Pc Won't Start Up - Gets To Different Stages & Then Freezes Or Restarts

stephenc

stephenc

Geek Trainee
I have an oldist PC running XP Pro x64 which up to now has been running really well, particularly since I installed a 1TB sata hard drive a year ago.

Yesterday it began freezing and today it will not fully start, even in safe mode. It goes through the beeps at startup and then gets to different stages before either freezing or rebooting itself. The furthest I can now get is to the logon screen but often it does not make it to that stage.

Other points are -
1 I've tried to remove one of the two ram sticks in case one was faulty in turn but no improvement.
2 I've checked the CPU temp in the BIOS which says around 50C.
3 It won't even start in safe mode.
4 I've vacuumed out the motherboard & heatsink, power supply etc.

Not sure where to go from here as none of these have made any differences?
 
stephenc said:
I have an oldist PC running XP Pro x64 which up to now has been running really well, particularly since I installed a 1TB sata hard drive a year ago.

Yesterday it began freezing and today it will not fully start, even in safe mode. It goes through the beeps at startup and then gets to different stages before either freezing or rebooting itself. The furthest I can now get is to the logon screen but often it does not make it to that stage.

Other points are -
1 I've tried to remove one of the two ram sticks in case one was faulty in turn but no improvement.
2 I've checked the CPU temp in the BIOS which says around 50C.
3 It won't even start in safe mode.
4 I've vacuumed out the motherboard & heatsink, power supply etc.

Not sure where to go from here as none of these have made any differences?
Click to expand...

Sure way to cause ESD problems.

List computer parts here and check if motherboard has leaky capacitors like that http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/leaking-dell-capacitors.jpg
 
I have no idea what ESD problems are?

Yes, the capacitors are bulging and look like they are blown :-(
 
I'm guessing it is only the motherboard. It's a P5VDC-X made by Asus and unfortunately they don't seem to be available, even on Ebay.

Is it likely if I were to find one somewhere it might work again or is there likely to be other further damage?
 
Almost any LGA775 motherboard can replace that. Just check taht CPU is supported. However some newer LGA775 boards don't support Pentium 4 class processors.
 
Agreed. The Via PT880 wasn't exactly a popular chipset, so you may want to steer towards something based off the P965 chipset if nothing else as those would be easier to find and Intel chipsets are generally solid.
Awhile back, there was a known issue with cheap, off-brad capacitors that hit a lot of companies until there was a switch to higher-quality ones. However, it was only known after motherboards started popping up with leaking or bulging capacitors, which start causing hair-pulling issues like you've experienced.
If memory serves, the capacitor issues didn't affect other components. However, after the motherboard swap, if you still experience similar issues, I would start off looking at the power supply. But, first things first: the motherboard must be replaced.
 
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