Help P L E A S E

[dpatt]

My E-machine T6542 (64 bit AMD processor) is basically dead in the water. Machine is about 2 yrs old. It has never had any problems. Signed up for "auto-update" from microsoft. Installed SP1 & SP2 everything was OK. After downloading and installing SP3 it has been awful. It would disconnect from the internet and basically reboot on its own. Then it would shut off but I could reboot it. Now it simply beeps when I turn it on. Called E-Machines the tech on the other end said I need a new mother board. That sounds drastic. I believe it is a softwear problem. I downloaded a "torrent" and burned it to a CD. Inserted in the machine, nothing. Just beeps. I am not a computer person, I am a computer user and modest trouble shooter. Can fix some things but softwear has me buffaloed. Can you help?

[Terry60]

Hi Dpatt, welcome to NST.
When you turn on a PC, it goes through POST (power-on self-test), then the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), which executes the IPL (Initial Program Loader) in the MBR (Master Boot Record), which locates and executes the boot loader (NTLDR for XP) which loads the XP OS into memory.
If the ISO torrent you burned was a recovery disk, it would take effect after the BIOS (as long as you've got the BIOS set to boot from CD before HDD).
The BIOS communicates through your monitor and keyboard (sometimes mouse for later more sophisticated BIOSs), but your problem is you're not even getting that far.
The POST communicates through the PC speaker with coded beeps. That's as far as you're getting, which indicates a hardware problem, most unlikely to be related to WUD at all (my XP is SP3 with no problems).
Count the beeps and use the PC you're talking to us with to google the mobo website for the codes.
You should be able to indentify the failing component.
If you have access to the insides (I don't know if your PC is desktop or laptop), try switching it off at the mains (leave it plugged in to keep the chassis earthed (grounded if you speak american not english)), opening it up, and removing and reseating all the PCI cards, memory sticks, and HDD connections. Check that the mobo securing screws are all secure (but not overtight - don't want to crack anything), and try booting again in case the problem is transient.
If that makes no difference, then the beep code should identify which component will need to be replaced.


Addendum:


Here's a hit from the Gateway site, though I don't know that it's definitely correct for your machine.
Number of Beeps Error Message
--------------- -------------

1 DRAM refresh failure
2 Parity circuit failure
3 Base 64K RAM failure
4 System timer failure
5 Processor failure
6 Keyboard controller gate A20 error
7 Virtual mode exception error
8 Display memory R/W test failure
9 ROM-BIOS checksum failure

or try the more extensive menu detailed in Wiki.

[dpatt]

Wow. Thanks for the quick reply. I am not afraid to go inside one of these things and will give it a try. DP