This all started when I decided to restart my desktop computer one night after installing a game...

After it rebooted and started loading windows xp, it came up with an error msg saying something is wrong with HAL (the hardware abstraction layer service of XP) and that windows could not be loaded. Once it restarted again my screen was not comming on.

At this point really strange things started happening... I figured this was probably a hardware issue and decided to open the case. I saw nothing visibly wrong, so initially i just tried clearing out all of the dust build off.

Eventually I did get it to restart and windows did load up. After using windows normally for a bit the computer suddenly restarted by itself but it wouldnt continue with loading window, it just got stuck and when I tried restarting it, my screen would again just turn off and would show nothing.

once again I opened the case and tried to eliminate the culprit...
From what I could tell it is not the video card/sound card/modem or ethernet card. Nor is it any of my HDs or optical drives or any of the cables.

That suggest the problem is with either the MB, CPU or the power supply.

After testing the power supply with a multimeter I found nothing wrong with it. However I only tested the output on the connectors used for hard drives and optical drives. I wanted to test the power feed to the MB but I dont know how to do that.

One weird thing I did notice was that after I had disconnected the power feed to the MB and then reconnected it the computer would start up but it would say CMOS Checksum Error. I am not sure if that means that the faulty component is the MB or it is just the result of me unplugging the power from the MB and plugging it back in.

Anyways here are some specs for my machine:

MB = Gigabyte GA-8PE800 Rev 1.1
CPU = Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz
Video = nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128 MB(board by asus)
Ram = 512 at 333Mhz (not sure about manufacturer)

Ignore this post, please rad the one below.

Regards
_____
Meck

Sounds like the BIOS could have died. Try removing the CMOS battery and leaving it out for a few minutes, also make sure the mains is disconnected as well (and / or disconnect the PSU from the m/board).

This should rest the BIOS and lose any errors (and any data i.e. Boot sequences .. etc) it may have.


Regards
_____
Meck

Ok I did just as you said, and it did work... well sorta... I did manage to get my screen showing, it went through POST, gave me a CMOS Checksum Error to which I pressed F1, afterwhich it continued loading and finally did load winXP. Once xp was up and running it was installing drivers for "new" hardware and once it was done doing that it told me it had to restart to finish the installations. So I figured this would be a good test to see if its fixed or keeps doing the same thing.

When i restarted it went through POST without the CMOS checksum error, but then when it came to the boot menu where the first choice is winXP, it just froze. I should probably note that I have a USB wireless mouse and keyboard, which did not seem to work while booting, so I had no way of navigating through the boot menu, all I could do is just wait for it to time out.

In any case once it froze I had no choice but to restart it, at which point my screen went off once again.

Ok. Try running your PC with only the monitor keyboard and mouse. Also try it with PS2 keyboard & mices, as the USB could be causing problems within XP in respect to drives ... etc and / or a increased draw on power


Regards
_____
Meck