PC Won't Boot Past BIOS Splash Screen

[SALEEN961]

Hello guy and gals, I've been trying to diagnose this problem with the help of a few friends and we're out of ideas at this point.

The computer in question is a home built PC the worked fine for two years before this problem occurred,I'm told the problem first started when it got a virus but I don't know for sure. The PC has an Asus P5N32-E SLI MB and it's running Vista Home Premium 32-Bit.

When I start the computer it loads to the bios splash screen and normally freezes there, occasionally I'm able to get into the bios before it freezes where I can see that all of the temps are normal and nothing jumps out as unusual, however I only have about 20 seconds to look through it before it freezes. Before this started it would just just keep rebooting when it got to the post screen with occasional distortion of the bios splash screen.

I have tried replacing the hard drive with a known working one, and I have replaced the video card with a known working one; I have also pulled all of the ram out of the computer and tried each stick individually without success. I have pulled the battery several times and cleared the capacitors and so far I have gotten nowhere.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated, thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Archean]

Only suspects left then are Motherboard/CPU and PSU. I guess you can try to check atleast CPU in some other board if possible to start with.

 

[mailpup]

Along with Archean's thinking, what PSU are you using? Did you happen to use a PSU that came with the case?

 

[SALEEN961]

The power supply is an Ultra V-Series 500-Watt, I still have the PSU that came with the case that I could swap in but it's only a 350-Watt PSU. I don't have any spare CPU's or motherboards to swap so I'm kind of stuck dianosing the problem or buying components and hoping I bought the right ones.

 

[Archean]

Please provide us with complete system specifications.

Secondly, without checking things out I guess we can't arrive at a conclusion pinpointing the cause of your issues. So, checking PSU/ or board or CPU is only logical.

Also, if you want a rather quick fix, I think the more appropriate solution will be to take your system to local tech shop and ask them to have a look (obviously it will cost money).

 

[SALEEN961]

Sorry guys I didn't think I'd need to post the whole setup, this setup has never been overclocked so everything is running at stock speeds and voltages.

Intel Pentium D 930, Stock Clock, 3.0Ghz 800mhz FSB
Asus P5N32-E SLI Motherboard, with Asus proprietary sound card
(4x1GB) GSKILL DDR2 800mhz
EVGA 7600GT Video Card
Ultra V-Series 500-Watt PSU
Zalman CNPS9500 AT CPU Cooler with Artic Silver 5 Compound
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 250GB Hard drive 3GB/s SATA
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Case with SytheUSA High Flow Fans

Is there a way I could go about checking the motherboard or CPU withour having another setup to swap parts to/from?

 

[Archean]

I guess only way is to see whether any of your friends have similar setup; and take test your CPU in that setup. If CPU is fine (there is less chance that it is the faulty part IMHO) then next thing would be motherboard (more likely culprit I guess); you can perhaps take it out and test it with in another pc with the CPU on it. You don't need any HDD or CD to have the display, a simple setup where motherboard/cpu ram and display card should be able to give you an ideas, if it boots to bios without any hiccup, then its your PSU which is causing it.

 

[seanc]

I would try the PSU first.
Check that all of the capacitors on the motherboard are flat and not bulging.

 

[Archean]

Good luck and also if something is shorting, you won't spot any untoward problems with capacitors.

 

[seanc]

Good point, it could well be a short.
I'm so used to shorts causing a system to power down/not power up I'd forgotten about that.

 

[SALEEN961]

If I were to swap my CPU into a friends computer and it is the faulty part how likely is it that it could damage his setup, are there generally failsafes in place to protect the motherboard? I ask because if I damage his setup then I'm buying one for him and one for myself.

I guess it should only damage it if the problem were an internal short which is far less likley then an open circuit, I just wish there wiring diagrams availble for processors so that I could just test the CPU with my DMM.

None of the capacitors are bulging and the board doesn't look like there are open opens or shorts on it but with circuitry that small and complex it could be very easy to overlook a short.

Thank you guys for your help so far.

 

[Archean]

It is highly unlikely. Or if you want to play safe simply take to a technician and obviously he will do it for you.