Hi all,

i need some major help before i end up throwing my PC ouy of the window. i have a audable female voiced message as i switch on my PC saying "system faled cpu test". i have no idea how to stop it. i have taken my PC to many different people and no one seems to know what the problem is. i have been told to clean the dust on the fans (which i have done several times over the last 2 years) and i have reset the whole PC (wiped everything off and rebutted all the software). i have been told that the cpu means there is a fault with the processor. surley if the processor isnt working then i wont be able to switch on my PC and use the internet, word, excel etc (which i can). ive very much baffelled with the technicalities of computers and with my own PC. the message really gets on my nerves (hence i want to throw it out of the window). i need your help/ assistance as no technical expert seems to know why im getting this message or how to stop it and fix it.

Thanks

Ok, now tell us what your PC's make and model is... Have you tried resetting the motherboards bios to the default settings?

Hi Tmagic.

how u can provide some magic spell for me.. lol
i bought my pc from a computer fair thing in stratford, london in 2003.

apologies- but im gonna give u all the description about the pc; im not techy at all and all the description means nothing to me. i have tried to understand it; but im better at understanding my cat. lol

1 x ASUS A7NBX NVIDIA NFORCE2 CHIPSET UDMA 133 RAID & SERIAL ATA, 3XDDR DIMM (DDR400), AGP PRO (X8), 5XPCI, 6XUSB 2.0 PORT, ALC650 6CH AUDIO WITH SOUNDSTROM DOLBY DIGITAL (AC-3) ENCODER, DUAL 10/100MBPS LAN & 1EEE 1394 FIREWIRE ONBOARD, HARDWARE MONITORING

1 X AMD ATHLON XP OFFICE 1667MHZ CPU (266MHz)

1 X EVERCOOL ND18-715 HEAVY DUTY HEATSINK + CPU COOLER UPTO ATHLON XP 2800+
LEADTEK WINFAST A280 TD MYVIVO GEFORCE 4 TI 4800-SE 128MB DDR AGP 8XVGA CARD WITH VIDEO IN & OUT ALSO DVI OUT
1 X 6 CHANNEL INTEGRATED SOUNDCARD

2 X PC3200 256MB DDR CL2.5 HIGH PERFORMANCE DDR SDRAM

1 X SONY DDU1621 16x DVD ROM (40X CD ROM) TRAY LOADED

1 X PIONEER DVR-A05 4XDVD-R & 2xRW DVD REWRITER WITH BUFFER UNDER-RUN PROTECTION (WITH SOFTWARE)

1 X MAXTOR 120GB DIAMONDMAX PLAUS 9 UDMA 133 HARD DRIVE (7200 RPM)

1 X PURETEK PT-3525 56K V.92 CONEXANT CHIPSET INTERNAL PCI MODEM (DATA/FAX/VOICE)

1 X 10/100 Mbps INTEGRATED ETHERNET CARD

1 X 3.5" 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

1 X V770D BLACK + BLUE MIDI 4 BAYS ATX TOWERCASE 350WPSU WITH 2 FRONT USB PORT, CLEAR SIDE WINDOW & 2 STRIP OF LIGHT IN FRONT

1 X CWT 450 HEAVY DUTY PFC ATX PSU WITH TWIN SILENT BALL BEARING FAN

(not too sure about this description)- 350W ATX PSU WITH P4 CONNECTOR


thanks in advance.
tiggy

Hello Tiggy,
your PC is getting a bit old now. I am afraid that other than trying to reset the bios as I said, the only other thing to do is to replace the motherboard. If you replace the motherboard, you will most likely have to replace the CPU, and memory with something a bit more up to date

Hi Tmagic.

oh dear... i was hoping u wouldnt say that. lets try ur first suggestion. resetting the bias. what is the bioas and how do i reset it? does resetting it mean that i loose all my files and documents etc? if the bios thing doesnt stop it, then i will change the other stuff. pay day is on tuesday so... ill start crying from now. i was once told that i might need to change the battery on the processor... have u heard that suggestion before?

Thanks

There is NO battery on the processor, and it is called BIOS... There is a silver button on the motherboard that can be removed in order to reset the bios. If you have a friend that knows about computer things like this, he or she can be more help to you. I have never heard of a CPU test, but there is a memory test. If you can see such messages on your monitor, the CPU is working fine

no problem thanks for assisting Tmagic. ill get my friend to have a look at the bios again.

You have an audible female voice when you turn your pc on?? Wow. What else can she say?? I need to install one of her on my machine me thinks!

Spyder_1386

Hi Spyder,
yes, its a female voice, she seems to say only one phrase tho "system failed cpu test". its not funny. shes quite annoying. u really wouldnt want her on ur pc. she says this phrase sometimes when im working, or when i just switch on the pc. me and her are not best of friends....

I wonder if this could be caused by a virus

I going to agree that it might be a virus
I suggest doing the 8 step
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58138.html
if you need help with this part just ask

by the way what OS (operating system) are you using.

Hi guys,

ive got macafee so i dont think its a virus. im gona be a dumb bimbo here; but whats OS? do u mean what windows ive got? if so, pls let me know how to check id ill let u know. as for the 8 steps.... i wouldnt know what to do or how to do it... im not computer/ techniology friendly. so even to check the bios i would need a step to step guide pretty please.

McAfee is junk... remove it and download and install free AVG or Avast Antivirus. You can Google for them. Google for free Downloads of Malwarebytes and CCleaner too. After you run these, you can tell us once more that you don't think its a virus. OS is Operating System. Windows XP and Windows Vista are Operating Systems. I'm guessing that you are running XP. Is it fully updated to Service Pack 3?

yep. i have XP i think so; i keep getting a message tho asking me to keep updating windows etc. even after i agree to update.
ill remove mcafee and download the others and will keep u posted. i really appriciate it.

ok to check the OS you need to
go to the start menu>Right click on My computer>properties>
or start menu> control panel>system
you will be then be in the general tab at the top of this tab it will say the OS and the service pack

And yes Mcafee is dam right junk if you want a free anti virus then AVG or Avast are your best bet how ever if you are preparded to pay for one then I would suggest bitdefender for a cheaper option
or if you have a bit more money then symantec's norton internet security 2009 (and i would suggest 2009 as this virsion has sloved scan speeds and doesn't slow the computer like it used to)

now I image you can install programes etc so start with by getting a anti virus and doing a full scan-an option for this will be very clear

CCleaner is a very easy program to use just install it and click run cleaner

lol you got your post in as I was writing mine
ok so you want to do a windows update now open internet explore (i does need to be IE) then just go to tools>windows update
you will have to option express or custom
you might want to do custom as they may be other optional update that could help

Hmm I might have something, Asus motherboards of this vintage has a feature called Asus Post Reporter. Instead of having a beep to indicate a system problem, it would audibly tell you what was wrong. I have a A7N8x-E that used to report the same error on occasion. A update to the latest bios fixed the problem as there was a bit of a glitch that made it go off. If you don't want to do a bios update, you will find an option in the advanced section of the bios that says Speech POST reporter (enables/disabled). If you set it to disabled it will at least stop talking to you. That said the system is somewhat old and might be starting to wear out.

hi peeps.

i can now confirm that i have windows xp and i have service pack 3.

i downloaded quite a few things last night...

1- reg cure
2- jxp install-6
3- digsby setup
4- driver detective
5- avira antivir
6- za setup
7- regustry nechanic
8- c cleaner
9- avg
10 - arotrial

i think i got carried away... by the way i am currently using fire fox coz Internet explorer is just too slow.

did you do the windows update
by the way if you get IE 8 (the lastest one) it's is the same speed as fire fox now

Be careful with what you install, many of these are not needed and they can slow your system way down or lock it up... NEVER use or install more than one antivirus program at a time!