Windows xp pc help!

ehooveehoove
edited June 2009 in Hardware
I put together a desktop a few years ago, and it has performed flawlessly since. It uses a MSI motherboard and a AMD 64 processor running Windows XP Pro. Last week it would shut down, but the light would stay on until I unpluged it and restarted it. so Figuring the power supply, I replaced it. Same issue still exists. any ideas? I have built many computers, and maintain 30 or so at work, but this is a new one on me.
Thanks,
Jim

Comments

  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    ehoove wrote:
    Same issue still exists.
    Jim

    Which issue is that ?
    Does it boot but shut down after awhile.
    Can you post?
    Get to bios?

    If it will remain stable at the bios I would suggest running Memtest86+ and check the memory for starters.

    And welcome to Icrontic !!

    Scott
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    Yes it boots then shuts down. but the light stays on until I unplug it then it boots up and does it all over again.
    Thanks,
    Jim
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    I would definitely run a few passes of memtest.

    How long before it reboots ?

    Scott
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    And about the plug..
    I can't say about MSI but I have a couple of gigabyte boards that will act all funky if they crash. The only way to get them to restart is to unplug them, press the start button to drain the caps and plug back in. They will then boot fine. But if not shut down properly they won't start properly.

    Scott
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    scott wrote:
    And about the plug..
    I can't say about MSI but I have a couple of gigabyte boards that will act all funky if they crash. The only way to get them to restart is to unplug them, press the start button to drain the caps and plug back in. They will then boot fine. But if not shut down properly they won't start properly.

    Scott

    Great idea, Removed Ram and cleaned all contacts and all seems good!
    Thanks,
    Jim
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    ehoove wrote:
    Great idea, Removed Ram and cleaned all contacts and all seems good!
    Thanks,
    Jim

    Shut down again! errrrrrrr
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    If you are not familiar with memtest86 it is a program that runs at boot and will check your memory outside of the windows enviornment.
    Download it here http://www.memtest.org/ and burn the iso to a cd , set your machine to boot from cd first and let it run for 2 full passes. If you have no errors it is not the ram.

    Scott
  • miragemirage
    edited May 2009
    It looks like a motherboard problem to me. I had an MSI Nforce4 S939 motherboard doing something similar after it worked well for 1 year. I have replaced it with a Foxconn NF4U which is still working since almost another year. I would try the followings after testing RAM and CPU as Scott suggested. But if the computer is not staying on, such testing can be difficult :)

    - reset BIOS
    - reseat and clean contacts of the add on cards as well
    - try another graphics card
    - try another motherboard
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    I switched hard drives and loaded windows on my second drive and windows fixed mt primary drive in the process. I switched back and all is good with the primary drive.
    Thanks for the help,
    Jim
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    Great forum BTW! I hope I can contribute.
    Regards,
    Jim
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    Ran for 11 hours then shut down. Booted to the second drive with the fresh copy of windows, and will let it run to see if it is a hardware or OS problem.
    Regards,
    Jim
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    Hey Jim

    Please run Memtest. It will confirm or rule out one of the major causes of hardware instability.
    Can you burn an iso image ? Do you need help getting Memtest on a CD ?

    Scott
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    scott wrote:
    Hey Jim

    Please run Memtest. It will confirm or rule out one of the major causes of hardware instability.
    Can you burn an iso image ? Do you need help getting Memtest on a CD ?

    Scott

    Scott,
    I will run it tonight when I get home from work.
    Regards,
    Jim
  • ehooveehoove
    edited May 2009
    Ran memtest twice with no errors.I checked the cpu videocard, and northbridge and none seem to be hot when the shutdown occurs.
    Jim
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    DFT will check ur HD for possible defects
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    At this point I would try to eliminate every thing possible. Disconnect all peripherals.
    Try booting to the bios and leave it sit there for however long it would take to shut down.

    No optical drives , no hard drives , disconnect case fans.

    Try it with just ram, video card , processor and heat sink fan.
    If it shuts offs then that pretty much narrows it down to mobo, processor or video card.

    Another thought. You said you replaced the power supply. With a new one or another one you had ? How big is it ?

    Let us know how it goes.

    Scott
  • ehooveehoove
    edited June 2009
    I replaced it with the same unit from Antec 380 watt. At this point the hard drives no longer boot up, and there is no video out put from the video card as well. The memtest came out fine with no problems.
    Regards,
    Jim
  • ehooveehoove
    edited June 2009
    Update!
    After replacing the motherboard, and exchanging video cards, it was ..............The CPU
    Replaced it with a used unit, put the original motherboard back in and I'm back in business. First time I had a CPU fail on me.
    Regards,
    Jim
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