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Zonealarm, MB boot problem?

  • 24-10-2005 8:43pm
    #1
    jm2k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    Cleaning up a friends PC this evening as a favour, usually thing, full of trojans, viruses, spyware etc... so uninstalled everything harmful, ran adaware, installed antivirus software etc, defragmented the drive, all through this the machine was rebooted several times, all going fine.

    Then as a precautionary measure, I decided to install ZoneAlarm as she has BB, but no router/firewall.

    So installed it, rebooted as requested ...but this time, nothing, machine refuses to boot. no start up beeps, not a thing. I'm completely stumped, has anyone got an idea whats going on?

    MB is an ECS K7S5A Pro Rev 5.0


Comments

  • #2
    DonkeyStyle \o/
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,145 ✭✭✭DonkeyStyle \o/


    Well since you broke her PC, I think the only honorable thing to do is buy her a new one :P
    Ah yes, the sinking feeling you get when it looks like you've only made things worse! :eek:

    You've got to be more specific about what's happening at boot time though... I've gathered you're not getting a POST out of the machine... but do you get any display activity? even a lit black screen that's blank? ... what about fan activity inside the PC?

    If it was as loaded with viruses as you say it was, then it's always a possibility one of the viruses has gone and fúcked with the BIOS and made the machine unbootable... although the timing seems too perfect for that doesn't it? ... why now? why not months ago?
    Maybe some hardware has been stressed from all the extra attention and is acting like a cranky baby... in which case it's time to get out the screwdriver and strip the machine down to basics... just having left what you need to achieve a POST... and go from there.
    I'd try resetting the CMOS aswell though, just for good measure... there should be a jumper on the motherboard for this (also should be a users manual online if she doesn't have it handy).


  • #3
    jm2k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭jm2k


    I'm not getting much, fans spin, hear harddrive activity, dvd drive lights illuminate but monitor doesn't come out of standby & get no POST. It looks like the machine is stuck in a loop, as it constantly checks the dvd/cdrw drives.

    So far I've:
    Reset the CMOS (several times)
    Disconnected & reconnected everything (several times)
    Removed / Reinserted CMOS battery
    Tried new memory
    Tried new PSU
    Tried mininum setup (processor/memory/graphics card)

    I've taken the thing apart and put it back together so many times at this stage and i'm still none the wiser.

    the only thing of note is that the fan for the processor wasn't the best, noisy and now that i've looked at it properly its a bit stiff (cooling probs??)

    I have another CPU, which I could try, however I'll have to take apart another PC for that.

    I can't flash the bios either as the machine doesn't POST, I've read about AMIPOST.rom but the machine never checks for the floppy drive and pressing ctrl + home does nothing.

    the timing does just seem too perfect however at this stage I have to believe something has packed up.

    I'm at my wits end with this thing :( ...does anybody have any other ideas?


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