[vally]

I hva a problem with a Pc.
I have a computer that would boot "normally" it showed the wondows loading screen and then it would go black. The monitor was getting a signal but nothing happend. when u pressed the power to shut down only holding 5 seconds would turn off the computer. To boot again you needed to unplug the computer wait 30 sec. and then boot. If I went into safemode I had full control but when reset even after trying to use system recovery the same happend.
I tried to repair but it would ask for files but did not give me access to the cd.
I saved my data and formated the computer.
Fresh installation after not touching for 30 min (aproximitly I would go do something) it would do the same. but would restart OK.
I disabled system stand by and hibernation.
I installed office and acrobat reader and then it froze up again.
Any advice would b nice.

It is a P4 2.6 GHz
giga byte MB GA-8PIPE 1000 pro
one stick of 256MB ram(even the though the boad supports HT)
GForce MX440 graphics card

Win XP Pro corporate

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will the computer boot to safe mode? if so I'd say you need to uninstall and reinstall the driver for the video.

[shard92]

will the computer boot to safe mode? if so I'd say you need to uninstall and reinstall the driver for the video.

[vally]

Now after format it will boot normally I just cant leave and come back in an hour. (then it just goes off...)

I was playing around and discoverd that I disonnected the hard drive and the bios doesn't load. I get a black screen. The monitor is getting a signal but even the keyboard is not responding.

Reconnect the HDD and it will boot.

any ideas?

[Samm]

Hi there

A couple of suggestions -
Firstly, shard92 may be right about the video driver being the problem. I would check out Nvidia website for known issues with this card & also download the latest (or recommended) driver for it.

Apart from that, I would also suggest you try the following :
Go into the bios & check out the ACPI settings. You should be able to toggle between S1 & S3 (STR). The default is usually S3 (Suspend to ram). Try changing it to S1 instead.

You could try disabling H/T, if currently enabled.

You may also want to consider updating the bios. If you do, remember to clear the bios (using the Clear CMOS jumper) after the update.

One possible reason for the blank screen after disconnecting the HDD is that this particular board uses a portion of the HDD for Bios recovery/rescue utility. This 'may' be the reason for this particular issue.

Re. pressing the power button for 5 secs to shut down - this is perfectly normal, although the actual time should be 3-4 secs.


One last word of warning - you have a Gigabyte board with an Intel ICH5 chipset. BE REALLY CAREFUL WITH USB DEVICES. These particular boards tend to suffer from blown southbridge chipsets caused by the connecting/disconnecting of USB devices. I strongly advise that you first touch the tip of the USB plug against a metal surface before plugging it into the USB port. Likewise, only remove USB devices by using the Unplug/Eject Device wizard in the system tray.

[scrushmaster]

Does the led power light change color when the screen goes black on the windows boot up?
What connection are you using for the monitor? DVI, VGA?
Were you doing anything out of the norm when this problem presented itself?

[vally]

Sorry for the delay

I updated the drivers and nothing changed. (I didi it all in safemode)
I changed to an older graphics card and it did not show anything but the bios.
I now put in a diffent card Nvidea gforce4 64MB and it is all working fine (It was ok 4 5 hr). I am going to have some one with time spend sometime on it and see what is going on or is it over.

samm thanks for the tip on the USB.

[Samm]

samm thanks for the tip on the USB.

You're welcome. Re. the USB, I forgot to mention that this mainly affects front USB ports, rather than rear ones. So best thing to do is try & use rear ports only wherever possible.

Let us know how you get on with the new video card

[vally]

Sorry to say I'm back.

The computer was runing for 3 days. Not allways on. Yesterday the mouse froze and then the keyboard. The person by the computer went to have a drink before going crazy when he came back it opend up over a dozen internet explorer windows and then came up a microsoft window that there was a critical error in the explorer and the program will b terminated. the keyboard freed up long enough to hit enter and close the Ie but then it froze again.
They turned off the computer and it would not turn back on.
In the morning their 5 yr old turnd on the computer and started playing. I'm waiting another day till they bring me the computer again. I think that it is the mother board, someone allso told me that it sound like that is the problem.
I'll keep u all posted and tell what I find. I wont b back with this computer till after the weekend.

[vally]

I'm back to say that the previous problem seems to be over. After the last rset there has ben no more trouble.
Thanx for your help

[Samm]

Thanks for letting us know