What is bust?

Dolby

Dolby

Honorary Master
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
39,131
Reaction score
6,138
I bought a high end Core 2 Quad and Asus motherboard about 4 years back, which has served me well ... Until last night. I rebooted and when it came back on, it sat on the motherboard splash screen for like 30 minutes, before continuing the boot process which took about another 30 minutes or more.

When in Windows, everything was quick and responsive like it shoul be - barring My Computer an Sustem Restore in froze the system. I decided to format and that took me most the day, as everything is super slow.

With a clean machine it booted ... The same! After a hour I got in a brand new system and it was the same issues. I tried both memory modules and thy seem fine ...

Motherboard? :(
 
Could be.

I would boot with a Linux LiveCD in order to eliminate the HDD as well and see what it does.
 
Remove all components (CPU, RAM etc), clean and re-seat.
 
Its the hard disk.

You can run the mem tester on a win7 disk to make sure. If that comes up clean its unlikely to be mobo/ram/cpu.

The fact that everything is normal except the hdd heavy activities makes it fairly conclusive though imo.
 
HavocXphere said:
Its the hard disk.

You can run the mem tester on a win7 disk to make sure. If that comes up clean its unlikely to be mobo/ram/cpu.

The fact that everything is normal except the hdd heavy activities makes it fairly conclusive though imo.
Click to expand...

Doubt that its the HDD

Maybe he could spam TAB at the start of the splash screen to see where it gets stuck?
 
Thanks guys.

Will try A few tests later even on the HDD

Just a question : would the HDD cause it to freeze on the motherboard splash screen on boot up right at the start of the entire boot process? I thought at that point the HDD hadn't loaded as yet?
 
If you disable the splash screen in your bios it might show you exactly where it is freezing.
 
Dolby said:
Thanks guys.

Will try A few tests later even on the HDD

Just a question : would the HDD cause it to freeze on the motherboard splash screen on boot up right at the start of the entire boot process? I thought at that point the HDD hadn't loaded as yet?
Click to expand...
Can't really say since it would depend on the specific BIOS/manufacturer. The hdd won't be right at the front, but certainly fairly soon after the mem self-check. Some BIOS screens stay put for a couple of sec so its plausible that it could frees the BIOS logo.

This business about freezing and then recovering after seconds/minutes also sounds very hdd-like. Do run a mem test over it regardless of hdd or not though just for good measure.
 
The culprit me thinks is the HDD. My test bench PC at work has an Asus Mobo inside and whenever I put in a failing HDD it will hang on the Asus screen at startup.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I've just put in a working HDD and formatting/reinstalling.

However, judging by the time (we're at 2 hours and we haven't hit the 'select partion' screen yet) - I get the feeling that it eont solve the issue. Basically everything is 100x slower ... From the splash screen, to the booting, to installing anything. Normal operation (ie clicking start, browsing etc) are 100%

So once this install is done - I can rule out the HDD and memory (I removed one as I booted)

EDIT : Just over 2hrs to hit the license agreement screen and a further 15 minutes stuck on the screen where I select th location .... so not my HDD (this is a new one) :(
 
Last edited:
Thats seriously weird. Can't really come up with anything good that is both likely and a good fit for those exact symptoms. Clearly its hdd related, but not the hdd itself. That would suggest a problem with the SATA controller on the mobo, but that doesn't happen often afaik.

If you've got one you can try an install on an external usb hdd (disconnect the internal).
 
I do ... Maybe tomorrow once this done!

If that's the case, can I swap the SATA on the DVD with the SATA?
Or would a controller effect both?
 
Have you tried loading the BIOS defaults ?
Perhaps try the "fail safe" option and see if it does the same....
also maybe check the cooling... overheating CPUs become verrrrrry slow and erratic if not running cool enough...
maybe clean the dust and slap fresh thermal paste ?
 
I'll need to Try the BIOS tomorrow once this is loaded again.

I'll break it by touching the paste and chip, so hoping that doesn't need to be redone
 
Dolby said:
I'll need to Try the BIOS tomorrow once this is loaded again.

I'll break it by touching the paste and chip, so hoping that doesn't need to be redone
Click to expand...

Where are you Dolby ? Near Cape Town ?

If this was my PC... and seeing that you have tried another hard drive, what I would do is

Set the BIOS defaults to fail safe
Check the CPU temp
Clean the heatsink / fan of dust etc
Clean the CPU of old thermal paste, and apply some fresh stuff
Try another power supply
Test the memory in another PC
Remove everything except the DVD drive, boot drive and graphics card
Re-flash the BIOS

If it still fails, try all my components on another board.

Eish, good luck man!
 
I stumbled on something that looks like it may have worked - but I'm only judging from the splash screen 'freeze' as I don't have Windows yet (each install took about 5hrs to complete)

Anyhow - unplugged my memory card reader from the motherboard and the splash screen ... Splashed! So reinstalling!

EDIT : PC fixed ... It was the card reader causing havoc with everything else!
 
Last edited:
Dolby said:
I stumbled on something that looks like it may have worked - but I'm only judging from the splash screen 'freeze' as I don't have Windows yet (each install took about 5hrs to complete)

Anyhow - unplugged my memory card reader from the motherboard and the splash screen ... Splashed! So reinstalling!

EDIT : PC fixed ... It was the card reader causing havoc with everything else!
Click to expand...


Lol, I've experienced this before but completely forgot about it :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X