PC Halp Please.

• I Wear Pants

  I normally tend to be one helping people but I'm in a bit of a pickle and I figure one of the folks here may be able to help me out.
  
  My desktop has been unable to boot for a few weeks. It gets to the Windows 7 logo (one where the colors all come together) and then it turns off completely as if I yanked the power cord. This also happens at the same spot if I try to boot into a Ubuntu USB or CD.
  
  I've checked all the RAM sticks individually and they're in working order and seated correctly in the slots. The BIOS posts fine. I cannot boot into save mode or the recovery mode either.
  
  I can do a Memtest (these take forever) and the pc will not shut down during it.
  
  I thought it was a power supply issue so I bought a new one and the same thing is still happening. I'm a bit stumped.
  
  All I can think to do is maybe reseat the cpu with some new thermal compound and see if that's the problem. Otherwise I fear it's the motherboard which I would hate for it to be since that's time consuming and a bit more expensive to swap out. Plus then if it's not that I'm pretty much f'd in the a.
  
  *sigh*
• Nate

  Hmm... I would say MB or HD but I'd lean more MB.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Sounds like mobo
• WebFire

  Good chance it's MOBO. Does it finish POST? I assume since it gets to the logo.
• I Wear Pants

  Not HD because it still does it when booting from a different HD, CD, and USB stick.
  
  Now to find a cheap as shit AM2 (think it could be AM2+ as well) mobo so I don't have to buy new parts. Any help there would be appreciated as well. I'm checking on Newegg and shit but I miss things sometimes.
• I Wear Pants

  WebFire;722383 wrote:Good chance it's MOBO. Does it finish POST? I assume since it gets to the logo.

  
  Yeah, it finishes POST fine. I can go in and mess with BIOS settings and everything and it won't shut off even if I'm in there for quite a while. Second I try to boot into any OS though it shows a bit of progress (Windows 7 logo animation thing or Ubuntu scrolling all the text it does) and then shuts the hell off.
• WebFire

  I Wear Pants;722385 wrote:Yeah, it finishes POST fine. I can go in and mess with BIOS settings and everything and it won't shut off even if I'm in there for quite a while. Second I try to boot into any OS though it shows a bit of progress (Windows 7 logo animation thing or Ubuntu scrolling all the text it does) and then shuts the hell off.

  
  That would tell me it's not the chip. MOBO time!
  
  What happens when you pop in the Windows DVD and try to do a repair?
• TedSheckler

  

  How many HDD do you have? My guess is one may have gone bad. Disconnect all but the one with the OS and see if it boots. Also, have you tried booting from the W7 disk and running a repair?
  
  Other culprits...bad RAM stick or overheating issue.
• Speedofsand

  

  http://www.sevenforums.com/
  
  I don't know, but you might find the answer in that site.
• I Wear Pants

  WebFire;722420 wrote:That would tell me it's not the chip. MOBO time!
  
  What happens when you pop in the Windows DVD and try to do a repair?

  Same thing. It got like 1-2 seconds further in the animation but then shut off like any other way.
  
  I'm really beginning to think it's the mobo unless when I reseat the processor tomorrow and put new thermal paste on it starts working. Either way I probably needed to do that.
• dlazz

  You try clearing the CMOS? If it's not that, I'll be a day late and a dollar short and also say that it's probably a dead mobo.
  
  Another thing that might be worth inspecting is USB devices. They all get initialized during boot, a flaky interface device or external hard drive could be acting up.
  
  Your best place to find a AM2 or AM2+ mobo would be private forums or Craigslist.
  
  I've bought stuff from here before. You have to have a handful of posts first before you can post.
• WebFire

  If he can get in an see the BIOS, CMOS should be ok.
• I Wear Pants

  WebFire;722489 wrote:If he can get in an see the BIOS, CMOS should be ok.

  Yeah, plus I reset it to no avail.
• dlazz

  WebFire;722489 wrote:If he can get in an see the BIOS, CMOS should be ok.

  
  Not always. Sometimes the CMOS information gets corrupted but it still lets you into the BIOS.
• I Wear Pants

  There's a couple AM2 (I'm counting AM2+ mobos too since they're compatible with AM2 chips) on Newegg. Probably just end up buying one of them.
• DualCore

  

  Is this a Dell or HP PC that you can download a full diagnostic program to run or is it a PC you built? I would re-seat the CPU and pull out anything not needed to boot. ie. pci cards, anything connected to USB, any external drives, leave in one mem dimm in first slot. Also leave case off in case it is overheating although i doubt that's the case since it seems to die at the exact same spot during boot. It's likely a bad mobo, at least you have a backup.
• I Wear Pants

  It's one that I built. And I did reseat the CPU and put new thermal compound on it as well as removed and re-connected all cards and such.
  
  If it's overheating it certainly isn't because of the case. The airflow in there is ridiculous (Top fan, two fans on the front bottom, side fan, rear 140mm fan). Plus none of the components are ones that traditionally run hot. I figured maybe after 5-6 years the thermal compound finally stopped working as effectively or something (did have stock thermal compound, replaced with Artic Silver 5).
  
  When this doesn't work and I'm assuming it won't though I won't try it tonight I'll know for certain that it's the mobo.
• I Wear Pants

  Ok, so that didn't work. It made it a little bit further in the Windows logo animation but still shut off just the same. So I guess it's the mobo then. I'll do some stress tests tomorrow just to make sure it isn't the processor.
  
  Hate this shit.