2 Windows 7 PCs suddenly no longer boot, no POST

[jesseftw]

I've got 5 PCs here.. 2x Win 7 x64 v7100, 1x Vista x32, 2x XP Pro x32. Strangely, within the past 24 hours both of my Windows 7 PCs have stopped booting. They turn on, hard drives spin, fans come on. There is no beep, and no signal to the peripherals, including keyboard, mouse, monitor. Identical problems on both systems.

Specs on Win7 System 1 (2 years old):
Motherboard Asus P5N32-E SLI
CPU Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Quad-Core 3.0GHz
Ram 4 x OCZ DDR2-800 Reaper 2048MB
Video Card 2 x Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB
Power Supply Silverstone ST1000 1000W

Specs on Win7 System 2 (1 month old):
Motherboard Asus P5Q-EM
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Quad-Core 3.0GHz 95W
Ram 4 x Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800 2048MB
Video Card Asus GeForce 9600GT 512MB Silent
Power Supply Corsair VX 450W Power Supply

I suppose it's possible that both motherboards just coincidentally failed in the same day but that seems pretty unlikely. They are both ASUS. Has anyone else with an ASUS board experienced similar problems after any recent Windows 7 updates?

On System 2, the second system to fail, I did notice that the computer had been on with the screen saver up for a little while. Someone had been using it only about 20 minutes earlier. I thought it'd entered power saving mode and turned off the screen but when I went to bring it back up, I couldn't. I noticed that the light on the front of the box was flashing. I tried powering off by holding down the power button, then powering back up but had no luck. I also tried turning it off at the power supply and unplugging it for a few minutes but that didn't help either.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I might go about troubleshooting/fixing this? I'm not sure what to do if I can't even get the POST.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Frostbite]

Sounds like a hardware problem but bit of a coincidence both have gone at once. Did they both go at the exact same time, a mains power spike perhaps? Is there a PC speaker plugged into the motherboards so you can hear for any post beeps. You could try and remove the battery from the motherboard, leave it out for a min and then put it back it to reset the motherboard. You will have to enter the BIOS again if it works and renter any information that is needed.

 

[jesseftw]

They both went about 12 hours apart from each other. Battery pull seems to have worked for System #2. When it came back up it said something about being unable to recover from hibernation. It looks like the hardware is fine but I may need to reinstall the OS as it's unable to launch Win7 now. I'll be disabling hibernate in the future.

Someone else on the forum was having a similar issue caused by sleep mode:

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/16903-sleep-mode-killed-my-pc.html


System #1 is not having any luck. Could be legit hardware failure. I did get a BSOD just before getting a few crash-boots, just before total failure. Maybe just bad coincidence that the problems occurred so close together in time. I'll keep messing with it for a bit. If anyone else has any other suggestions, please post.

Thanks, Frostbite!

 

[zigzag3143]

win 7

I've got 5 PCs here.. 2x Win 7 x64 v7100, 1x Vista x32, 2x XP Pro x32. Strangely, within the past 24 hours both of my Windows 7 PCs have stopped booting. They turn on, hard drives spin, fans come on. There is no beep, and no signal to the peripherals, including keyboard, mouse, monitor. Identical problems on both systems.

Specs on Win7 System 1 (2 years old):
Motherboard Asus P5N32-E SLI
CPU Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Quad-Core 3.0GHz
Ram 4 x OCZ DDR2-800 Reaper 2048MB
Video Card 2 x Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB
Power Supply Silverstone ST1000 1000W

Specs on Win7 System 2 (1 month old):
Motherboard Asus P5Q-EM
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Quad-Core 3.0GHz 95W
Ram 4 x Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800 2048MB
Video Card Asus GeForce 9600GT 512MB Silent
Power Supply Corsair VX 450W Power Supply

I suppose it's possible that both motherboards just coincidentally failed in the same day but that seems pretty unlikely. They are both ASUS. Has anyone else with an ASUS board experienced similar problems after any recent Windows 7 updates?

On System 2, the second system to fail, I did notice that the computer had been on with the screen saver up for a little while. Someone had been using it only about 20 minutes earlier. I thought it'd entered power saving mode and turned off the screen but when I went to bring it back up, I couldn't. I noticed that the light on the front of the box was flashing. I tried powering off by holding down the power button, then powering back up but had no luck. I also tried turning it off at the power supply and unplugging it for a few minutes but that didn't help either.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I might go about troubleshooting/fixing this? I'm not sure what to do if I can't even get the POST.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Just curious what build of win 7 are you running. (ie win 7000)?

Ken

 

[SquonkSC]

They both went about 12 hours apart from each other. Battery pull seems to have worked for System #2. When it came back up it said something about being unable to recover from hibernation. It looks like the hardware is fine but I may need to reinstall the OS as it's unable to launch Win7 now. I'll be disabling hibernate in the future.

Someone else on the forum was having a similar issue caused by sleep mode:

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/16903-sleep-mode-killed-my-pc.html


System #1 is not having any luck. Could be legit hardware failure. I did get a BSOD just before getting a few crash-boots, just before total failure. Maybe just bad coincidence that the problems occurred so close together in time. I'll keep messing with it for a bit. If anyone else has any other suggestions, please post.

Thanks, Frostbite!

Don't format your system 2, just yet.

Reboot, press F8 a few times just after bios post.

Chose last known good config, and you should be fine.

Another thing: If you pulled the battery, you have to reconfigurate your BIOS
Things like SATA and which device to boot from are reset to default, while you might have altered that in the past.

good luck

 

[Frostbite]

Try a repair on the one which nows boots. Boot from the Windows 7 CD and try repair. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
Does the system that does not boot not beep? Does it have a PC speaker connected to the motherboard?

 

[usasma]

Sleep/hibernate issues are common in Win7 - mostly from storage drivers.

Could be hardware issues (maybe a power surge)?

I've also seen a couple of BSOD's related to the expiration of the beta (STOP 0x98).

 

[Snufffed]

If you can get past the first part. F8 and try to get into DOS or CMD.
there is a cmd you can try... it works if you have any RESTORE set.

System Restore from command line:

rstrui.exe /offline:C:\windows

if you boot driveis not :C: replace with proper HDD letter.

 

[Lordbob75]

I am assuming that neither one is POSTing. If this is the case, then you may try resetting the CMOS, via jumper.

That should at least allow you to get to the BIOS screen. From there, make sure that your HDDs are listed. If not, open the case and check the cables. If that is all good, but it is still not there, you could try flashing the BIOS

   Warning

Flashing the BIOS should ONLY be done if you know HOW to do it!!!!!! DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE UNSURE, OR DO NOT WANT TO DAMAGE YOUR SYSTEM!!!!!!!!

If they ARE listed, but you cannot boot from them, then there are a few options. Set the CD/DVD drive as 1st boot option, and load in your Win7 DVD. Boot into it, and check to see if your HDDs are registered. If they ARE, then exit Installation and go back to the first DVD screen, and at the bottom select Repair your Computer. Allow it to check for your installs, and let it fix the MBR.

~Lordbob

 

[7echno7im]

Jesse,
I have seen this before on some machines. Althought your power supply does seem really, really low on your 2nd machine. only 450? And you are running a C2Q with a 9600gt???

If you do not even get the BIOS post screen, you will not be able to try the things people have suggested. If there is no POST, it is not software.

I would do what LordB said and reset the CMOS.

If this doesn't work, take all peripherals except 1 stick of RAM, CPU, and 1 Video card (no sli) out. And try booting. Work your way up.


Again, your 2nd machine's power supply it very, very low. I am surprised you had the right power rails to power the 9600gt. Did you use adapters?


as usasma has suggested, i have seen some machines go in to a sleep mode that they could not get out of, but a CMOS reset and total power drain usually fixed this (Power down machine, pull the plug, the hit the power button repeatedly to discharge the power)

 

[Lordbob75]

Jesse,
I have seen this before on some machines. Althought your power supply does seem really, really low on your 2nd machine. only 450? And you are running a C2Q with a 9600gt???

If you do not even get the BIOS post screen, you will not be able to try the things people have suggested. If there is no POST, it is not software.

I would do what LordB said and reset the CMOS.

If this doesn't work, take all peripherals except 1 stick of RAM, CPU, and 1 Video card (no sli) out. And try booting. Work your way up.


Again, your 2nd machine's power supply it very, very low. I am surprised you had the right power rails to power the 9600gt. Did you use adapters?

He brings up a good point. Take out ALL NON ESSENTIAL HARDWARE, and see if the computers will boot. If not, then it is either BIOS, or your mobo.

~Lordbob

 

[7echno7im]

He brings up a good point. Take out ALL NON ESSENTIAL HARDWARE, and see if the computers will boot. If not, then it is either BIOS, or your mobo.

~Lordbob

oopps I edited my post after you quoted me >.<

 

[Lordbob75]

oopps I edited my post after you quoted me >.<

Oh well, I still threw it out there. No worries mate.

~Lordbob

P.S. RRRAAAAWWWWWRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jesseftw]

So... I've got both systems back up and running now.

System #1 turned out to be hardware failure on the motherboard at dimm b2 (memory slot 4). All the memory sticks are fine but when slot 4 had anything in it, the computer would instantly go BSOD when trying to load Windows. I did have to do a battery pull to get the POST again. To figure out what was doing it, I yanked all components and put them back one by one. I did several tests on the memory and did multiple configurations to make sure that it was dimm b2 and not any of the sticks. I updated the bios from v1205 to v1503. The OS is intact and everything is running normally so far.

System #2 did require a reinstallation of the OS. Startup recovery/repair was unable to fix the problem. Fortunately, Windows 7 was able to back up the previous installation under a Windows.old directory, thereby preserving my documents. I was already using the latest bios v2101 but had to reconfigure after the battery pull.

It looks like I just had bad luck with the 2 Win7 systems dying in the same day. The problems so far seem unrelated. I'll definitely be keeping sleep mode disabled on both systems from here on out. It's not worth replacing the motherboard on System #1 just for one more memory slot so I'll keep using it with the 6gb instead of 8.

@7echno7im
I think peak usage on System 2 is right around 300w

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

 

[7echno7im]

So... I've got both systems back up and running now.

System #1 turned out to be hardware failure on the motherboard at dimm b2 (memory slot 4). All the memory sticks are fine but when slot 4 had anything in it, the computer would instantly go BSOD when trying to load Windows. I did have to do a battery pull to get the POST again. To figure out what was doing it, I yanked all components and put them back one by one. I did several tests on the memory and did multiple configurations to make sure that it was dimm b2 and not any of the sticks. I updated the bios from v1205 to v1503. The OS is intact and everything is running normally so far.

System #2 did require a reinstallation of the OS. Startup recovery/repair was unable to fix the problem. Fortunately, Windows 7 was able to back up the previous installation under a Windows.old directory, thereby preserving my documents. I was already using the latest bios v2101 but had to reconfigure after the battery pull.

It looks like I just had bad luck with the 2 Win7 systems dying in the same day. The problems so far seem unrelated. I'll definitely be keeping sleep mode disabled on both systems from here on out. It's not worth replacing the motherboard on System #1 just for one more memory slot so I'll keep using it with the 6gb instead of 8.

@7echno7im
I think peak usage on System 2 is right around 300w

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

Ok no problem. Good job narrowing down and troubleshooting your system. Enjoy 7. Glad it is now working, and if it goes sour again.... we'll be here.

 

[Frostbite]

Glad to hear you got them both back up. Always a pain when these things happen but also nice when you get the back working again.

 

[jesseftw]

Thanks again

 

[pparks1]

Glad that you were able to figure this out. I was going to suggest checking the RAM modules themselves as I had a box act very similarly to what you are describing. It turned out that one of my RAM sticks was causing the issue. I could move the stick of RAM around and the problem would follow...but once removed form the system everything was alright. However, by time I saw the thread, you had already figured it out and responded on the 2nd page.

 

[drak]

im actually having this very same problem on two of my other machines. tho they are not running seven (xp/Vista) ill troubleshoot the same as you and see if thats fixes it. i did pull the cmos battery out of the xp machine with no luck getting post. if i take everything out except vid card 1 stick of ram and one hard drive and stilll no POST what are my other options?

 

[bigpygme]

happened to me too - Win 7 Pro x64, no post, fans spinning. reset CMOS and jumper, no joy. took out the video card and the BIOS started and announced "Found new CPU" !!! Still have no idea what that was about, but it started to boot after that.