Can't rebuild my machine, very weird

Basically, after encountering some problems on my machine, I proceeded rebuild it a few times. I have a Gateway FX4710-UB003A.

This bad boy:
Gateway Support - 1015578R Gateway FX4710-UB003A Desktop Computer

I have Vista Ultimate 64-bit on it.

Now, the video was getting really messed up with little lines coming across the screen and I thought it was a heat issue. After taking pretty much the whole thing apart and cleaning it (I've had it for over 3 years, the warranty is long gone), I tried to boot, it POSTed and... nothing... just a black screen. No HD activity, nothing at all.

With my patience gone, I popped in my Vista Ultimate 64-bit DVD into it and proceeded to nuke again, in hopes to rebuilding it and having all of those issues behind me. After hitting the space bar when asked to press any key to boot from media, all I got was a BSOD... ok... weird... I proceed to do a hard reboot and try the same process again, at which point, the media loads, the screen goes dark again and... nothing... just darkness... you'd think that my computer is trying to consign me to solitary confinement of some sort

Look, guys, I don't care about the data on the HD, I just wanna nuke from orbit and start afresh. How can I do that?

If you need more info, please let me know.

Maybe it's an issue with the HD?

I would have to agree. If the hard drive isn't running, you won't be able to boot or install the OS. Either the hard drive isn't connected properly, it's dead, or the power supply is dead.

wither 3 said:

I would have to agree. If the hard drive isn't running, you won't be able to boot or install the OS. Either the hard drive isn't connected properly, it's dead, or the power supply is dead.

Click to expand...

Well, I can get to the BIOS, so my guess is that the power supply is still going strong, would you disagree?

wither 3 said:

I would have to agree. If the hard drive isn't running, you won't be able to boot or install the OS. Either the hard drive isn't connected properly, it's dead, or the power supply is dead.

Click to expand...

New HD didn't work. Is there a way to narrow it down to PSU or motherboard? One is much easier to replace than the other .

How can i tell if my motherboard is bad? - Yahoo! Answers

Found this answer, any truth to it? I don't really trust Yahoo answers right off the bat .

It's hard to say about PSU's. They might still work but may not provide as much power as they should. The fact that your the system starts up and the optical drive runs says it's working at least partially. Are you sure the HDD is connected properly for both power and the SATA bus? Is the fan on the 9800GT and the CPU running?

I recently had the PSU go out on my previous desktop and occasionally I could get it cooperate and it would fully boot. However if it decided not to cooperate the computer would shut down after a verifying amount of time sometimes with and sometimes without beeping. However if it turns on and stays on without going to POST or giving you any beeps then I'm inclined to think hardware. You can try removing all devices except graphics and memory as a test but I believe that it's your motherboard.

townsbg said:

I recently had the PSU go out on my previous desktop and occasionally I could get it cooperate and it would fully boot. However if it decided not to cooperate the computer would shut down after a verifying amount of time sometimes with and sometimes without beeping. However if it turns on and stays on without going to POST or giving you any beeps then I'm inclined to think hardware. You can try removing all devices except graphics and memory as a test but I believe that it's your motherboard.

Click to expand...

I know that the geek squad isn't famous for fixing some issues, but would they have the tools to test my PSU in order to see if it works or not?

wither 3 said:

It's hard to say about PSU's. They might still work but may not provide as much power as they should. The fact that your the system starts up and the optical drive runs says it's working at least partially. Are you sure the HDD is connected properly for both power and the SATA bus? Is the fan on the 9800GT and the CPU running?

Click to expand...

I've checked the connections again and everything seemed to be hooked up fine. Stupid question, but would it matter which SATA drive is plugged into what SATA connection on the Mobo? I'm 99.99% inclined to say that it doesn't matter.

DVD is also SATA connected.

townsbg said:

I recently had the PSU go out on my previous desktop and occasionally I could get it cooperate and it would fully boot. However if it decided not to cooperate the computer would shut down after a verifying amount of time sometimes with and sometimes without beeping. However if it turns on and stays on without going to POST or giving you any beeps then I'm inclined to think hardware. You can try removing all devices except graphics and memory as a test but I believe that it's your motherboard.

Click to expand...

It gets past the window where I can go into BIOS and I've verified that I can go into BIOS and change boot-order and such.

If it's some little capacitor on the mobo, this just got a lot uglier.

Trouble is, if your HDD isn't running, it won't make any difference what you set in the BIOS. You didn't say if the other fans I asked about are running.

Also, I don't think it makes any difference which SATA connection you use in regards to this problem.

wither 3 said:

Trouble is, if your HDD isn't running, it won't make any difference what you set in the BIOS. You didn't say if the other fans I asked about are running.

Also, I don't think it makes any difference which SATA connection you use in regards to this problem.

Click to expand...

You're right, I didn't say that. That's my bad, I'll address it when I get home after work.

wither 3 said:

Trouble is, if your HDD isn't running, it won't make any difference what you set in the BIOS. You didn't say if the other fans I asked about are running.

Also, I don't think it makes any difference which SATA connection you use in regards to this problem.

Click to expand...

The other fans were running. I just checked.

While the computer was on, I unplugged the HD power cord and heard a distinct noise as if the plates were spinning down.

This is what happened when I booted into Safe Mode (just safe mode, nothing else, no networking enabled).
The display is messed up and this has been one other issue that I've had on and off.

Thoughts?

View attachment 27721

It could be that you need to reinstall the mobo drivers. Are you able to get to safe mode?

Ok it changes things if you can get past the BIOS screen. I found this thread. Startup hangs at crcdisk.sys in vista - Operating Systems
There a 2 proposed solutions. One is to delete some files; I don't know if this will work so do so at your own risk. Renaming would be safer.
Two, reconnect your sata devices in a specific order. Put the hard drive in spot 1 and the dvd drive at 2. I am not sure that will work either but it's worth trying. Otherwise I would say to perform a checkdisk and probably a scan the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.

wither 3 said:

It could be that you need to reinstall the mobo drivers. Are you able to get to safe mode?

Click to expand...

The screen that I have displaying is where it stops (more like freezes or crashes in that instant) when I select Safe mode.

townsbg said:

Ok it changes things if you can get past the BIOS screen. I found this thread. http:// forums. techarena. in/operating-systems/1127074.htm [take out the spaces].
There a 2 proposed solutions. One is to delete some files; I don't know if this will work so do so at your own risk. Renaming would be safer.
Two, reconnect your sata devices in a specific order. Put the hard drive in spot 1 and the dvd drive at 2. I am not sure that will work either but it's worth trying. Otherwise I would say to perform a checkdisk and probably a scan the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.

Click to expand...

But what I don't get is this, when I try to nuke everything from orbit and rebuild, I just get a black screen. Honestly, if I have to rebuild and re-install everything, that's fine. All of my important stuff is backed up to a USB HD.

I'll try what you suggested, but that is my only Windows machine. I'll try to rename those files with my mac somehow (also have a Linux box).

townsbg said:

Ok it changes things if you can get past the BIOS screen. I found this thread. http:// forums. techarena. in/operating-systems/1127074.htm [take out the spaces].
There a 2 proposed solutions. One is to delete some files; I don't know if this will work so do so at your own risk. Renaming would be safer.
Two, reconnect your sata devices in a specific order. Put the hard drive in spot 1 and the dvd drive at 2. I am not sure that will work either but it's worth trying. Otherwise I would say to perform a checkdisk and probably a scan the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.

Click to expand...

Also, when I put in a new HD (just for testing) and then popped in my
Vista DVD, all I got was the loading screen and then... just a black
screen and no activity. I left it like that for at least 10 seconds, then
figured that nothing is happening and killed it.