Hardware Or Software Problem?

Right now, I'm on my HP Notepad because my desktop pc won't boot up. I run Windows 10 v 1803. It was working great until I uninstalled Xbox because I don't play games except for Solitaire. When I discovered that Solitaire depended on Xbox, I did a System Restore but it didn't bring Xbox back. I Googled the problem, ran the fix, and Xbox/Solitaire was back but then my pc kept freezing, rebooting and giving me the BSOD (error code WHEA) several times a day. I then decided to do a Windows Repair but it didn't fix the problem . . . all this kept happening. I tested my RAM and ran an sfc scan and both results were good.

This morning, my pc won't boot up. It starts, it gives me the beep, but as soon as the splash screen opens, it stops, shuts down and tries to boot up again with the same results until I finally turned the power off to it.

1. Does this sound like a hardware problem or a software problem? I'm thinking about removing the hard drive, installing a new one, and then installing Windows again. I bought the disk so there'd be no problem for me to do that. But if it's a hardware problem, installing Windows again won't help.

2. Since I can't get into BIOS to make my DVD ROM drive first in boot order in order to install Windows from my disk onto the new hdd, will my computer figure that out on its own and do it by itself or will that be a problem?

 

Which splash screen you talking about? If you hear a single beep then this is not the bios splash screen but one that comes after if.

Can you boot to safe mode?

Happy New Year

PS as regards the boot order, whether it be optical or HDD first, this will have to be manually set in you bios

 

I was able to get into BIOS this morning. I had de vided to install Windows on a new hard drive. I have 2 brand new WD hdds. When I attempted to install Windows on both of them, it said that there is 0Mb available on both of them. I thought maybe because they weren't formatted so I tried installing Windows on a hard drive that is formatted for Windows 10. It again told me that 0Mb is available on the hdd.

What do I need to di to get Windows installation to see that the hdd has 2Tb available?

I'm on a little tablet tight now and can't do much with it. It takes about 10 hours to charge and about 1\2 hr of usage.

I can't boot into Safe Mode. As soon as the motherboard splash screen appears, there's a beep and it stops booting up, shuts down, and tries to boot up again, over and over until I

 

If I were in your shoes, I would do a barebones set up ie disconnect everything from the motherboard apart from psu, cpu, vga and only have one stick of ram.

See what happens and if you can boot to bios.

 

What do I do when I get into BIOS?

 

For now, I would see whether you are able to get into the bios and check the boot order.

Secondly, I would also allow the pc to boot normally (without going into bios) and seeing what happens. Given that there is no boot media (HDD or bootable CD/USB) attached it should just go to a blank screen with flashing white cursor.

If that happens. I would then reattach the boot HDD and see if the boot error persists or not.

You could also try booting from a Linux live cd (or other say GParted) if you have one rather than attaching the HDD.

Need to figure out the nature of the error ie HW or SW. Smells like HW to me but the barebones set up should shed more light.

Good Luck

 

My pc won't boot up. It does the same thing whether or not the boot drive is connected: it beeps once, motherboard flash screen opens, shuts down, repeat. Ive removed DVD drive, adapter card and all but one stick of RAM and it does the same thing.

I was able to get into BIOS earlier, made DVD drive first in boot order, connected a new hard drive, put Windows disk in DVD drive. Windows installation started but then it said that the hard drive had 0Mb unallocated space. I shut down, connected another brand new drive and started Windows installation again and again it said that there was 0Mb of unallocated space on the drive. So I connected a hard drive that has 1Tb of empty space on it and had previously been formatted using Windows 10 and again Windows said that there was 0Mb of unallocated space on the drive.

 

I would suggest that you reseat the sata data cable into the hard drive and into the motherboard.
Good luck
s.

 

Done that already and also tried new data cables and different ports on the motherboard.

What does one beep, mobo flash screen appears, then shutdown mean?

My mobo is an ASUS A8V-VM SE.

 

Check the type of BIOS.
It should be AMI.
One beep code means the RAM has failed. If replacing the RAM doesn't work then the motherboard has failed.

Are you sure?
This motherboard is 10 years old and supports Windows 2000 and XP.

Here's the manual.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/409770/Asus-A8v-Vm-Se.html

 

Which ram slot did you place the ram stick in?

The manual linked above says on P.24

"If you are installing only one DIMM module for a Single-channel configuration, install the module on DIMM_B1"

DIMM_B1 is the one on the right as per P.19 of same manual.

If boot error persists then try another ram stick, if you have one.

I do not doubt what Eldon says about the one beep suggesting a ram error on AMI bios but it is unusual as one beep is usually the confirmation beep heard after the bios has initialized and has given the all clear for no hw errors.

PS: I seem to recall in an earlier thread of yours that you added 2 more ram sticks to the 2 that you already had. Puzzled as this mobo only seems to have 2 ram slots. Or is this another mobo?

 

I bought 1 set of twin sticks of RAM in April and then I installed another set in October as per the Crucial scan. Since I'm on this tablet, I don't know the name/part number. When my computer started freezing last week, I ran a test of my RAM and the results said they were good

My motherboard is old, yes. I just spent $400 upgrading RAM, adapter cards and video card for it so I could run Windows 10 plus $100 for the Windows disk. If I need a new motherboard, I'd have to buy everything new and I just don't have the money for it so I'm trying to get this one back up.

Yesterday, I was able to get Windows installed on a new hard drive. It ran for about an hour and then it froze, like before. It won't boot up again this morning.

 

Tried another PSU, I keep a 650 watt spare around for troubleshooting and replacement.

 

I have a spare PSU somewhere. I just moved a few days ago and my garage is stacked 4-5 boxes high and 3-4 boxes deep all along the garage wall. It'll take me a couple of weeks to get through them. Thanks for the idea, though. I'm thinking more and more about taking it to a pc repair shop.