Dead-Lights out

Lurno

Baseband Member
Messages
25
One day, the power went out... Thrice. Our (family) PC hangs on Windows XP's loading bar. At one point, the old 10 year PSU made strange noises. It's fan sped up. It stopped after the third attempt to boot. I figured that the HDD and the PSU were both defective, but the PSU still worked. I can boot into safe mode, but it's too slow to work with. Could RAM be part of the problem here? I tried using an Ubuntu disk, but it hung before getting to the Ubuntu logo. I then tried it with a USB stick but it hung immediately on the menu, not even a chance to select any option. It doesn't boot into the OS after 5 seconds. Attempting recovery with a Windows XP disk is probably out of the question, since SP3 is installed and the disk contains SP1... Should I try this anyways?
Some quick specs if necessary:
Athlon II x2 260
Patriot DDR3 4gb @1066Mhz
8400gs
BIOSTAR A770E3
 
Can you boot into safe mode with networking? If so, I'd try to get the latest updates and update your existing drivers. Your could also download Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) and test your HDD to see if it is defective. BTW, the PSU provides power to your computer, and the fan that span higher is the CPU fan most likely.
 
The problem turned out to be the RAM but an IDE to SATA adapter that I used seems to have been affected as well. Can anyone recommend a good adapter that will last years of constant use that won't cost me as much as a new DVD burner? I have several IDE burners that I just can't afford to throw away. Sorry if I had to start a new thread for this, I just felt that it would be a waste to do so.
 
Well, with power outages, some stuff can get affected. Normally, any SATA to IDE converter will work fine, but get something a little more pricey (not too much), but I'd invest more in a surge protector.
 
Yeah! That's right the first thing that might be causing is your memory card (RAM). Try to remove it and place it in another memory slot on the motherboard. May be it's work for you.
 
If you're using the IDE connector on the motherboard for the hard drive but you only have 1 hard drive you can put the optical drive on the same ribbon cable, just set the hard drive as Master and the optical drive as Slave. BTW, DVD burners don't cost much anymore. There's one on Newegg for $19 with free shipping and it's a SATA drive. A generic converter is going to cost about half that.
 
Sorry for the late reply. I was mad because the power supply ended up catching smoke anyways. Nothing else was damaged, thankfully. One thing, though. I can't get this motherboard to recognize any ide devices unless I only use the HDD (set as primary). I set it up according to this picture:http://http://dgbytes.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/ide7.gif?w=450 On a side note, I have to leave the HDD hanging with only one screw to be able to connect everything. The cable is short.
EDIT: My mistake, when I said that the RAM was the problem, I meant to say that it was the RAM slot. No warranty possible since I bought it off ebay (International shipping for sites like newegg is just to much!) from upgrade.expert, who claimed to offer one year warranty but refused to honor it (didn't respond). Atleast it still works.
 
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