Computer freezes while booting up

tinmai

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4
Hi. So here's my problem:

I moved out months ago and kept my desktop in my closet at my new place because I didn't have the room for it. Now I'm in my new place and have room so I decided to set it up again. Only thing is..it doesn't work!

It worked just fine before I stored it in my closet.

This is what happens: I power it on, and if I'm lucky, I can make it past the login screen and then it freezes.
If I push the restart button on the tower, it usually just resets itself and doesn't do anything on the next power up.
The screen usually says something about not getting a DVI signal.

Other times, after I power on, it might reach the loading WinXP screen and freeze.
Sometimes I manage to get into BIOS and after 10 seconds or so, it freezes again.
And again, if I restart, it will get the 'no DVI signal'.

So, pretty much...it doesn't boot up and freezes a lot.

And off the top of my head, I don't remember all my computer specs; I had a friend help build it.
Even if I wanted to, I can't install that Everest program cause my computer can't stay on long enough for me to!
From what I DO remember:

Pentium 4 w/ HT 3.0ghz, no overclock
4GB (2x2) OCZ PC8500 Dual Channel Memory
WindowsXP SP2
Memorex optical drive
Vid card: ATI - Honestly don't remember...

What could be the problem? I thought it was the Memory at first, so the 4gb of OCZ is new (replaced my old 1gb of Kingston that was 2+ years) and dusted the case. And I also replaced the on-board battery, too.

Thanks for reading!
 
Try replacing the battery on the board. While still sitting in a closet the cmos time and date as well as time of day or night is like the battery in your wrist watch still ticking away. After a few years added on top of just sitting around in a closet the battery finally got weak.
 
Open that thiong up and remove/reseat everything. make sure all wires and cables are firmly attached. Some thing may have been shaken loose during the move.
 
Besides reinspecting all connections another thing that comes to mind right off is your mention of swapping out a pair of 1gb Kingston dimms for a new pair of 2gb sized OCZ dimms. If the maximum amount on the older board is 4gb across 4 dimm slots typically seen the new memory isn't supported!

A good free system information tool you run by creating a shortcut or simply double clicking on the file called System Info for Windows will show the make and model board, cpu, video card, memory as well as the programs installed. http://www.gtopala.com/

Since you didn't recall all of that this will provide the necessary information needed in order to look up the specifications to see you installed dimms that are simply too large to run on the board there.
 
^ I can't run/open/download do anything with the desktop. Most of the time I can't even get to the login screen.

And the problem began before I swapped out the memory (I thought the old memory was the initial problem, hence the upgrade), but it's still not working.
 
If you could boot up in safe mode you could use the msconfig utility to disable all startup items until you can determine if this is hardware or Windows related preventing a normal boot. In safe mode you would still be able to run the system information tool to see the make and model board as far as knowing the maximum on memory just the same since replacing bad ram with oversized dimms won't get you very far either.
 
I've tried safe mode as well. And the same thing happens..in a matter of a short time, the system freezes up and I'm back to square one. Seems no matter what I do, I have less than 60 seconds from power on until it fails on me. =[
 
Then you have to start considering other alternatives like the board, supply, even cpu if the bonding somehow gave out between cpu and sink seeing that get hot or it's days are numbered. A bad cap on the board or in the supply, the supply's transformer, or a few other things.

The best thing to do now however is see if you can get some details like make and model board from the person who put the case together for you. Without any error messages or blue screens being seen it makes it hard to identify exact causes without something more to go by.
 
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