No boot, no beep pleace help

[Cobra26]

Hello all,

First my specs:

Intel core i7 920 (do)
Evga x58 sli le motherboard
Evga gtx 260 sc
Mushkin 6gb ram (3 x 2gb wich run at default no oc)
Intel postville ssd 80gb
WD Black hdd 500gb
Corsair HX650W psu

After 9 months or so, all of a sudden my pc wont boot and there is no beep sound. And yes there is sound i can tell because it worked flawlessly everytime i start the pc you will hear a beep. And then i can start using my pc. I didnt overclock my pc. And didnt used my pc for heavy tasks, just for the occasional gaming, internet, movies.

But that changed yesterday when i pressed the power button. No beep and no signal on the screen. So i restart the pc then i get a message

"Warning! CPU has been changed. Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!"

I never tempered with the cpu setting once i return to default settings i can boot and use my pc normally, checked my temps wich is fine. I even reinstalled windows vista 64bit. But after a while when i power up my pc the same thing hapens no beep no image on screen until i restart then the message about the cpu then i change to default f10 to save en quit. But the problem still remains. After i shutt down the pc and after some time press power again (2 to 3 hours)

Could it be the cpu? psu? ram? motherboard? I do not have a spare psu nor a friend who has a x58 system or a sufficient psu.

What should i do? clear cmos battery? Flash the bios?

spend 2400 euro on the pc including watercooling parts for cpu and gpu.

Any help would be very gratefull

 

[Optix]

The first troubleshooting step with any problems booting up should be to clear the CMOS to reset everything back to factory defaults.

If that doesn't work it's not a bad idea to reseat all of your components (memory, video card, power connections, etc). While they may not be the issue it cannot hurt and is the next easiest troubleshooting step since I like to start with the easiest and work my up the ladder.

The fact that you are getting a message about the CPU is a good indication of what is wrong. Either your BIOS is acting flakey or you may be a victim of "chip creep". When you heat up and cool down components they expand and contract. Over time your processor could have slightly moved so if you have the time and replacement thermal interface material you may want to remove your block and reseat your processor.

I always consider updating the BIOS to be a last resort simply due to the fact that it can get messed up if there is an interruption but it is certainly an option.

Good luck!

 

[Cobra26]

Thanks for the reply,

"chip creep", those where my toughts also.
I have to say its winter now and when i dont use my stove/heater (gas) to warm up my room its cold...So i start using my heater/stove. But are they not suppose to work in cold temps arround 15 - 18c?

When i finally can use my pc i can still play games like crysis so the gpu still works fine.
Whats the best way to to clear the CMOS? Altough i have a general knowledge of pc's but i never did a cmos clear i assume taking out the battery? If so whats the way to do it?

edit: good thing my motherboard has a clear cmos BUTTON so i need to press that for 5 sec after i switched of the pc and removed the power cord of the psu right?

 

[TheCrimsonStar]

Yes to clear the CMOS you just remove the battery, or since you said you have a CMOS clear button on your motherboard, you can just use that instead.

 

[Doomsday]

r u getting the FF code on the motherboard?!?

 

[Cobra26]

I did not see any FF code i suppose you can see that on the motherboard itself (little screen also for cpu temp) while booting?

Ok this is what i did to resolve the problem (wich it did not buy the way)

I found it odd i had to boot from my 500gb harddrive whenever i switched off the power cord. My OS is not on my 500gb harddrive but is installed on my 80gb ssd.

Anyway i shutt of the pc made sure the off button of my psu was pressed. I then disconnect the power cord. And then pressed the power button for my pc to make sure all deposit current was gone. I then disconnected the sata and power cable of my 500gb hard drive. So i made sure the boot sector was in my ssd 80gb.

Cleared the cmos with the onboard button MB. And connected the power cable and fired my pc up. Got a message "bios returned to default setting bla bla" (so the cmos clear worked). Saved the default setting, boot priority to dvd rom. Installed Vista when finished, i used the original driver cd provided with the motherboard. And installed chipset drivers, LAN drivers, Audio drivers.

Installed latest video card driver, winrar, firefox, windows messanger. All went well i then shutt of the pc disconnected my power cable etc etc. And re-connected my 500gb harddrive. And i booted again with no problems. The next day.....

It booted right up no problem came into vista no problem...until after 10min i got a message...our dear friend Blue screen paid a visit and vista shuts itself down in order to prevent further damage. I couldnt see the error code of the blue screen it disapperead after 2 or 3 sec.

Rebooted again and i tought screw it shutt it off again i had to go to work.
I have to say the last 2 weeks i used a program called Everest Ultimate edition and my Avast virus scanner found a virus in it "ROOTkit" something....I do not know if the programm changed my bios settings i did used it for 2 weeks without problems.

How can i see what the cause was of the blue screen in vista is there a way?

Or is this a hardware problem? If so all i know is start at the basics use only 1 ram module then 2 then 3 (3 x 2gb). How can i make sure its not the motherboard?

Sorry for the long post i'm at a loss here. Really all that work infain made sure i bought quality components pfff i heard intel is more stable then amd quess what my amd 3800+ is still going strong after 6+ years (knocking on wood) and not once a major issue.

Any advise/help for further steps is very much appreciated thanks.

 

[Optix]

When I mentioned chip creep it was because as soon as you turn on your system it starts to make heat, which causes your components to expand and shift every so slightly. When you shut it down they contract and shift again. Over time this could cause one of them to not be seated correctly. This is independent of the room temperature and yes, CPU's will work in 15-18 degree weather. People use liquid nitrogen to do some crazy overclocking so you can guess how cold that would be.

Sounds dicey dude. I won't say that a virus didn't change your BIOS settings but it has never happened to me although I've only ever been infected once when my wife grabbed a file from an infected MSN contact.

Like you said, start at the basics - cleared CMOS, reseat EVERYTHING including power connections, install only one stick of memory, only your boot drive, no optical drive(s) so just the bare minimum. It sounds to me like you may have resolved one problem and found another.

 

[Cobra26]

Thanks for the reply Optix,

Exactly found a new problem could this be a hard drive problem (500gb). When i booted without the 500gb drive (disconnected) i had no issues. I played crysis for about 30min without issues, i browsed a bit and after 2 hours turned off the pc.

Installed my 500gb drive again booted without problems for 45 min shutt of again. The next day (today) i got the blue screen after 10min. Could this be a hardrive error? I found it odd sometimes (3 times in 9 months) i had to boot from my 500gb drive instead of my 80gb ssd where my OS is installed on. Il do all the basic check ups and remove the 500gb drive see how that works...

 

[TheCrimsonStar]

That would lead anyone to believe there's either a virus on your 500GB hdd, or it's just failing. My dad's PC quite a few years back got infected with the Blaster Worm virus, which caused his computer to go into a neverending reboot cycle. that wasn't fun.

 

[Optix]

My advice to you - run several virus scans on the 500GB drive. Ideally you'd want to completely reformat the drive but I'm sure there are files on there that you want to save so that may not be an option. If the scans come up clean you can then look at this as being a hardware issue of some kind. There are hard drive diagnostic utilities out there but I have yet to have a drive that is either 100% working or 100% dead so I can't say which are the best to use. Maybe another member can recommend one.

 

[Cobra26]

Thanks for the reply's.

This is what i'm going to to first in order to see if the 500gb harddrive is the culprit.
Reformat the harddrive as mentioned above not by windows vista itself, but when i install a clean vista choose option format and partition options.

If that doesnt help il remove the 500gb harddrive and only use the 80gb ssd for the time being. And if i still get errors then its stress time figuring out what the problem could be...cpu...MB...ram...psu...RMA.

 

[Optix]

*fingers crosses*

RMA's are always such a pain in the butt. The wait to get your gear back is murder!

 

[Cobra26]

Thanks for all the help and reply's.

So far i had no problems as of yet, it boots just fine with the trusted one sort beep.
I've formatted the 500gb drive inside the windows installation. Before that i saw a little file on my 500gb hard drive with BOOT. something. Perhaps this was the culprit? Because i had an issue 3 times in 9 months time that i had to boot from the 500gb hard drive while my OS is installed on my 80gb ssd.

But does this explain why i had a blue screen all of a sudden due to the harddrive?
If i have an error again il only use the 80gb ssd (the 500gb will be removed completly.)

I really hope the issue is solved...