PC trouble

[nadnerb_2k]

Hi all,

I'm having a problem with my PC, its kinda hard to describe.

Whenever I start up my PC, it will seemingly load as normal right up to where windows plays its tune. Then shortly after, the screen will revert to standby mode. No amount of key tapping or mouse moving can get the screen to power back up.

In addition, pressing the reset button results in the minitower emmitting a long beep followed by two short ones (IIRC), then the power button flashes on and off. I have to turn off power then turn it back on again to retry.

While its loading, a message pops up on the screen but it disappears before I can read it properly, it says something along the lines of 2nd IDE cable 80 disconnected.

This has been going on for some time, it used to do it only once or twice then it would load, but now it does it every time and I can only run my PC in safe mode. I cant play games, have sounds or a screen resolution above 800x600.

I am running windows XP home on a 2.4mhz P4, 512mb RAM, 64mb graphics.

Is anyone able to assist me with this problem, or point me to where I can find a solution?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[The_Other_One]

If I'm not mistaking, that beep you get is the no video beep... Seeing as it does it out of windows, I'm suspecting some sort of hardware problems. I guess first try some easier things like reloading the drivers for your video card. If that won't work, I'd suggest trying to find some other video card and see if that gives you better luck in standard mode...

 

[Praetor]

What's the make of the motherboard?

 

[nadnerb_2k]

thanks for the replies so far

the motherboard is a gigabyte GA 8ST800 from what I can tell.

I might look into the video card over the next couple of days if no other solution presents itself

 

[r53s]

Did you try a restore to a known good point...

 

[nadnerb_2k]

Yep I tried restore a few times

It turns out The_Other_One was correct - my video card had expired, too much dust in the fan and it overheated. A new video card (with a heat sink rather than a fan ) fixed the problem.

Thanks very much for everyone's help, that has been driving me spare for weeks.