PC case upgrade gone wrong, need help. Hardware/software problem.

[BigDaddy0790]

ok this might sound stupid, check your motherboard standoffs, if one is not correctly in place it could be shorting the board.

For me, mine would boot up for 20secs or sometimes 2 mins before loosing power shutting off, after a day or so off messing about trying to find the solution it came to me when unplugged the whole lot.

I could see one standoff not screwed in properly, as soon as i did, everything was working fine...

Define properly. In my old case I lost some screws and mobo was being held with just 3 not best screwed ones. Now it's 6 from the new case package. Checked.

 

[PSCO2007]

Update 2: Tried using SeaTools for Windows by Seagate, their diagnostic utility. Tried short Generic test, it passed. Short drive self test (DST) failed. Both passed on my newer 1TB drive I just bought for storage. Should I take more tests or just try to fix it with the utility? Or just screw it and get a new drive instead of this one? I really don't want to do that.

Download the Dos test - burn to cd - this is a very comprehensive test.
Run the LONG test.
SeaTools | Seagate

 

[BigDaddy0790]

Update 2: Tried using SeaTools for Windows by Seagate, their diagnostic utility. Tried short Generic test, it passed. Short drive self test (DST) failed. Both passed on my newer 1TB drive I just bought for storage. Should I take more tests or just try to fix it with the utility? Or just screw it and get a new drive instead of this one? I really don't want to do that.

Download the Dos test - burn to cd - this is a very comprehensive test.
Run the LONG test.
SeaTools | Seagate

A bit late for that, I'm in Germany atm, aka not at home. Decided to get a new Windows install and new HDD anyway, just in case it all gets fixed 100%.

I still want to know what that Windows backup thing does. Do I get a full copy of my HDD, meaning I can copy it to another HDD and then just remove this one booting from the new one?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Most think Windows backup is not the most refined tool of its type---it's not particularly flexible and has some peculiarities compared to competing applications.

It creates an image file that can later be restored to another drive---not to be confused with copied to another drive.

It usually works. Sometimes it doesn't.

 

[bigmck]

The best program to use for backup is Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download It is free and does a very good job. It will automatically make a backup to another drive. If your OS should become corrupt, you can just restore, which takes a short time and you are good to go again.

 

[BigDaddy0790]

The best program to use for backup is Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download It is free and does a very good job. It will automatically make a backup to another drive. If your OS should become corrupt, you can just restore, which takes a short time and you are good to go again.

Main question is, will it also copy all data besides Windows? If not I might as well copy it all myself and just do a clean install, doesn't take that long anyway.:sarc:

 

[ignatzatsonic]

It will include everything in the partition, regardless of what it is. You can image one or more partitions, separately or in one single image.

Since imaging programs aren't foolproof, they are a poor way to backup personal data.

 

[BigDaddy0790]

It will include everything in the partition, regardless of what it is. You can image one or more partitions, separately or in one single image.

Since imaging programs aren't foolproof, they are a poor way to backup personal data.

I'm still a bit confused, image? Isn't it supposed to be burnt on DVD or something? What I mean is is there a way to simply insert another 1TB HDD and clone my main one (has just one partition) there, then boot from it and have it all working? Or will it be easier to just copy all the files and clean install?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Images are typically about half the size of the occupied space on a partition and thus would not fit on a single DVD.

You can use multiple DVDs to hold images, but they are much more problematic than hard drives for restoration purposes. Highly not recommended.

Cloning and imaging are 2 different things. Macrium can do both.

Cloning and imaging can both fail. It's up to you to make a wild ass guess as to whether you want to bother with it. Success rate?? Probably above 90%, plus whatever time you have to spend figuring out how to do it.

If in doubt, do a clean.

Clean is more reliable.

The only reason to do cloning or imaging is that they might save you some time--by avoiding the time to configure a clean install. But they don't always work. Take your pick.

 

[PSCO2007]

Update 2: Tried using SeaTools for Windows by Seagate, their diagnostic utility. Tried short Generic test, it passed. Short drive self test (DST) failed. Both passed on my newer 1TB drive I just bought for storage. Should I take more tests or just try to fix it with the utility? Or just screw it and get a new drive instead of this one? I really don't want to do that.

Download the Dos test - burn to cd - this is a very comprehensive test.
Run the LONG test.
SeaTools | Seagate

A bit late for that, I'm in Germany atm, aka not at home. Decided to get a new Windows install and new HDD anyway, just in case it all gets fixed 100%.

I still want to know what that Windows backup thing does. Do I get a full copy of my HDD, meaning I can copy it to another HDD and then just remove this one booting from the new one?

I use the Acronis Discwizard ( link I sent you).

It is fast and accurate.
It will backup your OS and settings and you can restore it and have everything you had before.

Burn the DOS test to a cd and in the future you can check the health of your hdds.

 

[PSCO2007]

Update 2: Tried using SeaTools for Windows by Seagate, their diagnostic utility. Tried short Generic test, it passed. Short drive self test (DST) failed. Both passed on my newer 1TB drive I just bought for storage. Should I take more tests or just try to fix it with the utility? Or just screw it and get a new drive instead of this one? I really don't want to do that.

Download the Dos test - burn to cd - this is a very comprehensive test.
Run the LONG test.
SeaTools | Seagate

A bit late for that, I'm in Germany atm, aka not at home. Decided to get a new Windows install and new HDD anyway, just in case it all gets fixed 100%.

I still want to know what that Windows backup thing does. Do I get a full copy of my HDD, meaning I can copy it to another HDD and then just remove this one booting from the new one?

I use the Acronis Discwizard ( link I gave you).

It is fast and will backup the drive and allow you to restore your system in case of a failure or corruption.

 

[BigDaddy0790]

Well, clean install is no problem so I guess I'll just do that. Buy another HDD and copy data there, then return mine and get another like that, will even have a new HDD after all this. At least something positive I guess.

 

[BigDaddy0790]

Alright, came back home yesterday, did a clean install today. New HDD, new Windows, it seems to be working for now at least. I only got this question, how do I change system language? I have my old German install disk and while I change most of the text using the language pack, I remember having trouble changing ALL of it. For example, Windows Update section is still all German, and I can't delete it from packs because it says "system language". I totally got rid of it before though, but now can't seem to find a solution on Google for some reason. Anyone knows a way?

Update: Solved itself. Language simply changed to English after yet another update-reboot. All working fine now, so I'm guessing it really was the HDD. Thanks for the help to everyone!