[jayjay23]

Can't give exact machine spec because I can't get it on.
AMD
350GB HDD
2 GB Ram
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit


I could not figure out which category to post in so please help me!
I will give the back story and you can move the thread if you think it's in the wrong place...

Current issue is this>

I press the power button and the fan spins for maybe half a second and then stops - nothing else happens at all. No beeps, no sound, nothing. It's just dead.

Leading up to this was this sequence of events>

My pc was crashing out due to overheating.
It seemed to be that he thermal paste needed re applying.
So I bought thermal paste - followed the regular steps to apply etc, re-fitted the fan.

Powered on machine.
Saw usual start up screens with press del for setup etc.
Then> CPU fan error, press F1 to resume.
(The fan was spinning)
Pressed F1
It seemed as though star up was going to continue but instead screen went blank with just a flashing curser in top right corner.

Tried several re-starts.
Changed connection on CPU fan.
Same issue kept happening, exactly the same.

Went to bios and changed fan boot thing (can't think what it's called) to ignore.

Re-started.
Fan spinning. (no cpu fan error message)
Regulr boot process kicked in
Screen blank, then > Error loading Operating System.

Checked all internal wires etc. Unplugged unnecessary stuff like dvd sata cable etc. Replaced HDD sata cable with new Sata cable.

Re-started.
Nothing.

Powered down. Unplugged everything, replugged, checked wall socket etc.
Re-started (while looking inside case)
Fan spins for 1 second. And nothing else happens. Nothing at all.

I wrote the above about 10 hours ago and have now tried to power on the machine again.
This time it started to boot.
But didn't get far before displaying> "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media and press any key" (or similar)
I was not sure what to do from there. (I went into bios and set HDD as primary boot device, rebooted but got the same error message)

And that is where I am currently at!

I don't want to do anything else to the system until I have gained some useful advice from the expert folks here.

Hope you are able to assist me.

(I can't narrow down what the root cause is for this as the system worked fine apart from random crashes when it was hot. The only change I have made really is to re-do thermal paste on heat sync. But can't see why tis would affect OS loading etc. And also can't understand why machine was attempting to boot and then just gave up after I tried to address the probem of the OS not loading.)

HELP! (all my work stuff is on this pc and I can't work without it!)

[Macboatmaster]

So WHAT please is the current situation

Is it THIS

Quote

Current issue is this>
I press the power button and the fan spins for maybe half a second and then stops - nothing else happens at all. No beeps, no sound, nothing. It's just dead.

OR THIS please

Quote

This time it started to boot.
But didn't get far before displaying> "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media and press any key" (or similar)
I was not sure what to do from there. (I went into bios and set HDD as primary boot device, rebooted but got the same error message)

[jayjay23]

Macboatmaster, on 15 July 2012 - 05:41 PM, said:

Quote

This time it started to boot.
But didn't get far before displaying> "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media and press any key" (or similar)
I was not sure what to do from there. (I went into bios and set HDD as primary boot device, rebooted but got the same error message)

It is this, sorry.

Thanks

[Macboatmaster]

You need to boot it from the Windows 7 DVD

If the computer is an OEM computer with the recovery partition on the hard drive and the advanced boot options including the Recovery environment option of repair your computer and then the cmd prompt this is unlikely to work, but it is worth a try

The first task now is to see if booting from the DVD or from F8, key after first post screen and selecting the repair option will allow you to proceed.

This of course presumes that the CPU has not been damaged by the overheat and of course that the CPU was not dislodged when the thermal paste was applied, presuming that you did NOT release the CPU securing clip, this is unlikely.

If it was me I would attempt to enter BIOS setup and check NOT that the HDD is the boot prioriy, as you have already done that, but that the HDD is seen as a device in the BIOS screen. This of course is separate to the boot device priority.

Going from there I would be inclined to recommend a boot from Puppy this will serve to purposes firstly it will perform a basic test of the hardware and secondly it will ascertain if your HDD is indeed accessible.

The current error simply indicates that the system cannot find the files necessary for the boot to proceed to Windows.

Here is PUPPY instructions

http://www.geekstogo...over-your-data/

and here are the instructions for proceeding to the recovery environment of Windows 7 for the access to cmd prompt

http://www.sevenforu...pt-startup.html

[jayjay23]

Thanks so much for the reply, I am extremely grateful.

I will have to read it about ten times for it to sink into my brain s I am far from a computer whizz. I am also really busy with work at the moment so if you don't hear back from me too soon please bear with me, I will be back when I can.

Is it worth mentioning at this stage that I may have accidentally dislodged the CPU by un-clipping the securing clip?

[Macboatmaster]

Quote

Is it worth mentioning at this stage that I may have accidentally dislodged the CPU by un-clipping the securing clip?

The answer very much depends on how experienced, you are.

The CPU locates on many small sockets, the base of the CPU itself being a similar number of pins


The image is not yours of course but is representative only - if you think there is any chance whatsoever, that it has become disloged and has NOT been reseated in eactly the correct position, then the lever would be difficult to close. If that is the case and it has NOT been returned to its seating position exaclty correctly - then you have problems.
I would proceed at THIS time on the presumption that it has been located correctly and see where you go from there.

[jayjay23]

Hi, I am going to take another look at this today!

[Macboatmaster]

OK will wait to hear from you

[jayjay23]

Hi. Apologies. I have been unable to do anything with the machine since my last post because of personal reasons. Please do not close the topic, I will revisit and post as soon as I am able to access the machine and start fixing. Many thanks.

[Macboatmaster]

Thanks for posting, we do not close topics on Geeks to Go

They just naturally expire over time, yours will still be here, will wait to here from you.