How do you tell if your motherboard is about to die?

from WinCustomize Forums
I have a small problem. Every so often while booting my machine I get a blue screen of death and then the system reboots. It happens so fast I can't read what the error is. I changed a few things in my BIOS and it would finally boot. Actually the only thing I changed was the memory timing resulting in OC my RAM. Guess I will have to fix that. So how do you find out if your mobo is dying? I'm running Windows XP Pro with SP2 (Yes I'm using SP2 finally) and I have 512 megs of DDR RAM.
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Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How do you tell if your motherboard is about to die?
look for a suicide note ?


ok do ya get the blue screen of death during windows loading process?

if it is during the windows loading i would venture to say there might be a problem with the XP installation.. a virus .. or the HDD may be going out ...

typically if it wont even start to load windows it could be a simple cmos battery.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well this is a fresh install of XP - not even a week old. I guess it could be a virus I will check. The HDD is about a year old. Maxtor 40 gig. I should replace it and see if that helps. I believe the CMOS battery is OK. The motherboard hols it's settings pretty good.
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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you changed something in the BIOS, try going back to Default settings and see what happens. If it still does it, then you might want to see if you can get into SAFE mode, still no luck, try going into the Recovery Console using your XP disk and running a check disk.

That should keep you busy for a while and maybe one of those will fix it or give you a different error

If you are able to get into safe mode and want to view your blue screen without reboot.. Start -> Right click (My Computer) -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Click on Settings button where it says System Start Up -> Uncheck "Automaticlly Restart".
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

(Yes I'm using SP2 finally)

tsk tsk tsk..... another one bites the dust

(My system is an OS-PFA - Official Service Pack Free Area)

Anyway, back to your regular scheduled thread

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Oops wrong thread
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OK I did a few things and it seems to have worked. First off I used my XP cd and ran a recovery console and performed a CHKDSK /p and then ran FIXBOOT. The next thing I did was I went into safe mode and ran another CHKDSK but this time with a /f parameter. Finally I uninstalled SP2 and now the computer works great just as it should. I think I shall also perform a SFC /SCANNOW as well just to be on the safe side.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow, reallly making sure that the disk is checked
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Believe me it found PLENTY of errors.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It happens so fast I can't read what the error is


This is usually because of a setting in the 'My Computer->Properties->Advanced' dialog. In the 'System Failure' group is an option to automatically restart. Uncheck it if you want to see the details on the BSOD.

HTH.

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Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Kona, a bad Motherboard will usually just beep at you, more times than not, if it isnt beeping away to a very annoying tune then the probelm is most likely something else..not in all cases but more than 85% of the time.

Looks like you "cured" it for the time being..just wanted to give you a heads up about MoBo's.. If they are shorted out they will beep, if the sautered connections are no longer making the "connection" they will beep. etc, etc.. Never assume the MoBo, thats a *worst case scenario.

Zero.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah I forgot about the beeping BIOS thing. thanks Zero. I think I need a new HDD and a fresh, clean install of XP and/or Linux.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
changed was the memory timing resulting in OC my RAM


Believe me it found PLENTY of errors


Set the memory to default and the errors will stop.........
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What is the "defualt" setting for 2100 DDR RAM? It is running at 266 MHz right now Yrag.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
266 is correct...I didn't say you have your memory over clocked....you did...
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah it WAS running at 333 MHz.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top




That's why your files got corrupted and your mobo kept talking to you........
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I doubt it. When I installed XP a week ago the memory was at 266 MHz. I OC it on the day I started this thread to see if it would help me get into XP so I could uninstall SP2. In the past it worked for some strange reason. My mobo has NEVER beeped at me ecept the normal one beep at boot time. The whole problem was with XP. It seems a I had a problem with SP2 and another problem with a bad driver.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Kona....I'd seriously be listening to yrag....if you overclocked your ram you will eventually incur errors...including data corruption, aka fragging the OS itself.

Mem has a 'designed speed' where it is determined to be 'stable'...exceed that at your own peril.

Once you overclock you can expect the OS to fail at one level or another....it's simple cause and effect...

Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Overclocking is just not wise in any case..Unless you have a box that is a spare and you have no care what happens to it,,dont OC..it shortens the lifespan dramatically..

Zero.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
instead of over clocking .. buy a faster unit ...
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
over clocking is a pure waste of time. you are willing to fry your pc and corrupt the data for a extra .5 mhz or so?.. it's simply not worth the risk... i mean if you got an extra 2 ghz out of it i would say it may be worth trying .. but geez 500 mhz or so isnt even worth the effort... the more you over clock a pc the quicker the data gets corrupted..
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
but geez 500 mhz or so isnt even worth the effort...


It would be here...

It would double my speed.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No worries everyone. I'm not a "OC" kind of guy. Everything is now running smooth and nothing is OC.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Cool your system enough and you won't have to overclock
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Something wrong with your statement there weaksid. I know if I wanted to OC I would need to setup more ways to cool my system but why would I need to OC if my system is not cool enough?