WTF did I do to my computer?!

[tasr]

BIOS corruption can happen in many ways; i.e. low CMOS battery volts (Common and overlooked item), overclocking or incorrect memory timings and changing major component without clearing the CMOS. Oh, this also leads to OS corruption.

 

 

I would use TMod’s CD Tmod's Bios Flash CD & Utility CDs. It’s safe and easy.

 

1. Use the HDD diag utility to test the dives out. It is safe and non evasive.

 

2. If you suspect CMOS corruption well the you can use it to flash to a different BIOS. That’s your call.

 

 

I’m just trying to help. Whether you take my advice or not, that’s OK. Many opinions on what to do or try, too get them all down in a few short sentences thats the hard part.

 

I see you have done a minimal build with a long CMOS clear that a good thing.

 

This is just for the recorded:

Clear the CMOS or "reset the cmos" and doing a long CMOS clear are two different things. Why a long CMOS clear because it’s works.

 

These are the procedures for a long CMOS clear. They need to be follow it exactly.

[disko33]

Thanks for the tips Tasr.

 

I've now actually managed to get into Windows XP. It started off with the screen stating that the last time Windows started that there was a problem, and asked if I wanted to choose safe mode, last known good config, or normal startup. I chose last good config, and for the last half hour or so it has been running fine *keeping fingers crossed*. I am transferring all of my music and video files onto the good computer, and then I am going to do a True Image drive image backup of what is remaining just in case things get hairy.

 

I'm actually heading out of town for the weekend, but when I get back I am will give Tmod's Bios flash CD and Utility CD's a try. That is actually how I flashed the BIOS last time, and it worked great - however I didn't use any of the utilities.

 

If I run a hard drive diagnostic, will that tell me if the OS is actually corrupt?

 

And as far as flashing to a different BIOS, does that replace the long CMOS clear? I left the CMOS jumper in the reset position overnight, but did not remove the battery or do those other steps listed in that guide. I thought I remember reading somewhere that you are not supposed to take out the battery on the DR-Expert, but I could be wrong.

[tasr]

Glad you got booted to the OS.

 

If I run a hard drive diagnostic, will that tell me if the OS is actually corrupt?

No it will detect just HDD corruption like bad blocks or sectors. From my experience if you have bad blocks or sectors on the drive then the data in those blocks or sectors is un-readable and/or corrupt.

 

 

And as far as flashing to a different BIOS, does that replace the long CMOS clear? I left the CMOS jumper in the reset position overnight, but did not remove the battery or do those other steps listed in that guide. I thought I remember reading somewhere that you are not supposed to take out the battery on the DR-Expert, but I could be wrong.

Flashing will overwrite the BIOS. Clear reseat the BIOS. At times you may need to remove all power for extended period of time for the clear to fully clear, hence the long clear. You are absolute correct about the battery in the clear procedures for the DFI Expert. It is Not recommended to remove the battery in a CMOS clear for a DFI Expert.

 

Good luck.

[disko33]

So it is fairly safe to say if there are no bad blocks or sectors, then the data and operating system should be ok then, correct?

 

As far as not removing the cmos battery for a DR-Expert, at some point you have to remove it to put in a new one right? I can't remember why they said not to remove it, I thought it had something to do with voltages getting screwed up - but obviously at some point you have to remove and reinstall a new battery when it dies. When it does come time for that, what is the correct method to follow for that procedure as to not hose everything again? Sorry for asking so many questions!

[Outlander]

Thanks for the tips Tasr.

 

I've now actually managed to get into Windows XP. It started off with the screen stating that the last time Windows started that there was a problem, and asked if I wanted to choose safe mode, last known good config, or normal startup. I chose last good config, and for the last half hour or so it has been running fine *keeping fingers crossed*. I am transferring all of my music and video files onto the good computer, and then I am going to do a True Image drive image backup of what is remaining just in case things get hairy.

 

I'm actually heading out of town for the weekend, but when I get back I am will give Tmod's Bios flash CD and Utility CD's a try. That is actually how I flashed the BIOS last time, and it worked great - however I didn't use any of the utilities.

 

If I run a hard drive diagnostic, will that tell me if the OS is actually corrupt?

 

And as far as flashing to a different BIOS, does that replace the long CMOS clear? I left the CMOS jumper in the reset position overnight, but did not remove the battery or do those other steps listed in that guide. I thought I remember reading somewhere that you are not supposed to take out the battery on the DR-Expert, but I could be wrong.

 

You know I had to recover like this from a boot BSOD before. I could not figure out what had happened but I found out. I was able to reboot only if I used the last good setup up but everytime I would try to restart boot BSOD again, once again forcing me to use last good saved settings. I finally figured out that it was caused when I switch my computers and I connected the one that had problems to a couple of printers except that one of the USB printer was installed in the computer. This gave me the weird message about not having enough disk space,

ome message about the memory, hardware change, turning off shadowing in the BIOS, etc

message also. I couldn't believe the stupid printer was the culprit. I don't know if this helps you but that's what happened to me. I eventually had to reinstall the OS because it got so messed up during my attempt to resolve the problem.

 

You might want to do a clean install of the OS ... that might solve all your problems.

[disko33]

Ok, this computer is killing me. I finally had it running fine for the past week or so at 255x9 on a 180 divider, which is still far less than it should be at - but at least it was stable. Then this morning I woke up to a frozen screen, so I reset the computer. It wouldn't boot, so I powered down completely for about 10-15 seconds and tried to turn it back on - only to have it completely shut off after about 3 seconds. It is continuing to do this same thing, several hours after the fact. I thought it might be the UPS that it is connected to, so I just plugged it in to the wall - same thing, shuts down right away.

 

Any expert opinions here, does this sound like a power supply issue or a faulty motherboard (or something else entirely)?

 

One more weird fact is that one time it stayed on for about a minute or so, but the monitor never came on and the CD/DVD drives were just making some odd noises and the lights on the drives were blinking/flashing even though there are no discs in there. I just manually shut down after a minute or two of this since it didn't seem to be doing anything productive. I'm really stumped here fellas!

[hollander208]

The first thing you should do when having huge problems is always check the capacitors on the motherboard, graphics card, any other PCI cards and power supply, Note: removing the power supply cover may void any warranty that you may have.

About 6 months ago I was working on a computer that sounds like the problems your having. I grabbed one of my 20GB harddrives laying around and installed Windows XP on it. I put it into the computer and it worked fine with No problems. I than replaced the 20GB for a 250GB since that's what the customer wanted. Ran/tested it for 24 hours and gave it back to the customer. Today it still doesn't have any problems because when I work on someones computer I call them every 1 - 2 months for a check up to see if everything is running ok.

 

I would try using a different harddrive. The only thing you can do is check one thing at a time. Oh and the cmos battery can cause some weird stuff so I would check that by getting a new one or taking it from another motherboard. Still having problems? I would than flash the Bios. Lastly RMA. I've done it quite a few times. My shortest RMA was 2 weeks. My longest was 5 weeks so my guess is that it can take anywheres from 2 - 5 weeks.