PC not starting

aby geek

Cyborg Agent
Hi Everyone,

My PC has two drives, a WD 500gb and a seagate 250 gb.
few years back the seagate developed problems and i got it fixed.
I got a WD 500gb and made it my primary drive with win 7 fresh install.

Now last week when I switched on my system it was trying to load the windows XP that was originally on the seagate but did not even manage that and gave a blue screen.

a few weeks earlier the system was giving incorrect date and time warning, which could be due to CMOS battery running out.

But what happened to the WD drive ? why did it stop booting?

Thanks
Aby
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
What exactly happens now when you try to boot Windows 7 from WD Drive? Does it show blank screen? Does it show blinking cursor? Does it show Windows logo? Does the HDD LED glow just continuously?

Post your detailed hardware specs and the exact extent of the problem.

At a preliminary level your boot order might have got altered as a result of loss of CMOS data and it might be defaulting to the Win XP HDD. Disconnect the Win XP HDD and try booting again with only WD Win7 connected and report back what happens.

When you made your WD as primary drive and installed Win7, did you keep Seagate connected to the system or kept it disconnected during install. What is/was the HDD boot priority set in BIOS?

Further check...
Can you boot to BIOS after trying to boot with both HDDs removed, now it's only SMPS,MOBO+CPU + RAM and basic IO like keyboard?
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
thanks patkim,

I unplugged the sata cables from both the drive and reconnected them but i could not take out one of the sata cables from the mobo sata port.
now after i did this when i pressed load windows normally on the start(its appearing due to dead cmos) it is giving disk read error.

Q1. is it the psu ?

Q2. is it the thermal paste eroded and cpu is heating.

Q3. could mobo sata port be broken?

Q4. will i need to re install windows?

ill try and single out the drives today and yes i do not remember if the computer repair person who installed the wd drive kept seagate disconnected or not.

what setting in BIOS should i be changing when i enter BIOS.

the configuration is

core 2 duo e 7500
asus p5qpl-am mobo
wd 500 gb
seagate 250 gb
adata ddr2 800mhz 2gb x1
corsair vx550w smps

windows 7 ultimate 32 bit
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Another reason why your XP gives BSOD could be that after Windows 7 Install you might have changed the SATA Controller in BIOS to AHCI rather than IDE. Win XP does not natively support AHCI mode and crashes if drivers are not found.

Try keeping each HDD at a time and see if it boots. It depends a lot on where and how your bootloader was installed at the time of installation. If you kept only one HDD at a time (despite trying to create a dual boot XP & Win7) bootloader could very well be on respective HDDs and that's a bit simpler config.

If you can get any one of the Windows to boot (when both HDDs are connected), try to check SMART parameters of the WD HDD by using an app like Crystal Disk Info. You can also explore Live Linux and run SMARTCTL command from Linux Command line to get the SMART parameters. SMARTCTL --all <HDD device> Search the net for more command options.

You may need to delicately press a metal clip at SATA cable end and then pull it up to loosen it from the mobo slot if you are using a good quality cable.

If you are getting Boot Windows Normally option , try F8 key at boot and see if you can access Win7 start up options. Select Repair this computer and see if you can initiate Start Up repair.
 
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rhitwick

Democracy is a myth
[If this is still not resolved]

Change CMOS battery and then,

Go to BIOS, check boot order
Make sure WD HDD is selected first boot device
With WIN7 I too faced a similar issue (I've two HDDs, one 160 GB and another 500GB)
Win7 installed in 160GB but wrote MBR on the 500GB one.
Due to this I have to select 500GB one as my first boot device even though 160GB one has got WIN7.
 
OP
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
I managed to find another repair guy what he did was change power cables attaching to the wd hdd as it was making the ticking sound and kept making the sound on every power cable he attached.
and it was the wd hdd that was not letting the seagate load xp and the personnel's linux boot pen drive was also being hindered.
as soon as he disconnected the wd the seagate loaded xp easily and his pen drive opened too.

for now he changed the cmos battery and made a fresh win7 install on the seagate.

Should I still check the wd for SMART capabilities or is it definitely dead as it is making a ticking sound?
Should I buy a new 250gb ssd and make it the primary drive and buy an external for capacity later or should i just buy an external for now?
This motherboard supports 8gb ddr2 and upto win7 as per the manufacturers website should I upgrade this system or buy a new one completely?
I thought of upgrading it cause I wanted to keep my vx550 smps but if i sell this of I might need to add few components to actually sell this as a complete rig.

on that note how much do you think this system can fetch?
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Your system is quite outdated.If you can afford it,keep this system as backup/testing system until you can sell it but it will not fetch much,maybe 3-5k.If you are planning on building a new system then AMD Ryzen looks a very good option but it requires a graphics card.The current AMD apu(processors with integrated graphics just like intel) are based on older generation & new apu based on zen architecture(same as Ryzen processors) with integrated vega graphics are expected to launch in 2018.Intel has released 8th gen core i processors & now even i3 has 4 cores making it a very good processor but only issue is that currently only costly series mobos are available for 8th gen intel which are really not needed for i3 processor.In this case too cheaper budget motherboard models are expected to launch in 1st Quarter of 2018.
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
Thanks whitestar_999

I have rendering and gaming mixed workload and I was planning on TR 1950x based system when it dropped to 869$ recently but then coffee lake came and i felt unsure about spending 200k exclusively on a system as of now.

Now that coffee lake mobos are super expensive i think ill either get Ryzen 1700 or wait for Ryzen 2 pinnacle till march. thats why I asked should I upgrade this system as it processor could be upgraded too as its not the top end component.

If 5k is all i'll get out of it then i think ill add a graphic card and ssd now and build a new one after pinnacle arrives.
will this system sell for more if i upgrade it now and sell around march?
How can i sell individual components of this PC and make room for new ones if i upgrade this ?

What is the current most powerful single gpu that my Corsair VX 550W can handle?
Please suggest a smaller and cheaper SSD than Samsung 850 evo 250 GB , I don't mind paying for performance but don't want to spend 7.5k on a single part right now ?
Would it be a wise decision to go for smaller capacity SSD like 120 or 80 GB ones, what is the star performer in those categories?
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
The thing is your rig is quite outdated so no matter what you do,you will not get any better return.More specifically why would anybody want to buy a core2duo/775 mobo/ddr2 ram for anything more than 3k.Since your system is now working it is better not to spend anymore on it.Getting anything below 250GB 850Evo is not recommended unless you absolutely can not spend 7.5k.To give you an idea,even ssd launched in 2017 are benchmarked against 850Evo which was launched in Dec 2014(almost 3 years ago). There are no good ssd(relatively speaking) below 120/128GB & even among them there is not much difference except for brand reliability.There is no point in spending 3.5k on a 120gb SSD now which you don't "absolutely need" compared to spending 7.5k later to get 850Evo with your new system which would blow away any 120/128gb ssd & faster/more reliable than almost any 250/256gb ssd.
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
ok then suggest me a graphic card I can run on vx550 w without any worries and will i be able to add the samsung 850 evo on my mobo cause i dont think it supports m.2?
 

SaiyanGoku

kamehameha!!
ok then suggest me a graphic card I can run on vx550 w without any worries and will i be able to add the samsung 850 evo on my mobo cause i dont think it supports m.2?
That also comes as a 2.5" drive, not just m.2 ssd. As for GPU a 1060 6GB/RX 580 would run on it just fine and even a 1070 can be accommodated I think.
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
But the point being why spend money now on this core2duo system if you are planning on building a new system 3-4 months from now.By that time price of gfx cards/processors/ssd all would change.
 

quicky008

Technomancer
@op:Some newer gpus require a UEFI bios in order to work properly-therefore a system with older(legacy)bios may fail to boot up when such a gpu is installed on it.Before purchasing a new gpu,make sure its compatible with your existing setup.
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
pc part picker shows upto 1080ti in compatible video cards list but which of these cards will i get in india easily?
Asus - P5QPL-AM Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard Compatible Video Cards - PCPartPicker

suggest me both 1060 6gb or 1050ti models.
 

Flash

Lost in speed
pc part picker shows upto 1080ti in compatible video cards list but which of these cards will i get in india easily?
Asus - P5QPL-AM Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard Compatible Video Cards - PCPartPicker

suggest me both 1060 6gb or 1050ti models.
Check in *in.pcpartpicker.com/
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
^oh wow thanks Flash

Asus - P5QPL-AM Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard Compatible Video Cards - PCPartPicker India

which one should i go for? will the 1060 6gb be absolutely safe on my Corsair vx550 or should i look at 1050ti?
 
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aby geek

Cyborg Agent
guys should i order the samsung 850 evo from amazon or visit NP?
And how are the crucial mx 300 and kingston hyper x fury drives?
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Samsung 850Evo is the De facto leader of SSD market,a point validated by the fact that despite being launched in Dec 2014 its performance is used as the benchmark to test the latest SSDs being launched in 2017.

Right now on Amazon it is available for 6999 in a lightening deal ending in around 5 hours(make sure to order it from Cloudtail seller).Cost2cost Nehru Place price is 7068(incl GST).
 
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