Gaming BIOS Freeze

[nonnonnon]

Hi (-: My computer makes one beep, and then freeze while showing the manufactor screen at boot up. Before it started acting like this, my Windows Vista partition (i dual boot Kubuntu linux and Vista) was really slow. On the 2, maybe 3 last startups of Vista before the freezing started it took forever to start and login. And, the last time i succesfully booted the computer, Windows update started and asked me to do a restart, did so and since i have not been able to get past the manufactor screen )-:

i have not done a virus search in a long while, so maybe it is a virus? The linux partition functioned perfectly to the very last. The last time i logged into windows, the bios screen was, for a brief time , messed up graphicaly, and the screen went purple for a second when loading vista. Maybe a problem with my graphics card? I have done some ecstensive overclocking of my cpu, and some smaller on the gpu.

Specs: Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard, intel 2 core duo 1.8 ghz procesor OC to 3.1 ghz with bios. nvidia gts 450 zotac graphics card wich i overclocked with nvidia software the last time i booted succesfully. 3 gb of ram.

Can anyone help?

 

[Originality]

Not being able to get past the manufacturer logo implies one of two things: either a motherboard/BIOS problem, or (more likely) an IO/access error of one or more of the hard drives (I often see this in failing IDE drives).

Graphical errors can happen if the GPU spazzes out (rare but I've seen it happen) or if the monitor itself goes weird (I've never been able to explain it, but turning the monitor off and on fixes that).

In terms of fixing it, there are a number of things I could suggest. However, since you seem to have multiple (and possibly compounded) problems, you may want to take it to a specialist and have them look over your system.

 

[FAST6191]

Random freezing is a pain to diagnose but I will help you give it a go.

I have a very similar motherboard (p5n32-e SLI) and it has issues to say the least in the long term (do a quick search of some of the computer forums)- mine had the northbridge come a bit loose (possibly messed up BGA) until I stuck some split ring washers on there (similar to some of the RRoD fixes for the 360) where it has worked since but that might not be your issue (do remember to insulate them if you are going to do this).

First do a check for any burst/leaky capacitors, ideally you would have an ESR meter but those are rare and expensive (I do not rock one and I am supposed to be an electrical repairs type) so visual checks for now,- something like http://www.lcd-repair-review.com/wp-conten...apacitor-12.jpg although it might be slightly less pronounced.

I have the manual here but I can not find beep codes and 1 long on an award bios I am not sure about.

After this the usual drop the clocks (1.8 to 3.1 is not that big but raises flags playing this diagnosis bit) on card and CPU. Even if the heat is OK the CPU (or surrounding stuff) can fail to hack it. I assume this is not ram issue (edit for clarity- for the sake of diagnostics make sure it is running in unlinked mode if leaving it overclocked) and do a ram scan (most linux liveCDs and the likes of hirens or ultimate boot CD will have them- linux is a big lighter in ram so it might be you just managed to dodge the bad stick/sectors and you can also do a boot sector scan I guess).

Consider updating the BIOS if you have not already (or if you have then consider going to others- downgrading should not be an issue).

 

[Originality]

One short beep has always meant POST cleared (all is well kind of thing).

Out of curiosity, why do you advise having the RAM in unlinked mode when over clocking? edit: answered.

 

[FAST6191]

Wow I had not meant to type it to mean that... I was thinking more as a diagnostics thing although you can also OC ram in unlinked mode (not that the disparity between clocks probably does you much good).

 

[nonnonnon]

I cant really find any indication of my motherboard not working. I suspect the harddrive )-: i am not sure offcourse. I will try to mount a secondary hardrive and try. Updating soon.... (-;

EDIT: i actually dont have another hardrive i can try

but i tried to take the hardrive away from the pc (take out all the cables) and when i tried to boot up then (without a hardrive) the computer did exactly the same. Any ideas?

thanks for your help (-;

 

[Originality]

Since it didn't switch to a screen saying "Boot device error" or something like that, it's not the HDD. That brings us back to the motherboard (and possibly RAM). Try updating BIOS and taking out all but one stick of RAM.

 

[nonnonnon]

Thank you (-: I am trying to remove and replace the ram now but how can i update the bios when i cant acsess it? The computer freezes while showing the manifactor screen . The same thing happens when i unplugg the hdd.

 

[Originality]

Some BIOSs can be updated simply by having a floppy disk in with the image on it and holding a certain key when booting up. Refer to your motherboard manual for more details.

 

[nonnonnon]

I figured out that it is not the RAM that was malfunctioning. Probably the bios. Thank you so much :-) I will try it when I get home.

 

[nonnonnon]

I dont have a floppy drive that works :-( Are there any other way of updating the bios? i cant access the bios menu either :-( everything just freeze, and i am left staring at the asus logo :-/

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

I know it sounds silly but as it haven't been suggested here yet did you try removing your bios battery & booting without it?

 

[nonnonnon]

I know it sounds silly but as it haven't been suggested here yet did you try removing your bios battery & booting without it?

I tried it and got the exact same result. Does that meen that the battery is the problem?

 

[FAST6191]

Removing the battery traditionally wipes all the settings in the BIOS/CMOS (some laptops, some anti theft mechanisms and some aspects of modern motherboards will have persistent storage) which also has a habit of fixing problems related to bad settings. You might have a jumper on the motherboard that also does settings resets.

As for other ways of flashing the BIOS sometimes you can have a hardware flashing method, often you can do it from the OS and sometimes a boot CD does the same thing but if you are not even making it to post now you are pretty much left with hardware flashing and a quick search of .no motherboard sites has comparable LGA775 motherboards running not that much different to what I imagine you can score a hardware flashing tool for (even then I am far from confident a bios update will do anything to fix this).

 

[nonnonnon]

I tried to boot without the CMOS battery, and after a while it actually started :-D I was able to successfully boot Linux, but when I tried the same with the battery inserted it didn't work

probably something wrong with the CMOS battery.

 

[raulpica]

On the motherboard there's probably a CMOS_Clear pin header. Try to short that one with a small screwdriver by letting the pins touch for a few seconds (remember to do this with the computer OFF but still plugged in.).

That will completely reset the BIOS. You might have some corrupted BIOS settings issue.

Also, buy a new CR2032 battery, they're cheap as heck, and sometimes you can solve some issues with it (some motherboards don't like low battery voltage).

 

[nonnonnon]

Sorry for the wait! I have solved my problem. It solved itself actually. After trying to reset, take in and out battery and so forth it just started working again

I think my CPU was almost fried, because i OC it to 3.2 GHZ, and the thermal pasta thing is almost gone. Everytime i OC and run some games it stops working, so i am going to buy a new cooler ;-) Thank you so much guys!

You are the best

 

[Scorpei]

Sorry for the wait! I have solved my problem. It solved itself actually. After trying to reset, take in and out battery and so forth it just started working again

I think my CPU was almost fried, because i OC it to 3.2 GHZ, and the thermal pasta thing is almost gone. Everytime i OC and run some games it stops working, so i am going to buy a new cooler ;-) Thank you so much guys!

You are the best

You realise it could also simply not be stable right?

Also (after reading the thread) why did you not disable "display full screen logo"? At least then you could have a clue where it was stopping..... Though an unstable overclock (I'm guessing using 'auto' settings) stops at near random points.

 

[nonnonnon]

I couldn't even access the bios for a whil, so disabling it would be difficult ;-) the p5n-e sli with intel 4300 should be able to have a stable OC at 3.2 ghz, as long as you upgrade your cooler. I did set all the parameters myself :-)

 

[Scorpei]

I couldn't even access the bios for a whil, so disabling it would be difficult ;-)
CMOS reset
QUOTEthe p5n-e sli with intel 4300 should be able to have a stable OC at 3.2 ghz, as long as you upgrade your cooler.

If you use liquid nitrogine cooling I can imagine such a statement to be true 99% of the time. In all other cases, no. My e4500 has a high max of 3GHz (on air cooling, using a 220V~ AS400 server fan with a scythe Mine rev. B, within any sane voltage and also relativly non sane voltages). Which it ran for about 2 years using the Mine Rev. B with it's original scythe fan. Only statement you can make like that is that the proc should be able to run it's stock clock, anything above that is simply luck of the draw (and the core series pretty much had awesome luck).