Packard Bell computer driving me crazy!!!! Help!

[Dave Headley]

I know this is OT for the DIYers but there's some brilliant computer gurus in there and I need all the help I can get as I'm losing my hair on this one.

Right, a friend rang me to say that there had been a burning smell from the computer (Packard Bell iMedia X2416 running Windows Vista). When I got it there were no signs of life whatsoever - no fans or drives spinning, no BIOS beeps, nothing. Previous experience led me to think the PSU had died but it tested OK with all voltages being within range. As a 'belt and braces' test I also put it into my own machine and it did indeed power up my computer and worked well. I also tried a known good PSU in his machine but still no life there at all.

Next I took his RAM, put it in my machine, and ran Memtest86+. I let it complete one pass and there were no errors, so I let it continue to run (actually left it running overnight with no errors) while I hooked his hard drive to another spare computer I have here. It booted OK but of course it didn't have my motherboard (or any other) drivers installed so it complained about that but it did spin up and boot, so that's OK.

So now it's either motherboard or processor and from what I know, processors very rarely give any trouble, so I plumped for a faulty motherboard. I found one available on Ebay, used but tested and with warranty (it's a MCP73PVT-PM by the way) so I got it.

I put it all together on the bench, powered up, and we now have signs of life - but it's now in a BSOD loop. It POSTs OK and it gives one BIOS beep as it normally would but then blue screens and reboots ad infinitum, with an odd different BSOD thrown in for good measure. I sent that mobo back under warranty and got another one, but this one also displays EXACTLY the same symptoms, leading me to believe that the first mobo I got from him wasn't actually faulty after all.

That would imply that it's the CPU at fault but I don't have a spare Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 lying around to test it with, and the cheapest I can find is 65 quid for a used one on Ebay (brand new ones are over 100) so I don't particularly want to go down that route.

Plus the fact that I've now got some diagnostic software (PC Check) and, as you'll see in these photos here, the motherboard and processor pass all tests

where do I go from here? Is the diagnostic software accurate or could there still be problems with mobo/CPU? What can I do now? Please help before I tear all my hair out :-)

Cheers

[Lee]

First thing I would try is a LiveCD linux distro, doesn't really matter which one (I like Ubuntu for this), and see if that boots without error.

Had a couple of problems before with supposed quad core capable motherboards that actually weren't... Does this motherboard have the exact bios and hardware revision of the faulty one? ie does it properly support that CPU? Do you have the bios settings set correctly?

Is the PSU up to the job? I know you said it is, but what is the rating of the 12v rail and is it clean...

Lee

[John Rumm]

ok, do you get the boot loop without a hard drive connected? i.e. is it actually failing in the BIOS itself?

Or is it as I expect, that it fails very shortly after attempting to start windows?

Do you have a bootable CD you can test it with? A linux live CD, a copy of the ultimate boot CD, or Bart PE etc. If not, download and burn one on a working machine, and set the BIOS to allow booting from CD and give it a go. If any of those work, then chances are the processor is fine.

two do look like windows kernel panics (i.e. BSODs)

If you can boot ok from a CD, then I expect you have a basic hardware incompatibility (possibly even a HAL incompatibility) between the windows image on the hard drive, and the new motherboard. You can usually fix this by booting from the windows CD and doing an inplace repair install. This should leave all data and programs intact, but re-detect and install all the lower level drivers that can prevent a system from booting.

IME, sometimes you can pull a fast one a swap a mobo under windows, and it does not complain, just notices stuff is new, and detects and reinstalls the right drivers. Other times it does what you are seeing at some stage in the boot process ranging from almost immediately, half way in...

[djc]

If it's Windows it may be refusing to boot on what it considers a new machine. Do you get as far as a blue screen with the system restore/reinstall from backup option. Try testing with a Linux live CD (eg Ubuntu) if that works then blame windows not the hardware.

[NT]

The problem is with windows, not with the hardware. As said, fire it up with a linux cd, should work perfectly. Note not all linux cds run on al machines, if one wont boot try a couple of others.

NT

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Dave Headley escribió:

There's plenty of on-topic groups with "brilliant computer gurus" out there if you could be arsed to find them, it's only like a couple of mouse clicks.

If it's a Bestec PSU, it's a well known fault. The -5v line goes way overvoltage and destroys the motherboard. Had you bothered to google, you would have discovered this for yourself before putting the PSU in your own computer.

Finally, there's no point whinging about BSODs without giving the STOP errors that accompany them. The number following the STOP is needed for any meaningful diagnosis.

[Brian Gaff]

Surely the one way to screw up the hard drive is to run it on another computer. I think the best test to do is shove in an installation disc for windows and see what happens.

Take all the data you can off the drive you trashed by booting it on another set of hardware and reformat and install. Brian

[Reentrant]

For XP, yes - done it loads of times. But I don't think that's available for Vista (or Win7); you have to do a clean OS install and then reinstall all applications. User Data is preserved in "windows.old".

[Mark]

Right. But this is a DIY ng and fixing a computer is DIY.

The error messages don't always help either.

[John Rumm]

Good point, did not spot the vista bit...

A repair install is still in theory possible, but under more restrictive conditions.

The conditions:

You must have a full install DVD and not a product recovery DVD, it must be the same or a later version than the product installed. So for example if your system has been patched to SP2 and your DVD predates that, then you have to burn yourself a slipstreamed SP2 DVD first.

Ideally you need to start the process from being already logged into an admin privileged account, rather than from booting from the DVD. So if you can't boot that far then this particular route is not much use!

Having said that, I would suggest doing a F8 boot (i.e. hitting F8 early in the boot sequence as the BIOS is coming to the end of its bit). To get to the Advanced Boot Options. See if there is a "Repair your Computer" option there. You should then be able to get as far as the system recovery options and choose startup repair.

There are some guides here that might help:

[NT]

experience. Its Ubuntu with its niggles fixed.

NT

[John Rumm]

> Linux is so much easier. Mint is easy for people with no linux

I think this is the computing equivalent of sucking air in through your teeth, and suggesting you should have bought a different car rather than fixing the broken one!

The live CDs are handy for checking the fault boundary between hardware and OS, and also possibly for data recovery from a non bootable drive (assuming you can mount the file system). However that is not the same as getting windows working again. You may well want to argue its "better", but if that then means you can't access the applications you need to do what you need to do, or work with your existing files, then that is doubtful.

[Dave Headley]

Hmm, well I've downloaded and burned an Ubuntu LiveCD then booted my own machine with it to see what I could expect. It worked well and I got to the Ubuntu desktop. However, when I tried it on the suspect machine it doesn't work - I get a screen with two symbols at the bottom then the screen goes black with a (system caret? cursor?) flashing in the top left corner and does nothing else. Photo can be seen here:

downloading a Knoppix image and will try with that given that you said that not all Linux CDs will run on all machines.

Thanks for your input mate.

[Dave Headley]

Tried an Ubuntu LiveCD first in my own machine and it worked well but it would not boot in the suspect machine. I get a screen with two icons at the bottom but nothing else except a flashing cursor in the top left corner, picture here (just click on the photos to zoom in)

Had a couple of problems before with supposed quad core capable

Yes, to all of the above.

[Dave Headley]

With no hard drive connected I just get a message onscreen saying to reboot and select proper boot device, ie, no BSOD boot loop.

That would appear to be the case.

Tried an Ubuntu LiveCD but it just shows two icons at the bottom of the screen then they disappear aand the screen goes black with a flashing cursor at top left then goes no further - photo here but see below

> Plus the fact that I've now got some diagnostic software (PC Check) and,

Sorry John, I never thought to mention it but if you click on the photos it zooms in - keep clicking and it'll zoom to 100% and is easily readable then starts to zoom out.

Yes, whenever I've fitted a new motherboard I've always just fired it up and done a repair install and everything has been fine but it doesn't seem to be working that way this time - maybe just a Packard Bell thing.

[Dave Headley]

AHA!! I didn't know that! Cheers

[Dave Headley]

There is indeed a "Repair your computer" option but selecting that just leads to a black screen for about 2 seconds then it reboots, sometimes blue-screening for a fraction of a second (enough to know it's a BSOD but not long enough to read it). Just spoken to my mate and he only has a recovery DVD anyway, not a full install DVD.

[Dave Headley]

No, it doesn't get that far.

Tried but it doesn't work. Just going to try a different Linux LiveCD because someone said that not all of them work with all machines.

[Dave Headley]

You're a right little ray of sunshine aren't you? Yes, plenty of computer newsgroups but most suffer from spammers or don't get the volume of traffic that this group does. I could have been waiting for days to get even one reply in those other groups - plus there's some VERY knowledgeable people here.

Yes, I'm well aware of the problems Bestec PSUs suffer from thank you very much, but this is not a Bestec PSU so why you're farting on about Bestec heaven only knows.

Had you been arsed to look at the link I posted you'd have seen four or five photos. Had you been arsed to click on each of the photos in turn you'd have zoomed in to such a degree that the STOP errors and associated numbers are easily readable and had you been arsed, you could have read them yourself.

1 - this is a DIY group and I am DIYing the computer repair. 2 - If you have nothing constructive or pleasant to say, say nothing at all. The subject line clearly stated "Packard Bell computer driving me crazy" so you did not need to look at it if you didn't want to.

[John Rumm]

You might be able to turn off the auto restart from the advanced boot options screen. That may give you a chance to read the error message.

After that you may have to resort to lower level file repairs etc under Bart PE.

It sounds like the best bet may be to do a fresh install onto a new hard drive, and then set about recovery of files from the old.