Anger...rising...

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One thing that angers me is knowing my computer has problems and I don't know how to fix them.

Brand new computer. Never been used. Power Supply upgraded from a 350 to a 400. Extra 80GB drive added for a total of 280GB storage space. Everything else is as it was right out of the box. The computer should be having much better performance!

WRONG!!!

Whenever the screen-saver is on for too long, the computer freezes. Ok fine...I'll turn off the screen saver. Little did I know that it wasn't really the screen saver. Just warnings about whats to come....

Last night, I was just on the internet. had AIM open too. Nothing else. And all of a sudden everything is frozen. At first I thought it was the internet, but soon my mouse and keyboard froze. And then finally...a big blue screen popped up saying I had some kind of error.

It said if it was the first time I had the error, I should just restart. Otherwise I should call someone.

Seeing as it was the first time, I just restarted.

After restarting, it goes to the brand-name screen and then goes to a big black screen that says something like:

"There might be a hardware/software installation problem" or something like that. It then gave me some options.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode (w/ option)
Safe Mode (w/ another option)
Use settings you had before the crash (or something like that)
Start Windows Normally

I tried them all and each time the same thing happened. It restarted itself.

In safe mode, once I selected it, a wall of directories list as if it were loading safe mode. It then just stops and the computer restarts itself, going to the same screen.

Everything else, it gets to the Windows XP screen with the travelling green bar thing, and once its finished, it freezes and restarts too.

No matter what I did, the computer kept restarting on its own. I couldn't get to my desktop anymore.

Ok...so perhaps a plug or something got loose. I grab my screwdriver and open the panel and look inside.

Nothing. Everything was left the way I had it when my stepfather and I put the new power supply and drive in.

The computer ran great for the most part for the past 4 days. Why its having this problem, I dunno. And quite frankly, for it being a new computer, I'm pissed as hell. I paid for everything. Its my hard earned money. I do not wanna find out its busted and that nothing can be done anyway because I ruined its warranty because I had opened it and upgraded it.

So...anyone have any suggestions?

by the way...just so I don't get asked later...

1) I'm at my work computer right now. Thats how I'm even on the internet.

2) My basic specs are...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Radeon X200
2.2Ghz
512MB RAM
280GB (2 drives. came with a 200. I added an 80)
 
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Maybe your hard drive is bad. My friend has a similar problem, but not nearly as crippling.

/me braces self for lashing from the real techies.
 
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Pain said:
Maybe your hard drive is bad. My friend has a similar problem, but not nearly as crippling.

/me braces self for lashing from the real techies.
No my hard drive is fine.....well it better be....

I looked around and it seems there are so many possibilities. it could be XP itself...it could be the RAM...it could be the processor...it could be the power supply....too many options >.<
 
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if it were the processor, i doubt it would even get that far. processors are more of a "im either gonna or not gonna work" kinda job.

in all seriousness, this seems like a software problem, its crashing when its trying to boot into windows. most hardware problems would be evident during the boot process (in my experience, im sure kurt or cucumba can tell you more though).
 
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Make sure you're not overheating. If the computer gets too hot, it usually reboots/shuts down without warning.

If it's any kind of software problem, a reformat should take care of it. If you don't have any files you need to backup on it, then there shouldn't be anything holding you back from that, unless the company you got it from (like most OEMs <_<) didn't give you a Windows XP CD. The computer's brand new, though? It should be under some kind of warranty, since there's a possibility it could be faulty hardware. If you could atleast boot up into Safe Mode, you'd be able to narrow it down. =/

If for some reason you can't get parts replaced, you could try using the tools on the Ultimate Boot CD. I haven't had to use it yet myself (fortunately), but I've heard really good things about it. It's a collection of diagnostic tools for testing your HDD, memory, and CPU, as well as a bunch of boot loaders, and many other useful tools.
 
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DragonDude said:
Make sure you're not overheating. If the computer gets too hot, it usually reboots/shuts down without warning.

If it's any kind of software problem, a reformat should take care of it. If you don't have any files you need to backup on it, then there shouldn't be anything holding you back from that, unless the company you got it from (like most OEMs <_<) didn't give you a Windows XP CD. The computer's brand new, though? It should be under some kind of warranty, since there's a possibility it could be faulty hardware. If you could atleast boot up into Safe Mode, you'd be able to narrow it down. =/

If for some reason you can't get parts replaced, you could try using the tools on the Ultimate Boot CD. I haven't had to use it yet myself (fortunately), but I've heard really good things about it. It's a collection of diagnostic tools for testing your HDD, memory, and CPU, as well as a bunch of boot loaders, and many other useful tools.
...they DIDN'T give me an XP Home Edition CD...and the only one I have is Professional edition...
 
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What kind of mainbaord are you using ?. Some mainboard companies like asus put overheat protection technology on the boards they make. Tried tinkering with the bios and seeing what happens with that ?.

I myself are suffering hdd problems , my samsung 160 sata is probably gonna give in soon enough (it makes alot of noise while booting , got my 2400+ clocked at 2.3ghz , but i don't really think overclocking will have anything to do with this , unless the hdd it'self isn't getting enough juice under these clock settings).
 
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Here's full specs i got off the website.

Processor
AMD Athlon™ 64 processor 3200+

OS
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

System Board
MS-7145

System Memory
512MB DDR400 SDRAM 184-pin DIMM

Hard Drive
200GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA (added another 80GB)

DVD ±R/±RW Drive
16x Dual Layer DVD±R/±RW Drive

Video
Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200

Sound
Integrated 6 Channel AC'97 Audio CODEC

Modem
56K PCI Modem MDP 7800

LAN
Realtek Integrated 10/100 Ethernet RTL8100C Controller

Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard

Mouse
2-Button PS/2 Scroll Mouse

Warranty
1 Year Carry-In Warranty

Firewire
Via VT6307L IEEE 1394 Firewire Controller

Memory Card Reader
7-in-1 Media Card Reader
 
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Logan289 said:
One thing that angers me is knowing my computer has problems and I don't know how to fix them.

Brand new computer. Never been used. Power Supply upgraded from a 350 to a 400. Extra 80GB drive added for a total of 280GB storage space. Everything else is as it was right out of the box. The computer should be having much better performance!

WRONG!!!

Whenever the screen-saver is on for too long, the computer freezes. Ok fine...I'll turn off the screen saver. Little did I know that it wasn't really the screen saver. Just warnings about whats to come....

Last night, I was just on the internet. had AIM open too. Nothing else. And all of a sudden everything is frozen. At first I thought it was the internet, but soon my mouse and keyboard froze. And then finally...a big blue screen popped up saying I had some kind of error.

It said if it was the first time I had the error, I should just restart. Otherwise I should call someone.

Seeing as it was the first time, I just restarted.

After restarting, it goes to the brand-name screen and then goes to a big black screen that says something like:

"There might be a hardware/software installation problem" or something like that. It then gave me some options.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode (w/ option)
Safe Mode (w/ another option)
Use settings you had before the crash (or something like that)
Start Windows Normally

I tried them all and each time the same thing happened. It restarted itself.

In safe mode, once I selected it, a wall of directories list as if it were loading safe mode. It then just stops and the computer restarts itself, going to the same screen.

Everything else, it gets to the Windows XP screen with the travelling green bar thing, and once its finished, it freezes and restarts too.

No matter what I did, the computer kept restarting on its own. I couldn't get to my desktop anymore.

Ok...so perhaps a plug or something got loose. I grab my screwdriver and open the panel and look inside.

Nothing. Everything was left the way I had it when my stepfather and I put the new power supply and drive in.

The computer ran great for the most part for the past 4 days. Why its having this problem, I dunno. And quite frankly, for it being a new computer, I'm pissed as hell. I paid for everything. Its my hard earned money. I do not wanna find out its busted and that nothing can be done anyway because I ruined its warranty because I had opened it and upgraded it.

So...anyone have any suggestions?

by the way...just so I don't get asked later...

1) I'm at my work computer right now. Thats how I'm even on the internet.

2) My basic specs are...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Radeon X200
2.2Ghz
512MB RAM
280GB (2 drives. came with a 200. I added an 80)

Omg good job now you can go SUPER SAIYAN!

Have you tried Formatting? Is it spyware? I've noticed some problems with AIM sometimes, but it could've just been me :X
 
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Have you tried a system reinstall of windows (even though it seems like this may not be related , always worth a shot and see what happens when it does that). I remember this problem , I only had it myself back in the days of my old 233mmx for a computer. What happened is it just got alot of dam crap on it and windows just generally had it's errors here and there. But give reinstallnig a shot , or have you got to much precious data on that hdd ? (If so just put an os on the other one and then copy what you want from the screwed drive).
 
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Saiyan_Overlord said:
Have you tried a system reinstall of windows (even though it seems like this may not be related , always worth a shot and see what happens when it does that). I remember this problem , I only had it myself back in the days of my old 233mmx for a computer. What happened is it just got alot of dam crap on it and windows just generally had it's errors here and there. But give reinstallnig a shot , or have you got to much precious data on that hdd ? (If so just put an os on the other one and then copy what you want from the screwed drive).
I've done the master/slave thing enough to do it again. I still have my old computer too. I'll just send the important stuff over again.

However, I already read that using a Professional wont help a Home. The XP you try and boot up and fix needs to be the same kind.



To Dream - what are you talking about? You better not be making fun of me with that Super Saiyan comment >.<
 
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I remember my PC randomly doing that a while back. I think it's happened to me twice now, where it gets to the green bar loading bit, then reboots. Starting normally, or in safe mode wouldn't work. Oddly though, I tried using the System Restore option that I had, and then after that windows loaded fine despite the fact that it told me that system restore was unsuccessful and no changes had been made.
 
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-JLN- said:
I remember my PC randomly doing that a while back. I think it's happened to me twice now, where it gets to the green bar loading bit, then reboots. Starting normally, or in safe mode wouldn't work. Oddly though, I tried using the System Restore option that I had, and then after that windows loaded fine despite the fact that it told me that system restore was unsuccessful and no changes had been made.
yes. I'd try that, but I'm almost 100% positive my XP is Professional and not Home.
 
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What brand power source did you get?

It may be sending a power bad signal to the motherboard, which will cause instant hangs, random reboots, and sometimes even odd behavior as voltage fluctuates. Someimtes PSUs are bad straight from the factory, and have too much signal noise to be reliable.

I suggest you do the following:

1) revert back to the old setup, one step at a time. IE, remove the drive, then try the 350 watt with both drives in. Finally, go back to what you had it at. Evaluate the performance at all hardware changes. If you identify a bad component in this mannor, replace that component.

2) Move your IDE channels around, try slaving one optical drive each to each HDD (if you have multiple Opticals). This may require you to move drives around in the case. Sometimes the integrated drive electronics of one brand, do not neccesarily like the IDE of another, so having HDD conflicts is not an uncommon problem. You may want to try disabling Ultra DMA on the new drive, and see if that's a problem.

3) Check your mainboard manufacturer's web site for new IDE drivers.
 
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my brothers pc did the same thing,

i dunno if the cause is the same but it did crash at the same place nonetheless, he used the system restore disks that came with the machine and it booted right up when it was all over.

usually machines that bootup to a "brand name screen" are the cheaper ones correct? emachines maybe? those are accident prone >_>
 
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nuttzy said:
my brothers pc did the same thing,

i dunno if the cause is the same but it did crash at the same place nonetheless, he used the system restore disks that came with the machine and it booted right up when it was all over.

usually machines that bootup to a "brand name screen" are the cheaper ones correct? emachines maybe? those are accident prone >_>
Powerspec!
 
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no. Because it turns out it was just a faulty motherboard. So I had my computer replaced with a new one since it was still under warrenty.

Everythings A-OK!
 

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