PC stuck on Intel logo

[Vyom21]

PC configuration
Q6600 Core 2 Quad 2.34 Ghz
DDR3 4GB
GTS 450
400W Power Supply
1TB Segate Baracuda
Intel DG41KR
Windows 10

So its like this, everytime I turn on my pc after its been off for sometime, it stays there at the intel logo for, I dunno, never had the patience for it anyway, so I try to restart my pc (and those digits that appear at the bottom right corner of the screen dont always show up) if iam lucky and manage to get past the splash screen it takes its own sweet time to load up, sometimes its quicker, there is no clear pattern. And it doesnt always boot up, shows me the blue screen of death few minutes after the windows loading logo, those dots that dance about in a circle right after the splash screen, then my pc restarts after that, the message quickly disappears so dunno what it says ;-(. However when it does load up the desktop, the mouse disappears for a while and when it finally does show up it gets stuck, if I wait for a few seconds it starts moving again, doesn't always happen, not sure if my motherboard is defective or if my hard disk has issues, cause last week I could hear some clicking sound from my hard drive, dont hear a lot of that noise anymore, Oh and that orange light near the power button just stays on the whole time, it would normally blink everytime I accessed files. I used cryastal disk and it said my hdd had 16 uncorrectable sectors with a caution logo. I tried installing Windows 7 using a bootable disk, it took a while for it to load up that bar with the black background where it says windows is loading files (not sure if it actually says that). After that I cliked next blah blah blah, then it got stuck at this one screen I dont quite remember, it was loading forever, it comes after you click next and before it shows you your drives, after it completely loaded up it didn't show me my hard disk, and there was this one message that asked me if I wanted to install drivers, well I freaked out and was sort of pissed so I abort the process. I forgot, sometime back I had Windows 7 and my time would keep change evertime I restarted my pc, my time zone was correct. Iam thinking CMOS battery, but you guys are pros. Plz help me, I dont wanna change my mobo.
Oh and when pc is done pissing me off and when it does finally load up it functions normally, I play gta 5 and it doesn't crash or anything, smooth as butter, m confused.

Thank you in advance
Vyom Sharma 🙂

 

[C12Friedman]

Two things you can check rather quickly, first look over the motherboard for any leaky or swollen capacitors. While inside, check that the CMOS battery (little button battery) is at 3V, replace if it isn't.
Another thing you can do is download and run Seatools for DOS which will check the health of your hard drive

 

[Vyom21]

can i use seatools for windows, i dont have an empty disk, anyway do u think this drive is dead? Cause it was making that noise sometime ago, and sometimes while playing GTA 5 i get texture pop in and it didnt happen b4, no graphical changes were made, it ran fine on windows 7, should i get an SSD

Update: I just ran Seatools for Win, and it failed the Fix FAST test at 95%. Now what? ;-( should i get rid of it??

 

[C12Friedman]

Run the test again just to be sure. If it shows a fail again, yes, I would recommend an SSD since they are much faster (and quieter) in operation than a hard drive. Prices are low enough now that I think the value is there. Although I am in the process of replacing all my HDD's with SSD's, I still might recommend getting an HHD for data along with a 120GB+ SSD for OS/boot

 

[Vyom21]

Thank you for helping me out, Iam new here hahah. So anyway, I got a samsung evo 850 120gb, and I managed to install windows 10 and gta 5 on it, the game loads faster, but the texture pop in still exists, it seems to have reduced to some extent but its not completely gone, what could possibly be wrong, oh and yes I do meet the minimum requirements and this only happens when I use windows 8, 8.1, and 10, windows 7 handles this game just fine.

 

[C12Friedman]

I might look at your drivers at this point, make sure they're up to date. Check the graphics card driver through NVidia or the card manufacturer to ensure you have the latest for your card

 

[Vyom21]

Thank you for your help, everything seems to be working just fine, BTW what power supply would you recommend, I want something that will last long, and something that is not too expensive and less likely to get damaged, i know thats a lot to ask from something thats cheap, anyway, I have a Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz (Q6600); 4GB RAM (DDR3); Samsung Evo 850; Nvidia GTS 450; Ill make this a two part question, I have 2, 1 TB external harddrives, is it safe to keep them plugged in at all times, will it tax the motherboard?

 

[C12Friedman]

For a PSU I would recommend looking at offerings from brands such as Antec, Corsair (avoid CX series) EVGA, SeaSonic or XFX - are you looking to add any components to your system or just looking to power what you have effectively?

I don't think there's any problem keeping your external drives plugged in at all times, I used to do that when I was using an external drive and had no issues.

 

[Vyom21]

I am looking for something that can support my current hardware config and maybe also future hardware since I have plans on upgrading to an i5, i7 sometime soon, might even go for a GTX 750 ti , so yea, something that can handle all of that, and lasts long.
Oh and i forgot, I got this cheap PSU from somewhere, I dont normally do that, its really a poor quality product, got it a few weeks back, since then it had been making this faint rattling noise, didnt bother to check really, yesterday, it started to rattle a lot louder, it seems the exhaust fan at the back is a lot slower now, but its still running, it stops making that noise after maybe a couple of minutes, should I keep using this inferior product till it someday gives, or should I purchase a better one ASAP, wll it damage my mobo? Oh and I know I've bothered you enough, but my mobo got stuck again at the Intel logo like I posted sometime back, I am seriously pissed and have no idea whats going on, should I change the entire setup, I checked for leaky capacitors (they seem fine), not too keen on changing the CMOS battery, I mean I got this mobo 2 yrs ago, why would it need a new one so soon, besides I am done pouring money into this system, If I make any changes this time, I wanna do the right thing.

 

[C12Friedman]

Cheap PSU's are are cheap for a reason and should be avoided if at all possible since everything your PC does is dependent on the PSU delivering accurate voltages and "clean"* power. I might be inclined to believe the hanging you're experiencing is related to the PSU. I think you'd be well served by a quality ~500W PSU which would handle even a powerful graphics card in your machine. Perhaps something like the Corsair CS550M or the Antec High Current Gamer 520M or even the SeaSonic M12II 520 They are high quality units which receive good reviews from legitimate review sites. The Corsair CS offers a three year warranty while the Antec and SeaSonic have five year warranties

Oh, I suggested replacing the CMOS battery (if not at 3V) since they are cheap (<$5) and easily replaced - plus it being bad has the potential to play havoc on a system


* excessive Ripple and Noise from the PSU is considered "dirty" and has the ability to cause many issues and possibly damage components

 

[Vyom21]

Alright, so I was using this SSD that I purchased last week, (running Windows 10) and its the only drive in the PC, ran fine for the first 2 days, then on the 3rd day my desktop disappeared whenever I clicked on something, it turned blue, the start menu disappeared, no icons, had to restart the computer by force, happened again a couple of times, then after that the PC would shut down randomly at any point, i mean common, this is a new SSD, bought this cause my HDD failed. Oh and once, it showed my this Realtek PCIe page after the splash screen, like it was some kind of boot failure warning, Crystal Disk says 100% GOOD, oh and now everytime my PC starts it just stays there at the Windows 10 loading screen, with those dots circling about. Installed my old HDD with the SSD connected, PC started fine, I can access files in my SSD, copy and paste and cut stuff to and from it, but sometimes whenever I access it, I get the same desktop disappearing problem, no start menu or icons. I mean according to Crystal Disk my HDD has 15 uncorrected sectors, my SSD is in good shape (100%), WTF is going on??!?!?!?!
OH this is when I am using my HDD as the bootalbe drive.
Forgot to mention my HDD light stays on at all times, doesnt matter what drive I use, is my mobo done? Sometimes it says I DONT have a hard disk in my system on boot, well it used to, it does sometimes now, rarely.

UPDATE: PCs been on for 20mins now, the SSD disappeared from this PC (my computer), only shows my HHD, ;-(

 

[C12Friedman]

You might look at Intel's troubleshooting guide for your board here http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/category/dsktpboards/dg41kr/trblsht there may be something helpful there

 

[Vyom21]

haaha your probably fed up with all the troubles i've been having, sorry man, alright is my SSD fine???

 

[C12Friedman]

I think your issues may be the SATA controller on the motherboard which is why I suggested the link from Intel (I probably should have explained that then, sorry).

And, no, not any issue for me to check the thread to see how you're faring - in worse case I won't have any suggestions to offer.

 

[Vyom21]

haha ok man, so I ve been using my old Hard Drive now for almost 2 hours, nothing has gone wrong so far, although my disc is making some noises like it used to, and the HDD light keeps blinking, probably cause this HDD is defective. I checked the link, not sure what to click, so i checked them all but none of those links had the exact same trouble I am having, the SSD would have crashed by now. As I said its a samsung evo 850, it has Windows 10 now but I had originally installed Windows 7 on it plus 60GBs of GTA 5, not sure why it keeps crashing after 20 to 30 mins. If you've had similar a similar experience, I could really use some help. So to summarize, HDD is bad (according to crystal disk; 15 uncorrectable sectors; and noises) but seems to be handling windows fine, SSD is brand new, but crashes if I load windows and use it for 20mins, the crashes are not very clear, it would either shut down, or just freeze, the mouse would move about highlighting the icons, but cant click anything, can see the taskbar and evrything, sometimes all i see is the wallpaper and everything goes. Then when i boot up again it says no drive detected or something then I try again and it works for another 20 mins then freezes.
One thing I noticed is that my PC doesnt get stuck on the Intel splash screen anymore, this is after removing my GTS 450, games run just fine, could the card be damaged?

 

[Vyom21]

Few days back you asked me to avoid using the CX series in Corsair, the PSUs I mean, hows the VX series? Is it any good? And if I should avoid these particular variants, then why so?

 

[C12Friedman]

The VX series (although discontinued) receives high praises from legitimate reviewers for example the VX450 made by Seasonic here
http://hardocp.com/article/2007/08/14/corsair_vx450w_power_supply/9#.VeUZD27ZV8E and here
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=64
And the VX550 made by ChannelWell reviewed here
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=62 and here
http://hardocp.com/article/2007/12/04/corsair_vx550w_vs_hx520w/8#.VeUZtm7ZV8E

Note; all reviews linked to conclusion page

 

[Vyom21]

I am looking for something that should last me more than just 5 years, I got my PC in 2003 and my Hipro stock PSU (250W) that came with my HP t430i (the PC that I use) , runs perfectly fine, its noiseless and has never failed me, and it'd probably last longer if I didn't need a higher capacity PSU, but right now I am also looking for something reasonably priced, If I buy a CX450 or a VS550 would it end up damaging my other components? the PSUs that I mentioned are cheap but if you think they are cheap quality wise aswell? Could you recommend something that's superior, quality wise, but in the same price range as the PSUs mentioned above.

 

[C12Friedman]

Here's the "problem" with the CX and VS models, the inclusion of cheap capacitors (mostly Capxon brand) which can (and has) lead to an early demise. Outside of that one flaw, the designs are valid and wouldn't pose any threat to your components, since they offer almost all protections (overcurrent, short circuit, etc) you'd want. The interesting thing (to me) about those PSU's is that they received very good reviews from legitimate reviewers on release (voltage regulation is very good, ripple and noise suppression are also very good), it was the high amount of failure rates we saw reported (many just after warranty expired, some before) that has lead us to shy away from recommending them. As one reviewer stated "Some of the secondary side capacitors are made by Aishi, but most are from CapXon – a brand renowned for poor quality capacitors. Even in an entry level product, it surprises me that Corsair would be brave enough to use them,..." found here http://www.hardwareinsights.com/wp/corsair-vs450-review/3/
Perhaps XFX or EVGA might have something in that price range - where are you shopping?

 

[Vyom21]

Well, I live in India, in Chennai, a southern Indian city, the currency used here is Rupee, and dollar is OMG 66.17 Rupees, LOL fell over the past month from 61 to 66.17, anyway I ve gotten used to it, since 1991 its fallen from 22 to 66 now, anyway back to the topic, my budget is 3500 max, I know its hard to find quality stuff in that price range but I'd just be happier if I managed to find something below 3 grand, thing is I'd personally spend more but I am still in College and don't have a job yet, not that my parents cant afford it but they dont wanna spend a lot of money on this PC anymore. You know how parents are.

 

[C12Friedman]

Very few PSU's I found at Flipkart within your budget that I consider viable candidates, of those probably the best (IMO) would be would be the;
1)Seasonic Eco Series 430W for ₹3350. Even though it only has a 3 year warranty, I would expect it to perform well past that

 

[Vyom21]

oh thanks, but how can you tell if something is going to last long, how do you know that alright this PSU is probably better, is it all about the Tier system? And Seasonic, do they make good quality stuff?

 

[C12Friedman]

SeaSonic is inarguably one of the higher quality PSU manufacturers, I've yet to come across a bad review of a SeaSonic made unit. In reading one of the few legitimate reviews I found for that unit (which was in danish) I found that they use higher quality capacitors. Since capacitors are what often cause a PSU to fail, the use of higher quality caps will almost inevitably result in longer life for the PSU.

As far as a "tier" system for PSU's, I prefer to read reviews myself rather than rely on a list that doesn't explain the issues. It doesn't mean there isn't a place for the tiered list (I've referred people to them on occasion), just that I prefer personal research

 

[Vyom21]

Well that solves everything, Ill go buy a Seasonic tmrw, thanks for all the help you've provided so far, As for the splash screen thing, i figured it was my GTS 450, haven't been using it for a while and everything seems fine, I am getting a 750 ti soon.

 

[Vyom21]

I did say solved but I just had a few more questions, the seasonic that you recommended provides 18 Amps on the 12V rail and the GTX 750 ti requires a minimum of 20Amps, my GTX 750 ti doesnt need an external power source and draws power from the PCI E slot, so, should those figures bother me? I havent bought the PSU yet so I can still buy another, but if the Seasonic Eco 430W is enough for the 750 ti then ill go for it. Remember it doesnt use an external power source, and I am worried about the Amperes thing.