Computer freezes in BIOS.
So, earlier today, I figured it was time to reformat my computer. It was running quite slowly, and there was a lot of background apps I didn't particularly like sorting through, so I thought it was time for a cleanup. At this point, after my backups were done, the computer started freezing randomly. That is, the screen completely froze and the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive.
I figured, yet another reason for a wipe. So, I wipe the harddrive from the Windows 7 boot setup, and start installing, but just after the first restart, it freezes again during windows load. I give it an hour, but it doesn't resume, so I restart. Problem is, it still freezes after a minute or so, whether I'm in the windows setup or in BIOS. Since starting, I have recieved three kinds of POST signals. Firstly, a short, high-frequency beep. After a few more tries, it stopped being short and continued beeping until I shut the computer off. These, I'm told, supposedly say that my RAM is no good. In response, I took out and tested the memory sticks individually, and while there were no more beeps, neither did it fix the freezing problem.
After I added both RAM sticks once more, there was a brief couple of tries where I recieved the POST signal for missing GPU, though it is likely that I had only bumped it while placing the ram, since it stopped once I pressed it properly in place. I tried running memtest, but that freezes after a few minutes as well. Latest thing that happened was a continous repeating letter combination across the screen, like so:
"@X:3112
AX:0212
BX:8200
CX:0501
DX:0100"
So, here I stand, at a loss of what I should do next to isolate the problem. My specs are:
Asus M2N68 plus
AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 5600+, 2800MHz.
2048MB RAM
51 degrees C CPU temp
NVidia 8800 GT
I figured, yet another reason for a wipe. So, I wipe the harddrive from the Windows 7 boot setup, and start installing, but just after the first restart, it freezes again during windows load. I give it an hour, but it doesn't resume, so I restart. Problem is, it still freezes after a minute or so, whether I'm in the windows setup or in BIOS. Since starting, I have recieved three kinds of POST signals. Firstly, a short, high-frequency beep. After a few more tries, it stopped being short and continued beeping until I shut the computer off. These, I'm told, supposedly say that my RAM is no good. In response, I took out and tested the memory sticks individually, and while there were no more beeps, neither did it fix the freezing problem.
After I added both RAM sticks once more, there was a brief couple of tries where I recieved the POST signal for missing GPU, though it is likely that I had only bumped it while placing the ram, since it stopped once I pressed it properly in place. I tried running memtest, but that freezes after a few minutes as well. Latest thing that happened was a continous repeating letter combination across the screen, like so:
"@X:3112
AX:0212
BX:8200
CX:0501
DX:0100"
So, here I stand, at a loss of what I should do next to isolate the problem. My specs are:
Asus M2N68 plus
AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 5600+, 2800MHz.
2048MB RAM
51 degrees C CPU temp
NVidia 8800 GT
0
Comments
Replace mobo BIOS battery (take it with you to the store, which will have the additional effect of fully clearing BIOS settings to default)
Have only one memory stick in one channel
Try to boot to BIOS
If successful, burn a CD/USB with memtest and test your one stick. If it passes, add the other stick, test again. If it fails, switch your sticks and see if the failure is related to the stick (the one you moved from second slot to first slot) or slot (the error stays on the same "memory location" in Memtest
If you aren't successful still, you could have a bad mobo or bad CPU. Not many ways to test that beyond getting a compatible CPU and using it in your mobo (borrow from a friend, hopefully) and doing the same with your CPU in another system.
That is a good truth to remember
Any thoughts?
Stressing CPU is simple enough from Windows. Just download Prime95 and set it on torture test, small or medium for memory setting.
Problem also seems to grow worse from a warm boot. Perhaps it could be the GPU? It is considerably hotter than the rest of my specs. Though I suppose that would make no difference in BIOS. Anyways, GPU stresstest yielded nothing.
Also, Windows 7 Preview um, crashes every two hours currently. This was coded in by Microsoft.
Further, a weak PSU or undercapacity PSU can create the illusion of all sorts of hardware problems, or if damaged kill things other than the PSU by surging them.
Edit: Turns out my "Auto" settings gives me a memclock value of 312 MHz. I'm starting to get slightly confused.
Your ram supports " +1.8V (+/- .1V)" (from their specs), so 1.85v should be fine, if that is the minimum possible. You should hard set that instead of auto to make sure.
Noteworthy, however, is that it hasn't frozen in BIOS once since I changed the CMOS battery. I do, however, have difficulties entering the BIOS setup; every time I try to do it, I recieve an eternal black screen instead. So far, I've continued to reset the BIOS settings every time I wanted to access it, since that seemed to give me access, but outside this, all freezes have been windows-related since the battery change, and they certainly seem to grow more frequent when I run any heavy programs.
Turn off computer.
Physically swap the RAM sticks.
Try booting again.
See what happens.