Something very weird is happening to my pc

[Thomas417]

Okay, my bro built this pc for me around Christmas of '03 and it's been working fine until now. I didn't upgrade my pc with anything since. Well, here's the problem, when I turn on my pc all i hear is the cpu fan and the case fan, my cd drive/hard drive doesn't sound like it's detected or something. Also, the monitor doesn't detect the pc when this happens (can't even get into BIOs). Every time that happens, I just restart the pc over and over again, and it will eventually work. And this has been happening recently in August.

Specs:
-2.8 ghz P4 w/ HT and 800 mghz FSB
-Intel desktop board D865PERL
-Sound Audigy 2 ZS
-Radeon 98 PRO
-Kingston HyperX Dual Channel 1GB
-120 GB Western Digital HD
-400W power supply

I have all the latest drivers downloaded and installed.

side note: it's an NTFS format system, not FAT

[Needalittleinfo]

Well, its not a driver/software issue. Its hardware related, It sounds like it the board. I had a comp that I had to try a couple times for it to actually boot. I swapped out the board and reinstalled xp and I never had a problem again. Thats one possiblity. Another could be your processer, your power could be going bad. Its hard to say. Might wanna check the monitor to see if it works, also check the video card. Sorry this is all I could help.

[Thomas417]

Umm, the monitor still works cause I'm using the same pc that's having the problem (had to restart pc many times) I seriously think it's the HD cause when my bro put his Western Digital 160 GB in, it detected it on the first try....

[Needalittleinfo]

It could be that, so its having a problem detecting the hd? Did you go into the bios and check it? Well, you prolley hafta wait for one of the techs to get on. I used to be one but that was a couple years ago, and I've already giving you my suggestion. I have know of comps acting funny before when hardware was going bad (i.e. not booting first try, freezing, automatically shutting down). So it could be a possablity. I would not bank on it totally being the hard drive though, don't sell yourself on it because it may not be the problem, but it more than likely is.

[Thomas417]

Thanks for the help, I'll have to wait 'til my bro has free time on his hands to fix my pc.

[RicheemxX]

One question you said your brother brought his HDD over and hooked it up and it worked fine, did it boot right up?? without issues. Was he using his IDE cable or yours? Could be that you have a bad ide cable.

To trouble shoot some of the issues, you can disconnect the hdd and cd-rom and see if it boots fine from there. If there are still issues then you'll need to do some more hands on type stuff.

First thing that came to my mind was the PS is going out. Remove the side of the case and check to see hgow dusty it is in there. Take out the power supply and dust is. Get some compressed air and shoot it in the ps case also clean out your case {this should be done at least once a year}

[roley]

Yeah, that is what I would check first...just make sure that the cable is securely attached...sometimes cables creep a bit and you just have to tighten them up.

Try it and post back here

Roley
Black Frog Tech

[roley]

Yeah, that is what I would check first...just make sure that the cable is securely attached...sometimes cables creep a bit and you just have to tighten them up.

Try it and post back here

Roley
Black Frog Tech

[Thomas417]

Well I tried everything listed above and tried to look for how to fix this. Nothing helped. I switched HD's with my bro and it still has the same problem, I don't know WHAT it is. Right now, it took like a million try's (actually around 20 try's) and it worked again. My brother said it could be the me having the Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne in the sony cd-rw drive, and Doom 3 in the DVD rom drive and so, I will try this experiment when I have an extra pc in my house. (at the moment my bro's also having problems reformatting his laptop and our other computer doesn't have a video card)