Then, the computer just went blank and restarted. I thought that was a bummer, but I was ready for a break anyway so I left it for several hours. I come back to a blank screen. Windows has not restarted. I cut the power and restart and the first phase goes OK, I get the little "Windows is loading" progress bar, but it loads a little longer after that is gone, then the curser appears, and then nothing further. So I figure windows is screwed and I'm gonna need to reinstall. Again, a bummer, but not the end of the worlds.
So the next time I restarted, the loading screen that comes from my mobo stays on the screen for a long time, about 20 seconds. And that I figure it a bad sign cause that's got nothing to do with software (as far as I know) and it usually blips past so fast I can barely see it. I have put the windows disk in for a repair and/or reinstall by this stage, but it takes forever to ask me whether I want to boot from disk, and then the DVD barely turns over and it takes a long time to load the next screen.
I did use the windows disk to run a memory check which came up clean, and then a system boot fail repair (it was called something like that, the description says it's a repair to run if windows fails to boot) and that almost immediately tells me there are no problems with windows.
Still, it won't load up past that blank screen (which usually comes right before the desktop appears) and the first stages of the boot process are running extremely slow. Luckily I can use safe mode and safe mode with networking, which is how I am reaching you now.
And strangely enough, once loaded up in safe mode, things do seem to be running fine. I can even run some old, low-powered games without difficulty (other than the crap graphics cause the GPU isn't being utilized).
I'm hoping like [bleep] that somehow this isn't a hardware problem, cause I just went two weeks without my computer when my GPU went down (long story, was misdiagnosed and I ended up with new GPU AND new redundant mobo) and I'm really not in the mood to go through this again so soon. But it's hard to see how this could be fixable without getting a new part. Since getting the new mobo and GPU I have had a few minor issues; the mobo beeps one or two times more than usual during startup, and the GPU does occasionally suddenly spins its fans very hard and loud. I asked about these things on this board but no one seemed very interested, and as I was happy to have my beasty up and running and there didn't seem to be any serious problems I eventually ignored them.
I am running 32-bit Windows Home Premium Vista, on a k9a2 cf-f motherboard, X2 4600+ CPU, Radeon 4870 512mb version GPU, 2 gigs PC2 6400 RAM (Corsair or Kingston, can't remember which I went with in the end) Antec Truepower 550W PSU. The GPU and mobo are like a month old, the rest about two years, and until the recent problem it was a very stable build.
So please tell me, how do I go about finding out who's to blame? I'm sure you'll need more information, so just tell me what you need to know.
Thankyou.
Edited by Junkman, 23 August 2009 - 03:44 PM.
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