Member Avatar for Skinny

So recently, about 50% of the time when I turned on my 2+ year old computer it would freeze at the motherboard manufacturers logo screen. It worked fine otherwise. Then I decided to load optimized defaults in the BIOS since I've had it running in fail-safe defaults since I don't know when (might have been since I got a new CPU cooler). When I did this, the computer booted up just fine, shut off just fine. The next day when I turned it on, it shut off after about 5 seconds of being on. The last time that happened with my computer, my PSU had died because the fan stopped spinning. Checked all the fans --- still running just fine during those 5 seconds. I then decided to reset the BIOS settings to fail-safe by pulling out the cmos battery. It booted, everything worked normally. I then decided to schedule a chkdsk. Restarted the computer, it booted up to just before windows starts (my computer doesn't show any windows logo when loading the OS so it might be just frozen at that screen) to load and just sits there running the harddrive but the screen is blank. I left it for an hour, came back, and it was still doing the same thing. I have to do a 3 sec manual shut off. Now, whenever i turn on the computer it shuts off after 5 secs, or, if i reset the bios settings does the never ending (or is it?) harddrive thing. It appears to me that something is dying (upset failure?). Anyone have any idea what could be causing this, or how to diagnose the problem. Thanks.

BTW, i also get a check sum error every time saying it's reseting to defaults.

Specs:
OCZ PSU 850W (not a cheap/crappy PSU)
OCZ 2x512MB DDR2
Abit AN8 SLI
EVGA GeForce 6800gs

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The suggestions from and are good quick checks, but a short, ordered diagnostic plan will save time and avoid repeatedly swapping parts.

Start non‑invasively, then progress to swaps. Basic steps that often isolate these symptoms:

  1. Verify the CMOS battery voltage (should be about 3.0 V; under ~2.7–2.8 V replace it). Clear CMOS properly (use the motherboard jumper with power unplugged, or remove battery and press the power button for 10–15 seconds to discharge) and re-test.
  2. Minimise the system: disconnect all drives and peripherals, leave only CPU, one stick of RAM, and video (or onboard video). Try POST. If it posts, add components back one at a time.
  3. Test memory with a dedicated tool (run multiple full passes of Memtest86 or similar) and try each RAM stick in the primary slot.
  4. Check cooling and mounting of the heatsink: a loose cooler or poor contact/thermal paste can cause early shutdowns. Reseat the cooler and fan, and verify the CPU fan header is powered.
  5. Inspect the motherboard for physical damage—look for bulging or leaking capacitors, burn marks, or a loose BIOS chip.
  6. Power-supply check: a PSU can appear to spin fans but still fail under load. If possible, swap with a known-good PSU or measure rail voltages with a multimeter under load (exercise caution).

If a CMOS checksum message persists after battery replacement and clearing, the CMOS/BIOS might be corrupt or the board may have intermittent power faults; follow the motherboard vendor’s BIOS recovery procedure only when the system is otherwise stable. Before doing destructive changes, back up any accessible data and test drives from external media to run SMART and file-system checks. If the above isolations still point to motherboard faults (bad caps, recurring checksum errors, or intermittent power that swaps don’t fix), replacement of the motherboard or professional repair is the pragmatic next step.

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Member Avatar for darfayaz

Replace the CMOS battery

Member Avatar for sittas87

hey there
So four years ago I personally had somewhat the same problem.In my case the fan on the cpu was spinning but without me noticing It wasnt fasten to the heat sink and resulted in the processor bailing out(freeze)
-boot from the disk and see if it runs thru so you can do a repair(if not-than its most likely cpu cooling)
-also check if its really providing enough cooling (monitor it)-sometimes the fan bails after a while.


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