Will not boot any more

Hi I upgraded my computer and it ran fine for 2 months.

My specs
Asus A8N-sli deluxe MB
3500+ 939 cpu
1 6800gt 256mb evga
1 gig kingston ram (2x512)
2 x 80 gigs HD

Nothing is overclocked.
I updated bois with 1006 and upgraded all drivers, I have been running this for about 2 months with no problems at all (no crashes or anything). I shut it off last night and went to boot up this morning and it goes to the asus splash screen and beeps once and it stays there with hit DEL to enter setup so I finally hit it and it says entering setup and stays there. So I power it off and do it again same thing beeps once so this time I hit the F8 key to enter bios same thing entering bios and stays there. What could be the problem?
My hard drives are spinning, Im getting video, cd & cdrw are working, every thing is powering up. Could it be the ram went out? Can't get past the splash screen.

I did take out each stick of ram but it still happens

 

You said the second time that you hit F8 to enter setup!!!! That is for entering safe mode in windows!! You said that you upgraded the bios to 1006, and updated all the drivers. Was that right before this happened,or back when you first got the machine??

as far as the memory goes...try running MEMTEST 86+ to test the memory!! Sorry I don't have time to give you a direct link, but the ole lady's got supper ready and I was actually researching another problem and ran across your problem!! But I found it by googling it! By the way...you want to let it run anywhere from atleast 2-4 passes to see if it locates any errors....and make sure you get 86+ and not 86!!

I'll check back later!!
Roger

 

Just wanted to tell you also...I like your specs on your system!!!!!!!!!

Wish the wife would let me put forth the money for that kind of hardware!!!!

Just to let you know...I'm new at this stuff but i've learned a little bit just by asking questions here myself...so i'll help you all I can, but if anybody has got any better ideas please display them!!! I'm just trying to help here instead of just looking for help!!

Roger

 

Yup sorry DEL is setup F8 is safemode but all either did was say it was entering either one and just stayed there.
All the upgrades I did was when I first built it. Have not added anything in over 1 month wanted to make sure everything was running good. So all I really did was play games

 

Niticing that you are running two identical hard drives....are you running serial ata raid??

What version of (i presume) windows...and if so...are you sure your automatic updates haven't downloaded and installed anything without you knowing it???? Such as XP Sp 2....which, incase you didn't know...has alot of hardware and software compatibility issues!!!!

Roger

 

Please disregard the repeats from the last reply....you are only allowed to edit within 5 mins of you postin the reply, and being that i'm tired....I just copied, and posted as a new reply!!!!! But please nothe that I did add quite a bit from the last reply!! See you in the morning!!

Noticing that you are running two identical hard drives....are you running serial ata raid?? If so...are you running raid 0 or are you mirroring the drives?

What version of (i presume) windows...and if so...are you sure your automatic updates haven't downloaded and installed anything without you knowing it???? Such as XP Sp 2....which, incase you didn't know...has alot of hardware and software compatibility issues!!!!

What brand are the drives???? I know for a fact that maxtor and western digital have downloadable diagnostic programs that you use to make a bootable floppy, and you can use those to test the hard drives under dos and make sure that the drives aren't corrupted for some reason or another!! I know from experience, that hard drives are tempermental!!! One day they work.....and the next day....they won't start up!!!!

also....as retarded as it sounds....if you spend alot of time online, like gaming, etc...if by chance you have norton....boot from that cd and run a scan to see if something snuck in????

Going to bed now?? Hope I can be of some help!!!!.....I'll check in again first thing in the morning!!!!

Later
Roger

 

My harddrives are ide for now, just out of my old computer
OS is win xp pro sp2 and updates are set to off.
No nortons or the like, I have been using online scans, wanted to kind of burn it in. I did take it out and put in my other pc and do a scan and it shows up clean plus I am behind a linux box.

 

I just noticed my floppy is not doing anything, will try it in another,and one in its place

 

Have you tried clearing the cmos?? Just incase something got screwed up in it?? If not I recommend you do it by taking out the battery while the power chord is unplugged from the back. I usually don't waste my time with the cmos jumper!! You never know if it is going to do the job or not!!

Ofcourse if that makes it boot....you will probably have to go back into the bios and redo some settings to your liking!! When you built the system...did you adjust any settings in the bios or were you running on "fail safe defaults"??

Roger

 

yes I cleared the comos by taking battery out and doing the pin like book said too and left it out for 1 hour (wife honey do list)
No i left every thing at default for now.

I am in the process of taking it apart and going to reset every thing and see.

My wife didnt care what I got to build this, but I did only get 1 video card for now get another later when $ fall on them.

 

Found the problem I had 2 bad hd cables, all fixed and running. thanks