For the computer guys, Tom

Post by **Francious70** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:15 pm

Ok, I'm stumped on this one. So basically, I just opened my case for may quarterly vacuuming and when I powered it back up, it started emitting a loud high pitched squeal. I toke the cover off again and checked it out and everything powers up for a few seconds and then the squeal starts. Do I have a dead power supply?

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:28 pm

Sounds like your board enounceator is screaming at you I'm Fxxxed...

Try reseating all your cards and memory sticks

Post by **stipud** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:36 pm

First of all... vaccums create static charges which fry computers. Use compressed air instead.

I don't really know how to diagnose your problem without seeing it or hearing it. Check all of your fans that nothing has gotten in them. Does it still boot, or just turn on and squeal?

Post by **Francious70** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:07 pm

It turns on, hard drives start spinning, then everything stops and the squealing starts. The weird thing is, even after I pull the power cable, the squeal continues for a second.

And thanks for the heads up on the vacuum.

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:10 pm

Dead motherboard is my guess. I fried one once by accident. Sucked, but thats life. My power supply bit the dust the other day too...nothing would power up period. But it was because I have the box stuffed in the new desk with no ventilation and its a fanless PSU...not a good combo, and thats what I get for procrastinating drilling ventilation holes.

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:16 pm

Use the process of elimination. This is where being a computer part hoarding fuck-o helps out a lot.

If you can try a different PSU, test it with that one. If it works, it's likely a shot PSU. If it still doesn't work, it's not the PSU.

Move on.

Pull out all important peripherals and cards, even pull out the video card for now if it's not onboard.

Pull out all but one stick of RAM.

Boot, is it still fucked? No. Swap RAM, one at a time. If they all boot fine, try them together again. Still fucked?

Ok... you have another CPU that fits in that socket, right?

Ok... well if you did, you'd try swapping that now, etc.

Finally, it's gotta be something wrong with the motherboard if nothing has helped. If pulling out the cards helped, install them back one by one, each by itself and see if you can find the offender.

But from experience, there are a few more likely outcomes than others in your situation:

1) You shorted something out by opening it up and maybe shaking something loose or whatever, it's not hard to do if you're moving the case. I've done this countless times. Usually in the form of something metal between the motherboard and the case, often caused by moving shit around or doing sloppy installs (misplacing mounting standoffs).

2) Something giggled loose during the clean up. Maybe a card needs to be reseated in its slot? Maybe you even shook loose the CPU a bit or something. Check and re-check ALL connections.

Well, something like that anyways...

Post by **Francious70** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:36 am

Well... I guess throwing out all those extra parts the other day was a bad idea.

Thank's Ryan, I'll start checking things when I get home tonight.

Mastiff · Post by **Mastiff** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:42 am

go to a big box buy a new one call it a day

Post by **Francious70** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:13 am

Hahaha, buy a compy. That's funny. I haven't bought an assembled computer since 95.

Post by **Francious70** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:40 pm

Well, it seems that when I took the heatsink off the CPU to clean it, I didn't get a good connection with it so my CPU was heating up real quick.

It also seems as if I have fixed the internet connection issues with it.... for now.

Post by **Francious70** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 6:20 pm

So now it's down again. Windows kept crashing, I accidentally formatted a drive, & my processor is still running hot ~150*F at idle. So I say fuck it, and try to reinstall windows. I get to where you format your main drive and everything works fine. Then, another stop error. After that, it will load all the drivers and whatnot when installing windows, but as soon as you get to where you have to hit some buttons, another stop error. All different from the last.

I read that this may be a problem with your CPU over heating.

So I bought a new fan and heatsink, this badboy

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... =C283-1034

So I had to take the mobo out to install it.

So I install it, hook everything back up, turn it on. Everything's working, then I get the loud long beep of death, about three seconds after powering it on.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a RAM problem, right?

And after that, what about all the damn stop errors, is my main HDD corrupted?

Post by **Francious70** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:10 pm

So... any ideas?? If not i'm buying a new stick of RAM

Post by **stipud** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:17 pm

That could be anything. Ram, motherboard, loose CPU. Hell i've even had a failing power supply cause a beep on the motherboard. This is when it helps to have a "parts bin" that you can randomly pull from to see if you can solve what is broken.

Ram would be a good start though...

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:06 pm

Check your motherboard beep codes.

Look up the model on the manufacturer site for the manual or search google for the model and "beep codes".

I'm not sure if the one long loud beep is "standardized" or not so it's best to just look it up in your manual.

Might prevent buying unneeded parts.

Post by **Francious70** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:10 pm

Word up, start with the oldest part. Which would be the RAM and hard drive.

Unfortunately, all my spare parts went together to build another computer which I gave away.

Any idea on how to get Windows XP to install on a SATA drive?

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:15 pm

Francious70 wrote:
Any idea on how to get Windows XP to install on a SATA drive?

Most often, the SATA drivers have to be installed before the windows installation starts. you know where it asks you if you need to install any third party RAID drivers? Thats where you would have to do it. So you would need a floppy or possibly a CD to load them. The way I have done it, is use a program called nLite to create a bootable XP disc with those drivers preinstalled so its seamless.

I just did a clean install of XP on my SATA drive last night with no hiccups.

Post by **Francious70** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:44 am

That's what I figured, just wanted to make sure.