Bad motherboard/BIOS?

[Clayton]

My next problem: a little background. About six weeks ago my pc started freezing up often and finallky got to the point it would no longer boot. It would try but would not complete a boot to either XP or Win7. At that time I had only one pc (have since purchased a gateway for a 2nd pc). I tried everything I knew and finnally took it to the Geek squad. They ran a complete diagnostic on everything, even all 6 of my hard drives and came up with a bad memory chip as the problem and removed it. I had 4 2gb chips. Everthing worked fine for awhile and it started freezing again, so I removed another chip and all was well. Lately it has started freezing again and soon after Bob solved my dual boot problem, it froze once and when I tried to reboot it went completely dead no power. The green liight was on the motherboard so it was getting power. I let it set overnight and it restarted the next day, but still freezes up regularaly. Need to mention that sometimes when I rebooted (going on for a while) the bios has changed. 1) boot order changed, 2. once the date had changed. 3)some screens I turned off are back on. Just some odd things. My bios is the original 06/08. There are updates, the latest is 2010. Also I know my cpu is running hot 46-48C. Can this shut a pc completely down when overheating? The first thing I think about is updating the bios or removing the cpu and regreasing it. Or is my motherboard going bad? Before I do anything else what does it sound like is happening? All thoughts appreciated. Will be glad to answer questions if I did not explain myself.

[TreeTopsRanch]

48c = 118f. That's pretty hot. Are you sure the fans are working?

[Clayton]

Yes

[Chris B]

A Q9450 has a max tcase of around 75C (http://ark.intel.com/products/33923/Int ... MHz-FSB%29) so 45 is not warm at all. Modern processors tend to just "slow down" rather than turn off if they overheat so I'm not sure that's the correct diagnosis.

However - what power supply do you have in there - there are a LOT of drives if I read your sig right - I wonder if it's simply a power issue - your PSU might be getting old and not be up to the job.

[Clayton]

I have an 800 watt supply.

[Clayton]

Actually I installed the asus pci probe and it shows the CPU @ 99F and the MB @ 91F. This has been my setup for 3 1/2 years.

[Bob]

...the bios has changed. 1) boot order changed, 2. once the date had changed. 3)some screens I turned off are back on. Just some odd things.

That sounds like the battery on the motherboard needs to be replaced. The motherboard battery does two things, it powers the cmos chip on the motherboard that contains the bios configuration settings, and it powers the real time clock circuit. If the battery is low or marginal, you can get changes like this. I'd try replacing the battery. You'll need to reset and configure the bios afterwards. While the case is open, I'd also reseat the ram and pci cards to make sure they are making good contact and blow off any dust with a can of compressed air.

If the problems continue after replacing the battery, you have more serious problems. The power supply may be going out, or the motherboard may be going bad. Did the Geek Squad test the power supply?

[Clayton]

Thanks Bob. I don't know for sure if they tested it. They spent a week testing it. The size of my drives required a lot of time. Two questions before I run to fry or someplace. Is the battery for this motherboard a standard size I could buy at frys or is it some priority battery I would have to get from asus or maybe newegg. Second I have never looked at power supplies before. Mine is in a box at the bottom, came with my coolermaster tower. Is that something fairly simple to replace?

[Clayton]

Oh I see its a CR-2032 battery. I should be able to buy that anywhere.

[Bob]

Power supplies are relatively easy to replace. The supply is self contained and attached to the case with screws. The biggest hassle is routing the new cables to where they need to go and connecting them. And, that's not all that bad. The container size is standardized, but the number and type of cables is not. CoolerMaster supplies should be fine. I'd look for an exact replacement. If you don't get an exact replacement, check to make sure it comes with sufficient cables of the type you need.

I wouldn't rush right out and replace the power supply unless you know for sure that is the problem. Of course, if it is going to cost as much to test it as it is to replace it, that's a different story. But, wait and see if replacing the battery helps.

The battery socket probably has a side tab that's holding in the battery.

[Ron]

FWIW, I don't trust the "Geek Squad". Major conflict of interest.

2 cents.

[Clayton]

Okay I replaced the battery. Will wait and see. One encouraging thing, my wireless mouse would barely move before so I had popped in a usb mouse to operate. So far the wireless mouse looks normal.

FWIW, I don't trust the "Geek Squad". Major conflict of interest.

2 cents.

Probably right Ron. At the time I did not have any computer and could not take advantage of our own expertise. I was grasping at straws. Now have a backup so won't have that problem again! If I had known they would run diagnostics on all drives I would have disconnected some of them as 2 were only for backups.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

A bit late to this party (time difference between the UK and USA) but I think that Bob has the correct call. CMOS battery.

[Clayton]

Well since I installed the battery on the 28th, things are better, not perfect. I have not turned the machine off since then and it has frozen 3 times in that span (much better than once an hour at least it was doing). I have had 3 grandsons all weekend playing on it nonstop, so figured it got a good work out. I forgot to mention, I also reinstalled one of my memory chips (not the one the geek squad said was bad). I will experiment some more and reinstall that chip also. I still may persue the power supply, but if it only freezes occassionally, I can live with that. Thanks again Bob.

[Peru]

I still may persue the power supply, but if it only freezes occassionally, I can live with that.

Just be aware of the fact that a failed power supply can do damage to the motherboard.
I speak, unfortunately, from experiance.