Home Built PC Having Problems

J

JBRONCFAN

New Member
Sorry for long post but it's my first time and there is a lot of info I'd like to lay out.

Built a beautiful PC a few years ago and it's been flawless ever since. I had built a few before that and I paid extra $$ to acquire above average parts for my PC.

I run two SSD's, a C drive and a D drive BOTH have Win7 installed on them. When Windows boots up I get a DOS screen that shows BOTH installs. I also run 3 Western Digital drives as slaves, two 2TBs each and one with 3TBs.

Began having boot problems and now, I can't even get into BIOS Setup. Now, when it boots it just stops on a DOS looking screen.....black screen with basic white lettering. This screen will list the things plugged into the motherboard, hard drives, keyboards and such. When I plug my C drive in it won't list it. So I unplugged the C drive using the same exact SATA cable and SATA port on MOBO and the D drive DOES show up on screen. So I think I may have crapped out my C drive. It is an SSD that is 3 years old and I kinda was prepared for such a disaster which I why I run TWO SSD's in my rig.

Problem I am having is I can't get into BIOS Setup.....like, I just stop on this DOS looking screen that lists my one SSD (which is the only hard drive plugged in at this time). It also tells me to press F1 to start Setup and when I do the screen goes black for a while but ends up returning to the DOS looking screen.

I've been down for a few days and it is starting to really upset me so please, ANY advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Specs below.


Sabertooth 990FX MOBO
AMDFX 8300 4.0
OCZ 120g SSD
Intel 60g SSD
WD 2TB (2)
WD 3TB (1)
Antec 750watt PSU
 
Either you still have a hardware issue or you can try resetting cmos by either using the jumper or removing the battery. Usually pc will freeze on post screen when there is a hardware issue. Either another drive is bad or like I said, reset cmos and hopefully that will fix it.
 
The Sabertooth has a cool button they installed on the back that when you press it, same thing as removing battery but I'm gonna go and remove battery anyway just in case.

Question......isn't the BIOS Setup that I am trying to get into run OFF the MOBO??? Meaning I don't need any hard drives plugged in to run it, yes???
 
Shouldn't I be able to bring up BIOS with NOTHING plugged into the MOBO??? Except for PSU of course. Is this do you think a MOBO problem??? The one SSD DID come up and the other SSD did not come up using the same SATA cable and SATA port on MOBO. Any ideas?
 
"You still need a CPU and RAM installed..... "

Didn't think I needed to state the obvious :)

What could be keeping me from getting into BIOS Setup and how can I test??? Not getting into setup sounds like has nothing to do with my hard drives....yes?
 
JBRONCFAN said:
Didn't think I needed to state the obvious :)
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised that it's not obvious to everyone.

Is your keyboard plugged into a USB 3.0 port? If so, switch it to a 2.0 port, as you cannot use a 3.0 port outside of Windows.
 
That's a really smart idea as my wireless keys are plugged into a 3.0. BIOS does seem to see my keys and HD's and responds when I press F1. Unfortunately nothing happens beyond that except screen going dark, then it returns to the American Megatrends DOS looking page.

Is this seriously going to be a MOBO problem AND an SSD problem cause like I said MOBO sees my Intel SSD but does NOT see my OCZ SSD.
 
Make sure you have the drives plugged into the brown sata ports and not the black as that is a different controller.
 
This is not good......

Top front part of my case is where my power on switch is. Also 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 it's like one big switch for the ON/OFF and USB's and it all plugs into the MOBO. Looks like a 12 pin plug or something. Out of that front switch comes 2 fan plugs that power 2 fans that blow on my hard drives. ONE of those works and one does not. Only place the swtich can get any power is the MOBO cause nothing connects to PSU from switch.

The 12 pin that connects the switch to the MOBO does not connect very well at all to MOBO. It's practically falling out of there. If I slightly bump my rig the whole thing restarts which of course should not happen. I reach in and lightly tap the plug and it restarts. This is where my power switch up front gets it's juice from. Has anyone out there had a similar problem? Anyone know how this could happen as it has been running perfect for over 2 years?? Any way to confirm it's MOBO or am I already there? Why isn't the front switch getting enough power to power the fan?? It does power one fan but not two like it has for years.
 
I think you have things connected wrong. What case do you have? USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 have different cables that connect to motherboard. The power switch has 2 thin insulated wires that connect to motherboard. The case fans either have a 3 pin or 4 pin molex connection for power. Some case fans have a male and female connectors so you can daisy chain them together.
 
The 12 pin is probably power to the switch. You are right. If memory serves when I built this years ago 2.0 and 3.0 connect differently.

Another question. Is this a failure for the MOBO or the 12pin connector/switch? Cause like I said only ONE of the fan plugs that come out of the switch work. I unplugged the 12 pin, plugged keys into rear USB and got all the same results which is I basically made it to the BIOS "DOS looking" screen and I could NOT get startup going. Can't get into the BIOS settings to change any. It sees my keys and when I press DEL on startup....no BIOS. Ideas?

How can I tell if it is the MOBO or the front power button/fan controller that is the problem? When I turn the PSU on nothing is supposed to happen until I press the front power button. I bump my rig and it all starts to power up.....obviously there is a connection problem but I don't know if it is the power switch failing or the MOBO.

How about this......I reach in and unplug the 12pin connector for the front power button and my rig STILL powers up when I bump it. 12pin unplugged there is no front power button......nothing should happen with the front power button unplugged from the MOBO, yes? I think maybe the bump test is telling me now it is the MOBO that is breaking down. With the MOBO plugged into PSU only and NO front power on switch plugged into MOBO....I should NOT be able to power up MOBO or see BIOS, yes??

Holy crap not gonna believe this!!!

So I turn off the pc thru the PSU located in the rear. After about 5 seconds I turned the PSU back on and unexpectedly the PC began to power up......no bump or front power switch required!! I look up and I get the DOS screen I usually get when my pc is working perfectly.

When my pc is working perfectly, during bootup for about 5 seconds I get a DOS screen and it lists the TWO Windows 7 I have installed on both of my SSD's. I just let it boot to the default. When it does that I get the below screen:

Drivers failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the problem:

Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next." Click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have this disc (which I don't) contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

Status: 0xc000000e

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

So of course I restart and this time I arrow down and select the second Windows 7 install and my heart starts to race like this might actually work. When I do that the screen goes blank for a minute and then returns to the error message above.

Thing is I have the old C drive/SSD unplugged so technically there should only be one Windows 7 installation to choose from so I'm trying to figure out how/why it gave me the option. Any ideas as to what is happening now and thanks for reading.

Anybody got any idea as to how or why I received this message?
 
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When you built your system did you use the standoffs between motherboard and case? You are still getting the dual boot configuration screen because your boot loader is currently on the drive that you are booting to and thats why you still get the 2 options even though your other drive is not attached.

Tear your system apart and rebuild it. Sounds like you have a short somewhere. Make sure all cable connections are connected to the correct point. It just sounds like you have the wiring all screwed up.
 
What exactly is the boot loader......what are you referring to?? This thing ran flawlessly for years and no, I don't remember using standoffs. I use a full size, high end case and maybe it had the standoffs installed. If that were the problem, wouldn't it have manifest itself much sooner if not the very first time I powered up??
 
Biggest problem is I cannot run BIOS setup. I can only get to the American Trends dos-looking page that shows what I have plugged in. It sees my keys, mouse and the one working SSD I have plugged in. Tells me on the bottom to press F1 to run Setup. When I press F1 the screen goes blank, nothing.

Anyone got a few guesses as to what/why I can't run BIOS Setup????
 
I'd clear CMOS and then see if you could boot into the BIOS setup screen. Also if there are multiple display adapters when your screen goes blank for the setup you could try using the onboard one or similar, it may be defaulting out of another output.
 
You can also try building your system outside of the case to see if it works correctly. Build it on a piece of cardboard. What case do you have?
 
Wanted to check with you guys about BIOS.

All I need to run BIOS setup is a keyboard, yes? MOBO has onboard vid, I shouldn't need any HDs plugged in, right? MOBO battery dying couldn't have caused this, yes? You really think I should unplug my vid card just to see if BIOS comes up?

The case is a FULL size case which is great cause it has all sorts of room the mid size cases I used to build in don't have. It's beautiful with triple laquer white paint job. Once installed I did notice the MOBO is slightly raised and the back does NOT touch the case at all. I assume the case was designed this way.
 
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