Strange problem with xxhe pc

[jhmvl]

Hello,

I have a strange problem with my xxhe pc. I had my keyboard and mouse connected through PS/2. For some reason it stopped working and I plugged it into the usb in order to be able to troubleshoot. Now all I get is a black screen with the cursor blinking in left upper corner and A2 in the lower right corner. Rebooting does not help leads to the same screen. The screen is unrelated to Windows it is just the black screen you get after rebooting the PC.

Would anybody have any idea what this could be?

Hans

[jhmvl]

The above problem just changed. It now tells me "Reboot and select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". The boot disk is still where it always was and oressing a key leads to the same message again.

So, not sure how to solve this.

Hans

[PeterSt]

Hi Hans,

Hmm ... that looks like a real problem.
Can you still get in the BIOS (tapping the Del key while booting) ?

If yes, can you find the boot disk in there ? (RAM OS, right ?)

Peter

[jhmvl]

Hi Peter,

I can get into the bios I think. I tried that because I needed to change the boot device there. However, I get a black/blank screen upon pressing del. So, in summary, I think I can get in the bios but nothing shows on the screen. A bit weird I guess :-).

Hans

[PeterSt]

Hans,

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1767977/motherboard-error.html

That gives you a hole load of A2 error problems (see list towards the bottom).
I'm afraid you have to investigate all ...

Regards,
Peter

[jhmvl]

Hi Peter,

Thanks, but do you think it is still a motherboard error? The A2 has disappeared now and now it complains it cannot find the boot device, that seems more of a bios error (although I cannot open the bios as described). So then the question would be, does it still make sense to look into the A2 error code (it might, just checking)?

Regards

Hans

[PeterSt]

Maybe if you replace the OS Disk with another ? (you should have two)
I really have no idea. Also not how to troubleshoot this.

One of the hints in there is to clear CMOS (BIOS). Many things help (as per that link). But if you are confident to not even try, well, that's it.
Haha


Peter

[jhmvl]

Hi Peter,

I am trying, trust me, and not very confident on this.

It is just that I was now able to access the bios by connecting a different monitor and it turns out that the boot device was set correctly (only one option anyway). I have indeed tried the other disk, same result, so so far the pc just doesn't boot anymore and there is no other notice than this:

Reboot and select proper Boot device or
Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Anyway, I'll try further with what is suggested.

Hans

Addition: after a bit more experimenting I have now found the exact problem (not the solution, but maybe somebody has an idea). The problem is that in the bios I have selected the dvd as boot device (only available option). So if I now insert the windows 8 install disk in the DVD player the computer starts up without a problem. Taking the dvd out goes back to the problem that it cannot find the boot media (i.e. the ram os disk in the swap bay under the dvd player).

[PeterSt]

OK Hans, very well done.

I'd say that these "A2" posts indeed indicate the problem quite wel, and not it is only for you to find the way out.
My idea :

Something could be wrong with the SATA connection from the Removable bay to the MoBo. Six things now can be wrong :

1. The connector inside of the bay which connects the disk to the wire outside (likely and could be because of wear);

2. The connection outside of the bay, to the SATA cable (likely, could be loose(-ish));

3. The SATA cable itself (not likely);

4. The connection of the SATA cable to the MoBo (likely, could be loose(-ish));

5. The connection of the SATA connecto to the MoBo (likely ?);

6. The path from the SATA connector towards the chip which deals with SATA (likely).

N.b.: Where I say "likely" this is because something is wrong to begin with and not because "it breaks all the time". Btw, you are the very first with a problem with the PC.

Looking at the list, what to do next looks obvious : take out the current SATA cable and replace it with another one to another connector on the MoBo.
If you don't have any other, then you can try to pull one of the 3.5" bays (from the top of my head I am not even sure whether that is reachable) and put that in the 2.5" bay instead.

Writing this, I now see that for the power connector could count the same; Above list will only slightly different, but you will get the gist now.

If the exchange of the cable(s) does not help, take the disk and connect it directly to the cables and lay it on the chassis somewhere (carefully and in such fashion that it won't fall inside because of its own vibration when spinning).
Btw notice that this latter option is the more easy one for trouble shooting.

Depending on what you find, we can proceed.

Regards,
Peter

[jhmvl]

Hi Peter,

That is helpful! I will start the procedure of checking these things and report.

One question: what is way to open the pc? I never opened it. I can probably find it quite easily but just in case there is a special trick to be aware of.

Hans

[PeterSt]

Hans,

Switch off the power button and pull the cable.

At the back you see 3 screws in the upper horizontal edge of the cover. Take these out.
Now push the cover downwards (for grip) and towards you, from the back side. Now it will slide (your direction) and after 5cm or so you can lift it vertically.

Don't do things you are not sure about or don't want to do. But it really will be easy.

The SATA cables are (the data cables and are) the 7mm or so wide and flat red or black cables (the power cables have the wider connectors). Do NOTICE that the black cables have a clip on the connector and this must be pushed (say towards the inside of the connector) to unlock it so it can be taken out. Put back in is just pushing it in (and the clip may express a small click).

Peter

[jhmvl]

Hi Peter,

One babystep every day will get you to the goal hopefully. I find it is hopeless to unscrew the parts of the PC in such a way that I can safely put it back together. That probably tells you a lot about my experience with hardware  . So I thought of another way to test the cables instead since it seems to be a connector problem as you described.

First I thought: maybe I can insert the 2.5" disk into on of the 3.5" bays and see if that works. That was unsuccessful because I cannot get it in safely (my fingers just do not reach that far into the bay, simple physical problem).

Then I thought: but I can put in an empty 3.5" harddisk. That works. I can get that in. So how can I test the cables now? Well my thinking is that if I now try to install windows on the empty disk from the dvd player then I may find out if I can boot from that drive. So that is what I did. Guess what; I cannot install windows on that 3.5" drive. It gives me the following message when I select the drive to install windows on:

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu."

So that is a clue that there is something with the controller and not the cable since this is a different cable than the one servicing the 2.5" bay. So then the next step was to insert a 2.5" disk in the "faulty" bay (the one under the dvd player that is supposed to take the 2.5" disks) and see if I could install windows there. Same message appears. This to me is a clue that the cables and connectors to both bays are most probably fine (or they are both faulty but that seems a bit unlikely).

That leaves us with the message pointing to the controller and the BIOS. So now if I understood what the message tries to tell me I could look in the BIOS and see what I could do about it. Any chance that you know where I would need to look in the BIOS?

Regards

Hans

[PeterSt]

Hi Hans,

In itself this is easy, because you can look here for how all is to be set :

XXHighEnd PC BIOS Settings.

Don't only watch the white arrows which are about the changes compared to the defaults, but watch all of it, just in case.

Pay special attention (or start there) to the screenshot somewhere in the middle about "ASMedia SATA3 Bootable".
Notice that "normal SATA" (ever) was SATAII, while these days it is SATAIII (this is faster). We tend to connect what needs to be fast to SATAIII. So to that regards this setting could be the problem ... (and by default it is Off !).

Maybe you recall that you did something at the back of the PC because there's a quite clumsey placed BIOS (CMOS) Reset button; it is right next to one of the USB connections. Touch it and the BIOS is reset ... (all white arrowed settings will then be different).

Hope this helps !
Peter

PS: Admit it, you just don't have Philips screwdrivers out there !

[jhmvl]

Hehe, quite on the contrary, I bought a very fancy set of screwdrivers just for the occasion. What I will admit though is that I am too clumsy to use them correctly

I will continue the process this afternoon but I guess your suggestion of accidentally hitting the reset button is what may have happened because I was putting the keyboard connection elsewhere.

Hans

[PeterSt]

Ha ! So problem solved ...

... undoubtedly ...