Very Strange Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem was
a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid most of
the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates (10
of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a common
problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back up and lost
the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior setup) and it
never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and it froze while
loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in the
back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on the
box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any floppy at
all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a fried OS.

Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and powered
the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows 2000 found the
cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and CD
burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
 
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem
was a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid
most of the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates
(10 of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a
common problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back
up and lost the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior
setup) and it never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and
it froze while loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in
the back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on
the box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any
floppy at all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a
fried OS.
Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and
powered the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows
2000 found the cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and
CD burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
Click to expand...

I am sorry, this post won't help you. I have read your initial post in
new_user earlier on (a couple of days ago) and didn't have an answer then.
My thoughts led to a power switch (the front of the case) when reading it if
that helps? I thought of RAM but you mentioned swapping it out. I don't
think PS right away - that would have been low on my list of things to check
actually... I really don't know but that would be where I'd start or looking
for odd problems like potential shorts somewhere in the box???

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Hi,

3 thoughts.

1. If the Reset switch makes intermittent contact
you may get weird lockups and boot failures.
Unplug it from the m/b for a while.

2. Disconnect the burner. Any better ?
If so, could be writer or IDE cable.
Some burners don't like 80-wire cables.

3. Most likely (sorry).
Hard disk or IDE cable could be bad.
I've seen hard disks lockup a pc right after bios msg.
That's where hard disk auto detection take place.
Try running the HD manufacturer's diagnostic.
If the problem won't allow you, connect the disk
to a friend's PC (not at cable of his boot disk)
and run the diagnostic.

HTH,
John7



Bob said:
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem was
a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid most of
the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates (10
of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a common
problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back up and lost
the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior setup) and it
never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and it froze while
loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in the
back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on the
box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any floppy at
all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a fried OS.

Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and powered
the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows 2000 found the
cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and CD
burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
Click to expand...
 
Galen said:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem
was a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid
most of the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates
(10 of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a
common problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back
up and lost the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior
setup) and it never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and
it froze while loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in
the back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on
the box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any
floppy at all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a
fried OS.
Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and
powered the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows
2000 found the cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and
CD burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
Click to expand...

I am sorry, this post won't help you. I have read your initial post in
new_user earlier on (a couple of days ago) and didn't have an answer then.
My thoughts led to a power switch (the front of the case) when reading it if
that helps? I thought of RAM but you mentioned swapping it out. I don't
think PS right away - that would have been low on my list of things to check
actually... I really don't know but that would be where I'd start or looking
for odd problems like potential shorts somewhere in the box???
Click to expand...

Thx very much. Presently we are looking at an electrical problem in this
older apartment unit. Apparently only 3 of 18 outlets are even suitable
to handle a computer. The neighbor downstairs destroyed around 10
computer monitors over a period of yrs before he figured it out. It's
nothing to do with Windows or the box. Apparently an environmental factor.

You may wish to file this in the list of interesting problems though.
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
 
John7 said:
Hi,

3 thoughts.

1. If the Reset switch makes intermittent contact
you may get weird lockups and boot failures.
Unplug it from the m/b for a while.

2. Disconnect the burner. Any better ?
If so, could be writer or IDE cable.
Some burners don't like 80-wire cables.

3. Most likely (sorry).
Hard disk or IDE cable could be bad.
I've seen hard disks lockup a pc right after bios msg.
That's where hard disk auto detection take place.
Try running the HD manufacturer's diagnostic.
If the problem won't allow you, connect the disk
to a friend's PC (not at cable of his boot disk)
and run the diagnostic.
Click to expand...

Thx John. As I noted to the other poster, we are looking at an
electrical problem in the apartment unit itself for now. Hopefully that
will solve the matter. To give you an example, I drop a box up here and
all the lights down below flicker, every one of them.
Bob said:
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem was
a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid most of
the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates (10
of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a common
problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back up and lost
the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior setup) and it
never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and it froze while
loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in the
back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on the
box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any floppy at
all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a fried OS.

Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and powered
the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows 2000 found the
cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and CD
burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
 
Bob - reading both your latest posts, especially the "drop a box and
everything flickers" clue, tells me your wiring is indeed very faulty.
This loose-connection-inside-the-walls situation is the stuff of fires.

In the meantime, very fast and frequent power interrupts and surges play
all kinds of hell with electronics. If you can't arrange to replace the
wiring ASAP, and determine to live dangerously where you are, and really
want to keep that PC going, it might be worthwhile investing in an
inexpensive battery backup. These are available at many computer shops,
generally cost around $50-100, are about the size of a shoebox, and by
their nature smooth the power as it is fed to the PC and peripherals.
You would want to have all the devices attached to the backup unit.

John7 said:
Hi,

3 thoughts.

1. If the Reset switch makes intermittent contact
you may get weird lockups and boot failures.
Unplug it from the m/b for a while.

2. Disconnect the burner. Any better ?
If so, could be writer or IDE cable.
Some burners don't like 80-wire cables.

3. Most likely (sorry).
Hard disk or IDE cable could be bad.
I've seen hard disks lockup a pc right after bios msg.
That's where hard disk auto detection take place.
Try running the HD manufacturer's diagnostic.
If the problem won't allow you, connect the disk
to a friend's PC (not at cable of his boot disk)
and run the diagnostic.
Click to expand...


Thx John. As I noted to the other poster, we are looking at an
electrical problem in the apartment unit itself for now. Hopefully that
will solve the matter. To give you an example, I drop a box up here and
all the lights down below flicker, every one of them.
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That is,
difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on reboot,
massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not starting at
all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt the problem was
a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but instead just redid most of
the box and the problem seems to have gone away.

However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows updates (10
of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a common
problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back up and lost
the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior setup) and it
never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and it froze while
loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in the
back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back on the
box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any floppy at
all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a fried OS.

Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and powered
the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows 2000 found the
cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem again
but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and CD
burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear of
all the problems that may occur.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Dan said:
Bob - reading both your latest posts, especially the "drop a box and
everything flickers" clue, tells me your wiring is indeed very faulty.
Click to expand...

Yes. Just this morning, my lamp over my bed went out and I replaced the
bulb. The new bulb didn't work either. I went back around to the outlet
and the upper plug of the dual outlet was not working, so I plugged it
into the bottom one. I have never seen a problem like that ever in my life.
This loose-connection-inside-the-walls situation is the stuff of fires.
Click to expand...

I have been told this. Can I report this situation to the County
anonymously? Should I?
In the meantime, very fast and frequent power interrupts and surges play
all kinds of hell with electronics.
Click to expand...

This is one of the most confusing, frustrating and bizarre problems I
have had in 7 years of running Windows computers fulltime. And it seems
to have mystified many techies too.

If you can't arrange to replace the
wiring ASAP, and determine to live dangerously where you are, and really
want to keep that PC going, it might be worthwhile investing in an
inexpensive battery backup. These are available at many computer shops,
generally cost around $50-100,
Click to expand...

A UPS? Yes, I had one, but I think it got lost in the move for now. :( I
really want to find it and get it hooked up.

are about the size of a shoebox, and by
their nature smooth the power as it is fed to the PC and peripherals.
You would want to have all the devices attached to the backup unit.
Click to expand...

Yes, in the meantime, my neighbor feels that 3 of the 18 outlets in the
apt (at least in his) are adequate to handle a computer. All the others
will just destroy and damage equipment. One of the 3 outlets is in this
computer room, but I need an extension cord to attach to the outlet and
then run the female end of the cord to the surge suppressor. I have been
to *absolutely not scrimp* on an extension cord; to go to auto supply
store and pay $25-30. Hopefully, if I can buy that tomorrow, maybe this
horrible problem will go away.--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
 
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Galen said:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That
is, difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on
reboot, massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not
starting at all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt
the problem was a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but
instead just redid most of the box and the problem seems to have
gone away. However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows
updates
(10 of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a
common problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back
up and lost the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior
setup) and it never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and
it froze while loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in
the back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back
on the box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any
floppy at all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a
fried OS.
Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and
powered the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows
2000 found the cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem
again but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and
CD burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear
of all the problems that may occur.
Click to expand...

I am sorry, this post won't help you. I have read your initial post
in new_user earlier on (a couple of days ago) and didn't have an
answer then. My thoughts led to a power switch (the front of the
case) when reading it if that helps? I thought of RAM but you
mentioned swapping it out. I don't think PS right away - that would
have been low on my list of things to check actually... I really
don't know but that would be where I'd start or looking for odd
problems like potential shorts somewhere in the box???
Click to expand...

Thx very much. Presently we are looking at an electrical problem in
this older apartment unit. Apparently only 3 of 18 outlets are even
suitable to handle a computer. The neighbor downstairs destroyed
around 10 computer monitors over a period of yrs before he figured it
out. It's nothing to do with Windows or the box. Apparently an
environmental factor.
You may wish to file this in the list of interesting problems though.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Unfortunately the majority of problems don't USUALLY stem from
there in my country - I'm in the U.S.A. so I tend to save that for last. In
fact it's on my list of trouble-shooting steps but it's down near the bottom
and labeled "dirty power" and seldom comes into play. If you do not mind the
additional expense head to your local department store with a sizable
electronics or computer department. I'm usually reluctant to be brand
specific but in this case I will...

Get, for your PC, an APC Back-UPS EFS 350 or 500... Not only will you get
access to battery backup (it's not a true UPS system but more like the
battery in a laptop) but you'll get some mean electrical filtering
capabilities AND that makes one heck of a difference. You may need to tweak
a little bit to set it's settings so it's not too sensitive. There are more
expensive and even better options but this is a fairly inexpensive and
effective solution.

I've read the bottom-most response from you and it's really not that good to
go buy an extension cord. Not only do you then risk overloading an already
poorly maintained electrical system you add additional resistance before it
reaches even your suppresser. For a similar price you can/will get the above
mentioned toy though I'd recommend looking to see if the one you have lost
in the move is still around. If it's from APC you'll want to update it as
the security certificate is expired and will cause untold issues with it.
(Just an odd problem that's cropped up and now since buried fortunately.
Oddly ONLY people who were signed up to get notification got the email alert
BEFORE it happened. Other than that their support has been pretty good
though.)

I'm not an electrical engineer, I don't even play one on television, but
it's my opinion that if you have a moderately powerful PC and then use an
extension cord in your particular environment you are risking everything
from continued instability, to equipment damage, to fire. In most States
(I'm limited in knowledge here so I'm going to use my country for this)
there's laws which protect a renter and establish minimal standards. In and
among those codes are certain limitations on what is acceptable for wiring
and the consistency of the service. Additionally there's benefits that
protect you, the consumer/renter, from being subjected to any penalty for
reporting infractions. In other words you can/should report this but do not
need to do so with anonymity. In *most* cases I'd ASSUME that you'd be able
to speak honestly and openly to your landlord and establish a reasonable
time for repair, service, or diagnostics without need to engage the help of
the authorities. If they don't believe you, while you're out shopping, grab
a voltage meter and toss it into the outlet and have them watch the
read-out. Take it to another one, then another, then another... Once that's
done, if you want to be pushy, give them the bill for the hardware and then
settle for a new (free) APC device but still insist on it being fixed.
You're living in, to be honest, a fire-trap.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants it."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Bob, I don't know where you live, what your circumstances are, or what
your relationship with your landlord is. And this is not the best place
for you to get advice on dealing with what may be a life-threatening
situation.

That said, I'd suggest the way to handle the situation I think you're in
is politely and not confrontationally. If a polite written request (with
written careful explanation of what's been going on) to test and repair
the building circuits is unsuccessful, move elsewhere. Forcing an
unwilling landlord to make repairs is an invitation to even more shoddy
work, and more danger for you. I'd not trust a complaint to a public
agency to accomplish much, unfortunately, at least not in the immediate
future - and you have an immediate problem. Make sure you create and
keep a good paper trail.

I'm not about to give you any further advice on this. Good luck.
 
Galen said:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Galen said:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my entire
box, I was having what appeared to be power supply problems. That
is, difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting crazy on
reboot, massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not
starting at all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I felt
the problem was a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but
instead just redid most of the box and the problem seems to have
gone away. However, with the new box I recently put on some new Windows
updates
(10 of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a
common problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came back
up and lost the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior
setup) and it never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted and
it froze while loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch in
the back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and back
on the box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept any
floppy at all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even boots a
fried OS.
Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and
powered the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows
2000 found the cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem
again but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box has:

New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive and
CD burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for fear
of all the problems that may occur.
I am sorry, this post won't help you. I have read your initial post
in new_user earlier on (a couple of days ago) and didn't have an
answer then. My thoughts led to a power switch (the front of the
case) when reading it if that helps? I thought of RAM but you
mentioned swapping it out. I don't think PS right away - that would
have been low on my list of things to check actually... I really
don't know but that would be where I'd start or looking for odd
problems like potential shorts somewhere in the box???
Click to expand...
Thx very much. Presently we are looking at an electrical problem in
this older apartment unit. Apparently only 3 of 18 outlets are even
suitable to handle a computer. The neighbor downstairs destroyed
around 10 computer monitors over a period of yrs before he figured it
out. It's nothing to do with Windows or the box. Apparently an
environmental factor.
You may wish to file this in the list of interesting problems though.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Unfortunately the majority of problems don't USUALLY stem from
there in my country - I'm in the U.S.A. so I tend to save that for last.
Click to expand...

I'm in USA too.

In
fact it's on my list of trouble-shooting steps but it's down near the bottom
and labeled "dirty power" and seldom comes into play.
Click to expand...

I think comp gurus ought to keep it in mind. This is one of the weirdest
comp problems I have ever had, and frankly, it baffled 100% of the local
computer techs, and many of the online ones as well.

If you do not mind the
additional expense head to your local department store with a sizable
electronics or computer department. I'm usually reluctant to be brand
specific but in this case I will...

Get, for your PC, an APC Back-UPS EFS 350 or 500...
Click to expand...

Hi I just located by 350 UPS from my previous residence...

Not only will you get
access to battery backup (it's not a true UPS system but more like the
battery in a laptop) but you'll get some mean electrical filtering
capabilities AND that makes one heck of a difference. You may need to tweak
a little bit to set it's settings so it's not too sensitive. There are more
expensive and even better options but this is a fairly inexpensive and
effective solution.

I've read the bottom-most response from you and it's really not that good to
go buy an extension cord. Not only do you then risk overloading an already
poorly maintained electrical system you add additional resistance before it
reaches even your suppresser. For a similar price you can/will get the above
mentioned toy though I'd recommend looking to see if the one you have lost
in the move is still around. If it's from APC you'll want to update it as
the security certificate is expired and will cause untold issues with it.
Click to expand...

The security certificate?
(Just an odd problem that's cropped up and now since buried fortunately.
Oddly ONLY people who were signed up to get notification got the email alert
BEFORE it happened. Other than that their support has been pretty good
though.)
Click to expand...

I think I will use extension cord and UPS. The extension cord to the new
plug seems to have solved the problem, BTW.
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-scammers/ A new epidemic - the
Nigerian "romance scam": Nigerian crooks using dating sites, Yahoo chat
rooms and Yahoo messenger to con people. Using fake profiles with photos
of real models, they "romance" both men and women and then con them.
Join the group to learn more.
 
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Galen said:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Galen wrote:
In Bob <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Here is the problem I have been having. Prior to upgrading my
entire box, I was having what appeared to be power supply
problems. That is, difficulty in finding USB devices, computer acting
crazy on
reboot, massive file corruption and then finally Windows 2000 not
starting at all on reboot and requiring repeated reinstalls. I
felt the problem was a bad power supply. We never diagnosed it but
instead just redid most of the box and the problem seems to have
gone away. However, with the new box I recently put on some new
Windows updates
(10 of them) and rebooted. First of all, it would not shut down (a
common problem from back in the "power problem" days). It came
back up and lost the USB cable modem (a chronic problem with the prior
setup) and it never could grab the cable modem again. I rebooted
and it froze while loading at

BIOS version
[Something else]
Checking memory
512 MB memory
Press Del to Enter Setup

Freeze.

Furthermore, attempts to power off the box with the power button
repeatedly failed. The box had to be powered off with the switch
in the back of the computer. Repeated attempts to power off and
back on the box resulted in the same freeze. The box would not accept
any floppy at all, even a Checkit floppy that supposedly even
boots a fried OS.
Finally, I pulled the cord from the wall and put it back in and
powered the box back on. Everything came back up fine and Windows
2000 found the cable modem again.

This is really bizarre. It smells like the power supply problem
again but there is a whole new power supply in the box. The box
has: New power supply
New motherboard
New CPU
New memory
New video card
New sound chip
New DVD drive

In short, everything is new on the box except for the hard drive
and CD burner.

Yet the same bizarre problems, which smell like "power problems"
continue unabated.

What gives? Any thoughts? I am terrified to reboot the box for
fear of all the problems that may occur.
I am sorry, this post won't help you. I have read your initial post
in new_user earlier on (a couple of days ago) and didn't have an
answer then. My thoughts led to a power switch (the front of the
case) when reading it if that helps? I thought of RAM but you
mentioned swapping it out. I don't think PS right away - that would
have been low on my list of things to check actually... I really
don't know but that would be where I'd start or looking for odd
problems like potential shorts somewhere in the box???
Thx very much. Presently we are looking at an electrical problem in
this older apartment unit. Apparently only 3 of 18 outlets are even
suitable to handle a computer. The neighbor downstairs destroyed
around 10 computer monitors over a period of yrs before he figured
it out. It's nothing to do with Windows or the box. Apparently an
environmental factor.
You may wish to file this in the list of interesting problems
though.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Unfortunately the majority of problems don't USUALLY stem
from there in my country - I'm in the U.S.A. so I tend to save that
for last.
Click to expand...

I'm in USA too.

In
fact it's on my list of trouble-shooting steps but it's down near
the bottom and labeled "dirty power" and seldom comes into play.
Click to expand...

I think comp gurus ought to keep it in mind. This is one of the
weirdest comp problems I have ever had, and frankly, it baffled 100%
of the local computer techs, and many of the online ones as well.

If you do not mind the
additional expense head to your local department store with a sizable
electronics or computer department. I'm usually reluctant to be brand
specific but in this case I will...

Get, for your PC, an APC Back-UPS EFS 350 or 500...
Click to expand...

Hi I just located by 350 UPS from my previous residence...

Not only will you get
access to battery backup (it's not a true UPS system but more like
the battery in a laptop) but you'll get some mean electrical
filtering capabilities AND that makes one heck of a difference. You
may need to tweak a little bit to set it's settings so it's not too
sensitive. There are more expensive and even better options but this
is a fairly inexpensive and effective solution.

I've read the bottom-most response from you and it's really not that
good to go buy an extension cord. Not only do you then risk
overloading an already poorly maintained electrical system you add
additional resistance before it reaches even your suppresser. For a
similar price you can/will get the above mentioned toy though I'd
recommend looking to see if the one you have lost in the move is
still around. If it's from APC you'll want to update it as the
security certificate is expired and will cause untold issues with
it.
Click to expand...

The security certificate?
(Just an odd problem that's cropped up and now since buried
fortunately. Oddly ONLY people who were signed up to get
notification got the email alert BEFORE it happened. Other than that
their support has been pretty good though.)
Click to expand...

I think I will use extension cord and UPS. The extension cord to the
new plug seems to have solved the problem, BTW.
Click to expand...


Sorry about that, java certificate...

http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7202

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants it."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Back
Top