- Mar 18, 2019
- 211
- 24
- 10,615
MSI K9N Neo MB
AMD Athlon 64 2X 6000+ CPU
8 GB Ram
3X 500 GB HDD (Seagate NTFS), (WD Fat32), Hitachi NTFS/EXT4)
Dual boot Windows XP / Linux Mint 19.3 OS
About 2 weeks ago this machine starting freezing up mid operation. Sometimes while running several app’s, other times when nothing was running at all and I would find the screen/pointer frozen in the morning and had to restart. Keyboard and mouse did nothing. After the 3rd event I opened the case to check if a HDD cables were seated properly, and they were all fine. But I did note that there were 3 blown capacitors. I had just replaced 5 Cap’s 9 months previously, so that ticked me off. (I guess this is a common issue with MSI MB’s?)
Then I began doubting the reliability of this machine and wanted to backup certain data to my laptop, which I first attempted by transferring files to a thumb drive. The machine would always freeze during file xfer to the USB drive. Then I tried booting into Linux Mint to xfer files, but Linus would not boot at all. Eventually I did an F8 start into “Windows With Networking” and did my backup that way. (I should have done this first). Over the next couple days I booted into Safe Mode more than once and the machine never froze up even after several hours of backing up files using my Home Network. More recently, I also Xfer’d files with the Home Network, but not for hours at a time.
When I initially installed the OS’s on this machine, I started by installing XP on the C: drive, which would obviously put the boot loader onto that same drive. Then I installed Linux Mint onto the E:Mint drive and made sure I put the GRUB dual boot loader onto that drive. This way, if either drive failed down the road, I could change the boot order in the BIOS and at least be able to boot with one of the OS. (The D😀ata drive is purely for data storage and has no boot sector).
This morning after yet another freeze, I opened the case again and disconnected the E:Mint drive to see if the machine would run stable without that drive, and changed the boot order in the BIOS back to C: expecting Windows XP to boot up….. but instead I ended up at a “Grub Rescue” prompt. So at this point I’m really scratching my head. How did my boot sector on C: get over written while previously the boot order was always to read off of the E:Mint Grub menu?
Eventually I tried to boot off of my WinXP install CD and go to the Recovery Panel and try the old BootFix from the command line, but after many attempts the CD would not boot. Then I tried my trusty USB Rescue thumb drive (which has a dozen utilities on it), and some of them would start to load, but eventually they all froze up. I even grabbed some old Windows Boot Floppies I have, and the machine would not even recognize them and always end up back at the Grub Rescue prompt. Same as my CD.
One thing I did notice that I don’t have the knowledge to explain, is that while the machine was unplugged, and the E:Mint drive was still disconnected, the PWR light on the front panel blinked on and off in 2 second intervals until I hit the PWR button.
(this was right after a failed boot cycle).
So now I’m at my wits end… XP has thrown me a few hurdles over the years, but I’ve always been able to boot into the fix…. Now I can’t boot into anything except a machine that will freeze up. I did eventually re-connect that E:Mint drive, booted into Windows XP, and am now writing this with that OS. Of all the things I suspect, they don’t explain all of the symptoms…. Blown caps don’t change boot sectors, nor do they disallow other boot devices do they?
What do I try next and why? Cmos battery? Swap HHD cables? Hit is with a big hammer? :b
If you’ve read all of the above….. thanks…. Appreciate your input.
Wolf
AMD Athlon 64 2X 6000+ CPU
8 GB Ram
3X 500 GB HDD (Seagate NTFS), (WD Fat32), Hitachi NTFS/EXT4)
Dual boot Windows XP / Linux Mint 19.3 OS
About 2 weeks ago this machine starting freezing up mid operation. Sometimes while running several app’s, other times when nothing was running at all and I would find the screen/pointer frozen in the morning and had to restart. Keyboard and mouse did nothing. After the 3rd event I opened the case to check if a HDD cables were seated properly, and they were all fine. But I did note that there were 3 blown capacitors. I had just replaced 5 Cap’s 9 months previously, so that ticked me off. (I guess this is a common issue with MSI MB’s?)
Then I began doubting the reliability of this machine and wanted to backup certain data to my laptop, which I first attempted by transferring files to a thumb drive. The machine would always freeze during file xfer to the USB drive. Then I tried booting into Linux Mint to xfer files, but Linus would not boot at all. Eventually I did an F8 start into “Windows With Networking” and did my backup that way. (I should have done this first). Over the next couple days I booted into Safe Mode more than once and the machine never froze up even after several hours of backing up files using my Home Network. More recently, I also Xfer’d files with the Home Network, but not for hours at a time.
When I initially installed the OS’s on this machine, I started by installing XP on the C: drive, which would obviously put the boot loader onto that same drive. Then I installed Linux Mint onto the E:Mint drive and made sure I put the GRUB dual boot loader onto that drive. This way, if either drive failed down the road, I could change the boot order in the BIOS and at least be able to boot with one of the OS. (The D😀ata drive is purely for data storage and has no boot sector).
This morning after yet another freeze, I opened the case again and disconnected the E:Mint drive to see if the machine would run stable without that drive, and changed the boot order in the BIOS back to C: expecting Windows XP to boot up….. but instead I ended up at a “Grub Rescue” prompt. So at this point I’m really scratching my head. How did my boot sector on C: get over written while previously the boot order was always to read off of the E:Mint Grub menu?
Eventually I tried to boot off of my WinXP install CD and go to the Recovery Panel and try the old BootFix from the command line, but after many attempts the CD would not boot. Then I tried my trusty USB Rescue thumb drive (which has a dozen utilities on it), and some of them would start to load, but eventually they all froze up. I even grabbed some old Windows Boot Floppies I have, and the machine would not even recognize them and always end up back at the Grub Rescue prompt. Same as my CD.
One thing I did notice that I don’t have the knowledge to explain, is that while the machine was unplugged, and the E:Mint drive was still disconnected, the PWR light on the front panel blinked on and off in 2 second intervals until I hit the PWR button.
(this was right after a failed boot cycle).
So now I’m at my wits end… XP has thrown me a few hurdles over the years, but I’ve always been able to boot into the fix…. Now I can’t boot into anything except a machine that will freeze up. I did eventually re-connect that E:Mint drive, booted into Windows XP, and am now writing this with that OS. Of all the things I suspect, they don’t explain all of the symptoms…. Blown caps don’t change boot sectors, nor do they disallow other boot devices do they?
What do I try next and why? Cmos battery? Swap HHD cables? Hit is with a big hammer? :b
If you’ve read all of the above….. thanks…. Appreciate your input.
Wolf
, the machine booted directly to XP as expected, and has not froze up for about 12 hours now, which is an improvement.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram