Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 123302	2012-02-16 11:59:00	PC keeps locking up/going into sleep mode	vinenbayn (16705)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1259520	2012-02-16 11:59:00	Hey guys, I have a dilemma with my PC tha has rendered it unusable Every time I turn the computer on, It ends up locking up and going into what I believer to be sleep mode within anywhere between a few seconds of starting up, to about 5-10 after boot. Sometimes when I start it i dont even get the boot screen, I just get a black screen and my monitor remains in standby. If I get the computer to boot up, I can use it for about 5-10 minutes before it locks up for a few seconds, then the monitor shows "No Input" for about a second then it goes into standby. It will even do this while in the BIOS menu. My PC is pretty old, I've had it for quite a few years. It's pretty loud and squeals when it goes into sleep mode, which is why i think that that is what it is doing. I've tried several things so far. I took out everything (video card, power supply, etc.) and cleaned it/got all the dust off of it (the computer has kinda just been sitting around for just over a yar) and then put everything back together. It is a MSI motherboard with an AMD 64 Athlon X2 dual-core processor, Geforce 7300 GS, and an Allied AL-C400ATX 400 Watt ATX Power Supply. I thought maybe my video card was going out, but I want to make sure before I go out and dish out money for a new one, only to find the computer doing the same thing again. Just some info on what I was doing during the time it started doing this. The most recent thing I did was update the video card drivers so that I could play Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I was using PS CS5 to make some business cards, and going about my regular stuff I do on a computer. Any kind of information would be much appreciated.	vinenbayn (16705)
1259521	2012-02-16 18:08:00	My first thoughts... ensure the squeal isn't from a HDD, otherwise your data is in grave danger. Could be a MOBO with bad caps. Caps can also squeal when they're charging/discharging at an audible rate. FOr me the monitor does this when in sleep mode (so I turn it off to shut it up)	Paul.Cov (425)
1259522	2012-02-17 04:38:00	The squeal is definately the caps, I never thought this as much of a problem because it has always sqealed. I actually got the sqeal to quiet a bit by messing with the caps a bit. My HDD is fine, ive never had any problems wth it. I'm really just worried about how it keeps going into sleep mode. I'm starting to really think its the video card, I've heard of this happening when the video card is going out. Could the drivers have possible messed up the video card somehow? It happened the night I updated the VC drivers. It really is an old video card, (I could probably replace it for around $70) but money is kind of tight for me these days so I really want to make sure this is the problem.	vinenbayn (16705)
1259523	2012-02-17 07:15:00	See if you can roll back to the earlier drivers, or recover from a Restore Point prior to their installation. If it's still bad, then I'd still think it's hardware on the way out.	Paul.Cov (425)
1259524	2012-02-17 07:31:00	That's the thing, It will still lock up and go to a black screen as it is booting up and even in the BIOS menu. I'm sure its a hardware problem but I have heard that this can be caused by both the VC and the power supply. It's hard to be sure exactly what the problem is.	vinenbayn (16705)
1259525	2012-02-17 08:13:00	The squeal is definately the caps, I never thought this as much of a problem because it has always sqealed Thats a bad sign -- caps shouldn't squeal at any time. Just be very careful as to what you are buying, if the Motherboard has failed, and from what you say about the caps, then you'd be wasting your money on other outdated, and possibly obsolete components.	wainuitech (129)
1259526	2012-02-18 03:48:00	Okay so I went out and bought a GeForce 8400 GS graphics card and put it in tonight and it seemed like I was getting the same problem at first, until i tweaked a few things and intalled the drivers. Now it's up and running. I did just put it in about 10 minutes ago so I'm going to keep an eye on It for awhile and see if it's really fixed.	vinenbayn (16705)
1259527	2012-02-18 07:11:00	Okay so I had it running for a few hours, everything was going good. I downloaded the newest drivers from nvidia and all was good, until now. Suddenly it did the same thing it did before, but then it fixed and a message popped up saying the display drivers temporarily failed but recovered. A few seconds later it started doing the same thing it was doing before. I'm still unsure as to what the problem is because it was working fine for the past few hours.	vinenbayn (16705)
1259528	2012-02-18 08:25:00	Hope the graphic card wasn't to expensive. You mentioned before "The squeal is definately the caps", is it still making a noise -- Apart from the fans the PC should be basically silent. Faulty Caps WILL cause problems. They shouldn't be making any noise at all. "saying the display drivers temporarily failed but recovered" Thats either software failing/ corrupting or from what you mentioned about the caps, the motherboard. ( assuming its the boards caps that are making the noise)	wainuitech (129)
1259529	2012-02-19 06:17:00	Yes it's definately the caps. They have quieted down a little bit but still sqeal pretty loud, especially when it goes into sleep mode. I cleaned every piece of hardware with air duster thinking that maybe dust was blocking air flow to a vital component, but to no avail. It still keeps doing the same thing. I think I may just have to save up to get a new motherboard. It's my last resort but I may as well. The video card was only $40, and i was due for at least a small upgrade anyways. Now I'm wondering what could have caused this defect with the caps. I mean, the entire PC is quite old but It has been sqealing for awhile. I don't think I remembr it ever NOT sqealing.	vinenbayn (16705)
1 2