From: not@this.address.com   
      
   On Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:13:13 +0100, Big Bill wrote:   
      
   > It turned itself off in the night, first time ever. It tried to turn   
   > itself back on but got stuck on the Foxconn screen, which didn't respond   
   > to the keyboard at all.   
   > A warm boot got it running again, at least for a time, then it switched   
   > itself off again.   
   > So, it won't turn on properly from a cold boot, it freezes on the   
   > Foxconn screen, but a warm boot from there produces that reassuring hard   
   > drive beep and the HD light flashes, and up she comes. For a bit,   
   > anyway. That worked a few times, then it started going back to the   
   > Foxconn screen before it had fully come up, and then die if I left it.   
   > Now it just reboots to the Foxconn screen several times, then dies.   
   > Interesting, huh? I'm hoping this isn't the hard drive...   
   >   
   > Ideas please people! Meanwhile I'm going to pull it out from under the   
   > desk and blow some compressed air into it to clean it out.   
      
   It sounds like a hardware problem, but could be an over-temp problem as   
   well.  I had a similar, but not as drastic problem with my previous   
   system.  Took 6 months to trace the problem.  Intermittent, going bad CPU   
   as it turned out.  Replace it and everything ran fine.  (I'm not saying   
   your problem is the CPU.)   
      
   A good cleaning--and I don't mean just blowing air onto everything--is   
   the place to start.  Get a can of electronic cleaner, remove everything   
   from the motherboard, including the CPU and heatsink, clean it all   
   thoroughly and reinstall.  Use new thermal grease on the CPU, too.   
      
   Remove the power supply, clean and inspect the inside.  Anything look   
   "off"?  Stains?  Leaks?  Etc.?  Check the voltages, too.  Replace it if   
   anything looks irregular.  If it's more than a few years old or it's the   
   one that came with the system (they are usually marginally powered and   
   cheap), replace it with a better, more powerful one.  At least, this will   
   eliminate the power supply as a problem.   
      
   Power up the system and check that all LEDs, fans, etc. are working.  If   
   you can, check the POST for any reported problems.  Even disconnect the   
   hard drive to eliminate it and the OS as possibly culprits.   
      
   We'll assume for now the hard drive is fine.  If it were going bad, you'd   
   probably know it.  Noisy and/or write/read errors.   
      
   Remove or disconnect any other drives, one at a time, to check if they   
   might be the problem.   
      
   Check that your keyboard and mouse are good.  A faulty keyboard usually   
   won't crash a system, but it may cause booting problems as in stopping   
   the boot completely.  (I've had three go bad on my current system in 4   
   years.)   
      
   If you have (or can get) a known-to-be-good graphics card, install it and   
   see if the problem persists.   
      
   Check you RAM.  Lots of bootable memtest86+ CD/thumbdrives/floppies out   
   there, if it's not a part of your system startup.   
      
   Boot with a LiveCD.  Same problems?   
      
   If you can get the system to run long enough, install (or enable) CPU and   
   graphics card processor temperature monitoring software.   
      
   If none of this solves the problem or points to what the problem might   
   be, you've reached the point where a visit to a service tech might be in   
   your future.   
      
      
   Stef   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)