Why does my computer crash on startup?

Question

Hi,

I am running a Windows Vista Ultimate computer. I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard. I removed a netgear wireless PCI adapter from inside the computer. I started it up again, and it worked just fine. A few mins later the computer just crashed. When I try turning it on again, the computer starts, the fans and lights go on, and about 2 seconds after I have pushed the power button, it just crashes again. About 5 seconds after it crashes it just starts up on it's own again, but the same thing happens, 2 seconds later it just crashes. Again 5 seconds later it restarts, and this cycle continues. I cant even get into BIOS utilites or anything before it crashes. I have opened the computer, taking out every expansion card, and put them in again, I have pulled out every cable from the motherboard and pushed them in, and I felt it might be an overheating problem, so I re-applied thermal grease between the cpu and the fan. Yet no luck. Same thing.

Any ideas why this is happening?

One interesting thing is, I tried starting the computer with all expansion cards removed. The same thing happened. Then my dinner was ready. So I went away for half an hour. I went back to the computer then. I had disconnected it from the mains so that it wouldnt keep restarting and crashing. I plugged it back into the mains when I arrived back after my dinner. It did not restart on it's own. So I pressed the power button. And it didnt crash. However I could see was there anything on the monitor because I had the VGA disconnected and hense the monitor was not on. So I turned it off again by holding the power button pressed. It switched off. I put the expansion cards back in and tried starting it again. It went into the crash and restart cycle again. The I decided to remove all the expansion cards again, like it was before when I got it to start without crashing. I tried turning it on again, and it crashed the same way. I went away for 20 mins. Came back, and tried again. It crashed.

Those addition details should have read couldnt see the monitor, and I misspelled hence.

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Gainward Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
Creative Sound Blaster Fata1ity Edition
2 Hard Drives:
Western Digital Raptor 150GB
Samsung Spinpoint 400GB
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.67Ghz (Quad Core)
Gigabyte 3D Galaxy Water Cooling System
NEC DVD RW RAM Drive
NEC 3.5" Floppy Drive

I was not wearing a static discharge band but my hands were Earthed before I went at the parts.

Answer 1

You might want to check to see if there are any loose screws or even excessive amounts of dust(!) perhaps shorting something on the motherboard. Also, ensure that no cables are brushing against any of the fans (it made my P4 go haywire) and that, if it's a Pentium 4 PC, ensure that the 4pin connected is plugged into the motherboard.

Answer 2

The best way is to download Ccleaner here http://bitly.com/UrALrK

Or you can go on Windows operating system locate the command prompt and go there to do the following:
Create a Recovery file of system and date it today.

Then begin by;
delete the 'Temp' folders..they have hidden subfolders so you need to set the attributes in order to bypass this. For each subfolder delete all cookies and rubbish left behnd after install-uninstalled programs. Do a 'dir' command to check your progress. Make sure the 'Temp' file is empty.

goto c:\windows\prefetch and delete everything in there..no exceptions

goto c:\windows folder and delete all the '$' files that have been installed by updates. They can all be succesfully deleted and just take up disk space.

Locate the Internet Temporary Files..Check to see how high the saving level is..some have it set at 30 days..but that stores faaaar tooo much data..though it slows down the system overal. Keep this to a minimum..suggest 2 or 5 at most.

Delete all 'cookies' all those you don't need.

Locate the windows directory and go through the folders you know and those you don't need. Check this once a week at least. Some programs will install under XP as NT and older systems where there is no check of systems weight.

Check to see that system files have not changed since last booting. Things like .ini files or .bat are important items.


Check for 'Hidden Directories' all over the disk...do this at the command prompt:

dir *.* /ah wil show these hidden directories

Check the 'dir' command for all parameters

Answer 3

CCleaner is the best tool on the market to clean up your pc. Download here http://bit.ly/UrAqp0
It's a very good program and easy to use.
Cheers ;)

Answer 4

Wow such a long question without mentioning squat about the specs of said computer and drives. Sounds like a obvious hardware clash.

Answer 5

Did you have an earth wire attached to your hand when you were touching all of these components ?
Static could have blown a number of boards otherwise !

Answer 6

It could be your power supply is bad. Try another one.