Computer freezes on startup before beeper posts

[louis cardinal]

i start up my computer and it freezes at my load up screen (It shows F2 for BIOS and F12 for boot menu etc.)

i am luckily able to enter the BIOS if i press key quick enough before the computer freezes a few seconds after.

i got lucky and my computer functioned one time, i am running System repair on the computer (Windows software)

After my issues i checked my RAM moduels, i removed them and put them back in ETC, i can run the memory test x86 (I have the CD and i can boot from my optical drive) if required but i doubt this issues is memory related, plus checking memory is long and tedious

As far as i know, the most recent changes made to my computer were changes to the registry with the software CCleaner however i am unsure this is what caused my freezes to start.

no i didn't backup my deleted registries, this is the first time i encountered a problem after cleaning registries.

i have not received any error codes so far.

 

[louis cardinal]

anyone got any experience with this? i never had freezes before hitting the windows login screen before, my ability to fix this is limited.

 

[usasma]

If it freezes on the screen where you access the BIOS, then it's likely that this is a hardware problem.
Please run these free, bootable diagnostics: Initial Hardware Diagnostics

If you've already run a memory test, please let us know what test you ran and for how long (how many passes) that you ran it.

 

[louis cardinal]

I am confirmed that my BIOS doesnt fail, what i meant was that it was difficult to get into it due to the freeze occuring so quickly after booting (my freeze happens just before i have the beeping post) so navigation with the start up screen was tricky (Mashing F2/F12 keys from start)

also i know 100% its not malware

 

[usasma]

If it freezes that early, then it's likely that it's a hardware problem.
Does it act worse when it's cold, or when it's warmed up?

Try the hard drive diagnostic to see if that's causing problems: Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

 

[FaberTech]

is this a laptop or desktop? and have you tried resetting the bios by unpluging your computer removing any batteries that may power it and removing the cmos battery. refer to your motherboard instructions for other ways to reset your cmos using jumpers that may be on your board.

also make sure your heat sink is properly snug and tight on your cpu. they do come loose from time to time. it happened to me once.

 

[FaberTech]

this post and another are so similar that im going to post a link to the other on each one to help boost the solution to the problem.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/230350-computer-turned-off-suddenly-now-doesnt-turn.html

 

[louis cardinal]

Been testing, alot of new info

Okay after a new tests i found out some interesting things:

One time when i booted up my PC, it ran perfectly fine without issues only for that boot up.

Another time it failed to start with the message "Boot mgr is corrupt the system cannot start"

Another time i had started the computer and it took 20 seconds for my screen to turn on responsive and my computer's power button (i attempted a turn off by holding it down) was unresponsive, very new to me!

and lastly one time i booted my PC, it loaded just fine but explorer.exe failed to load up as well as other start up items such as my anti virus.

? does this mean hard drive is screwed? most likely right? (just wanna hear what you guys think before i run the tests from Initial Hardware Diagnostics).

 

[louis cardinal]

i fixed my problem, it was a optical drive.

funny because my DVD optical drive was not connected with power, only the data cable was in and for some reason this caused the problem.

ill wait a few days to see if any other issues arise so i can confirm its fixed, then ill mark as solved.

 

[FaberTech]

my brother had a similar issue like this, exempt it was his data cable and the computer kept blue screening.

 

[louis cardinal]

i dont understand, i just had a DVD optical drive connected to my motherboard without power and it caused this much trouble!? it caused issues with booting up and my hard drive disk. doesn't make sense.

 

[FaberTech]

Try hooking up a bad printer or a bad external hard disk and see how long it takes to boot. Its normal when a device isn't working properly to stall a boot. First the bios has to recognize the faulty device, then the OS has to while the kernel is loading so it can take control of it. If the device doesn't respond properly, it will stall everything.

 

[usasma]

This happens quite frequently with bad hard drives.

For example, a crossed wire (short) in the CD/DVD drive impacts it's access by the controller(s) built onto the motherboard - which is also (usually) connected in some way to the Hard Drive.

And, if the device is spitting out errors - the program (BIOS or Windows) has to do multiple error checks (that's why the system slows down when a hard drive is dying).

 

[louis cardinal]

So im still confused, my optical DVD drive is bad and broken or is it to do with the fact that i only plugged in the data cable without the 4 pin peripheral connected?

 

[usasma]

You haven't troubleshot the device, so it's unknown at this point.

Try it with power
Try it with a new data cable
Try it completely disconnected
Try another, known good CD/DVD drive

 

[louis cardinal]

actually i think i already solved the problem, disconnected it and computer works fine. But may i ask where do i get a SATA to a 4 PIN?(my power supply is all SATA cables, i need a 4 pin to power my drive) i couldnt find 1 thats why my optical drive doesnt have power.

 

[usasma]

Try this Google shopping search:
sata to 4 pin power connector - Google Search