Computer won't boot

D

Daave

Antares said:
I just came across the following site and now I'm wondering if maybe
all my recent spate of problems might have been caused by the NVIDIA
Drivers. Do any of you have any further insights into this.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=7551

Here's the opening clip from this site in case you don't have time to
visit it and read the full text.

I'm getting a steady stream of reports in from NVIDIA users that the
latest 196.75 drivers can cause severe cooling problems, even possibly
resulting in the death of the hardware.

The problem seems to be related to the fan controller, causing the
fans to slow down, and even stop. This happening while the card is in
use is a very bad thing indeed, and can cause poor performance (as the
GPU tries to cool itself down by reducing power) and possibly even
overheat your GPU to the point where the card stops working.

---copy/paste from web site---
NVIDIA 196.75 drivers were released on Marc 2nd, and have now been
removed from the download site. If you are running these drivers it is
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you uninstall this driver and immediately
downgrade to the 196.21 drivers.

So, did you roll back the driver? If so, is your problem gone? Enquiring
minds want to know!
 
A

Antares 531

So, did you roll back the driver? If so, is your problem gone? Enquiring
minds want to know!
I had already installed a new video card, to replace the one that
failed. It came with new drivers, but they aren't the same sequence,
number-wise as those listed on the above web site.

My new GeForce 9500 GT installed the following drivers;
Driver Date 6/10/09
Version 6.14.11.8618

I don't have any way of knowing what the driver version was when the
old video card failed. I had not done any driver updates, but maybe
this had been done by my automatic updates settings.

The new problem with the CPU fan (not the graphics card fan) is still
going on. Any time I shut the computer down for a few hours...long
enough for it do cool down to room temperature...the CPU fan runs
sporadically, the beep sound comes on and I have to re-boot. After
re-booting everything runs normally.

I'm thinking this CPU fan problem may be the result of some other
driver or hardware malfunction. But, at this time I don't have any
information on this or any ideas as to what I could do to clear the
problem away.

Gordon
 
D

Daave

Antares said:
I had already installed a new video card, to replace the one that
failed. It came with new drivers, but they aren't the same sequence,
number-wise as those listed on the above web site.

My new GeForce 9500 GT installed the following drivers;
Driver Date 6/10/09
Version 6.14.11.8618

I don't have any way of knowing what the driver version was when the
old video card failed. I had not done any driver updates, but maybe
this had been done by my automatic updates settings.

The new problem with the CPU fan (not the graphics card fan) is still
going on. Any time I shut the computer down for a few hours...long
enough for it do cool down to room temperature...the CPU fan runs
sporadically, the beep sound comes on and I have to re-boot. After
re-booting everything runs normally.

I'm thinking this CPU fan problem may be the result of some other
driver or hardware malfunction. But, at this time I don't have any
information on this or any ideas as to what I could do to clear the
problem away.

If you are handy with a multimeter, that should give you good
information.

Otherwise, replace the PSU and see what happens. If the CPU fan problem
is resolved, then you know it was a voltage issue and all will be well
(with the new PSU). If not, then you know the problem is with the fan
itself, the motherboard (hopefully not), or perhaps the CPU.

It really sounds like your problem is hardware-related. You will get
better suggestions if you start a new thread in a hardware newsgroup. To
see whether or not the hardware is fine (I doubt it, though!), you could
boot off a live Linux CD and see whether or not you experience similar
problems.
 
A

Antares 531

If you are handy with a multimeter, that should give you good
information.

Otherwise, replace the PSU and see what happens. If the CPU fan problem
is resolved, then you know it was a voltage issue and all will be well
(with the new PSU). If not, then you know the problem is with the fan
itself, the motherboard (hopefully not), or perhaps the CPU.

It really sounds like your problem is hardware-related. You will get
better suggestions if you start a new thread in a hardware newsgroup. To
see whether or not the hardware is fine (I doubt it, though!), you could
boot off a live Linux CD and see whether or not you experience similar
problems.
Daave, I quite agree, the PSU needs to be checked out, but until I get
my hands on another one that I can do a swap-out with, I'll have to
get along with voltage measurements. So far, I've not been able to
catch any voltage fluctuations on any of the PSU outputs, but I can't
conclude that they don't happen...I've just not had my voltmeter
probes in place at the right time, maybe. Is there any socket on the
motherboard or PSU that I could plug my voltmeter probes into and
watch what happens during the boot process after an extended shut
down, cool off time?

Would a power supply anomaly such as this trigger the beeping?

Gordon
 
D

Daave

Antares said:
Daave, I quite agree, the PSU needs to be checked out, but until I get
my hands on another one that I can do a swap-out with, I'll have to
get along with voltage measurements. So far, I've not been able to
catch any voltage fluctuations on any of the PSU outputs, but I can't
conclude that they don't happen...I've just not had my voltmeter
probes in place at the right time, maybe. Is there any socket on the
motherboard or PSU that I could plug my voltmeter probes into and
watch what happens during the boot process after an extended shut
down, cool off time?

It's been a while since I've used one. Perhaps these articles may be of
help:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1053275.html

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1053274.html

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1056686.html?tag=content;leftCol

http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt.html
Would a power supply anomaly such as this trigger the beeping?

If the beeping is the result of a component not getting enough voltage
to function properly and if the PSU is the reason, then yes. :)
 
R

Rick Merrill

Antares said:
I finally got the above problem resolved and for a day or so this old
computer worked very well. But, this morning when I turned it on after
being shut down overnight I got a continuous beep. Everything seemed
to be working okay but the beep didn't stop.

I opened the case and noticed the CPU fan was running in short bursts
of about 2 seconds then stopping for about the same length of time.
This continued until I shut the computer down and re-booted...cold
boot. After this, the fan ran constantly and there was no more
beeping.

Fans are often controlled by a thermal sensor.

If the sensor goes over one limit, the fan is supposed to start.
Sensor goes over another limit, the alarm sounds.

A flaky sensor could explain what you saw, as could a tie up in the
stack that controls the sensor & fan.
 

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