Strange Computer Problem

alright. this will be sort of a long story, so sorry to make you read it all :rolleyes:

i have 2 computers. one is what i use to do everything, and the other i use to store some movies on, back up my mp3s, and it is usually running F@H. i was sitting @ my desk one night, with my headphones on. i heard like a kind of clicking sound over my music, so i took my headphones off. to my horror i realized my other computer was turning itself off & on repeatedly. i immediately hit my kvm switch and saw that the computer was just starting up, getting only started for a few seconds, then restarting again. my cd drives were constantly blinking as well as my floppy. i then held in the power button so it would shut itself completely off.

i switched it on again hoping it was just a one-time glitch, but it did the same thing. on & off, on & off. i turned it completely off again. i checked all the IDE cables on the hard drives making sure they were still tight, and they were. checked the power cables to everything, all peachy.

this computer has 2 hard drives in it. one for the OS and programs, and one for everything else. i'm sure the data on the other hard drive is ok, but i think the OS drive might have died. would this explain the constant restarting? the computer (as little as i could see) would get to the "Detecting IDE 1" stage of start-up, stall, then restart, like it couldn't find the first IDE device, which is my OS drive. i also had a disk stuck in my floppy drive and thought that maybe the computer would be trying to launch that, be unsuccessful and start over. so i unplugged the floppy drive, it did the same thing. i then removed the drive completely, put in a new floppy from an older computer i have, but it did the same thing. so now i'm left only to assume my hard drive is dead, the ide cable is shot, or some other problem is happening that i dunno.

anyone else got advice or thoughts as to what could be wrong? :helpsmile:

that comp's specs:
AMD Thunderbird 1.6<-- not sure if its 1.6, but close to that.
Windows XP Pro
256mb ram
the computer itself is like 2 or 3 years old. :smilie4:

Unplug the hard drives and try booting up with just a floppy. If your PC still does the same thing then it has nothing to do with hard drives. Try that and report back.

Try what vb said, i also think it could be insuficient power from teh power supply...as soon as it starts to read teh hard drive, it needs more ppower, so the powersupply can&#39;t give it that power and reboots...i guess. i dunno how to explain my thinking :lol:

ok, this time i fired &#39;er up. it got the the point of "Detecting NVRAM" and it stalled for about 15 seconds. nothing. finally restarted, nothing on the screen, nothing. then i started to notice a faint smell. like melting/burning plastic. i think something in there is fried :unsure: i smelled my hard drives and cd drives, they&#39;re not causing it. its strongest over my cpu fan :(

is it shot?? :frusty:

edit: actually, i smelled again, and it could be from either the powersupply or the cpu. they&#39;re really close together. i have an Allied 300w powersupply.

Can you see the HS fan spin at all in the short period that the pc is powered up?

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Can you see the HS fan spin at all in the short period that the pc is powered up?

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yes. it never really stops either since the computer just boots up again right away. you can kinda hear it slow down when it restarts, but it speeds up again. <_<

Well, since the fan is the only possible source* of an electrical whiff from your HS then that leaves the PSU.

*Gee, I forgot about the CPU.
Let&#39;s hope it&#39;s not emitting smoke.
You&#39;d be up the proverbial creek....

Sounds like power supply failure.

Did you try running it without the hard drives connected as I stated above?

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Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@30 June 2004 - 21:43
Sounds like power supply failure.

Did you try running it without the hard drives connected as I stated above?

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yeah. but it won&#39;t even get past the "checking nvram" part of start up now. so the floppy doesn&#39;t even get booted. and i can&#39;t switch the boot order, cuz i can&#39;t even get to bios&#33; i hit delete constantly after i hit the power button, but it wont do it. :angry:

so the psu is burnin up and not giving enough power to the computer? would that cause it to just reboot constantly? :unsure:

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Originally posted by lee551@30 June 2004 - 15:51
so the psu is burnin up and not giving enough power to the computer? would that cause it to just reboot constantly? :unsure:

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That&#39;s what I suspect. Do you have access to any other computers that you could borrow the power supply for a test?

Or order some cheapy power supply from ebuyer a 400ww one for like £10, will always come in handy as a test model or for later projects.

Best idea would be to take the power supply from your good computer and put it in the messed up scomputer, see if it boots. Simple, if the computer boots, it is casue of teh pwoer supply, if it doesn&#39;t boot, it is some otehr component messing up (motherboaard or cpu most likely, although it could also be a hard drive, video card, or cd rom drive shorting out. ;)

i&#39;m not really comfortable with ripping the power suppy out of my "good" computer to test the other one. i have an old gateway 233 and i might use that one&#39;s psu. i&#39;m not going to do this right away. maybe in a few days or something when i feel more techie :lol:

first i gotta figure out how the hell to take a powersupply out&#33; :lol: i assume you unplug everything, take out all screws holding it in place, and pull? :blink:

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Originally posted by lee551@30 June 2004 - 20:30

i assume you unplug everything, take out all screws holding it in place, and pull? :blink:

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That will do it.

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Originally posted by clocker+1 July 2004 - 03:35--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (clocker @ 1 July 2004 - 03:35)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-lee551@30 June 2004 - 20:30

i assume you unplug everything, take out all screws holding it in place, and pull? :blink:

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That will do it. [/b][/quote]
great. thanks for your help everyone. when i do replace the psu i&#39;ll let you know how it went/results. :)

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Originally posted by lee551@30 June 2004 - 22:30
i assume you unplug everything, take out all screws holding it in place, and pull? :blink:

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actually, after those screws come out (with most cases*) the power supply "falls" outta place...so you might wanna hold it. ;)


* - With my old HP&#39;s case the power supply has a special bracket attached to it which require that the power supply be sorta swinged out...back end towards motherboard and it will slide outta place.

update:

today i had nothing to do so i pulled an old 200w power supply out of an old computer i had. removed the current powersupply from the problematic computer & installed the 200w one. i only plugged in the mobo, 2 hdds, & floppy, not either of cd drives ( i figured its only 200w, dont wanna overload it ). hooked up its own mouse, keyboard and my monitor, fired &#39;er up, and wow&#33;, no restarts&#33; :D

however now, it just says "Checking NVRAM" and does nothing. the first time i turned it on it said "Checking NVRAM... Update OK" but now it just says "Checking NVRAM." :blink: did i miss a plug? is something else wrong?

i also noticed the burning smell again. this time i left the computer on and sniffed around in my case, and i think it is coming from my heatsink fan :angry:

what now? :frusty:

Could just be dust or something in it....

How long have u tried waiting for the nvram thing?

its been on about 2 minutes now. still nothing. the hard drive light stays on constantly.

and that smell, ugh, whew. it gets really bad. it smells like burning chocolat :lol: i dunno how else to describe it. <_<