want to stay as far under 300 as possible for decent performance (in comparison to what I had.)

Any suggestions? (I know the i5-2500k is thebest cost/power.. but it's just too much at the moment for my budget.)

 

[nth697]

Don't forget to check the data cable for the boot drive. SATA cables get damaged easily. I've seen it happen before.

 

[Metlcub]

have you tried booting it without any mem installed? and seeing if it would get to bios?

 

[Automata]

have you tried booting it without any mem installed? and seeing if it would get to bios?

You can't get into the BIOS without memory.

 

[OnDborder]

Is the cpu cooling fan working?