Desktop freezes / hangs on boot

Computer Forum General Hardware
1

I have an eMachines H2341…approximately 4 years old.

Some time back, the computer started to hang on boot. After pressing the power button, the hard drive / “busy” light would simply stay lit and nothing would happen (no booting, no signal to monitor, etc…but the CPU fan would spin). To get it to boot, I simply have to keep turning it on and off till I get that ‘click’ noise just after turning it on. Sometimes, the PC randomly freezes when I’m in Windows also.

Now I have opened up the PC, and checked all cables/connections. I have also tried re-arranging the RAM modules (using one only, using both, etc..) and also used different hard drives so I think I can say that items are OK.
There is no sound card / modem / etc., everything is on-board so all slots are free except for the AGP.

The system came with built-in graphics but I have put a vid. card in the AGP slot which automally disables on-board video. Unfortunately, I cannot recall exactly how long ago the problem started to occur - that would allow me to determine for sure whether the problem is related to the graphics card. Now I have tried removing the AGP card and resorting to on-board video and the comp has booted without problem however that was a single time and due to the randomness of the problem, I still can’t say 100% that it’s related to the AGP card, especially since I don’t understand the technical side of the system boot.

First, can anyone describe / explain that ‘click’ sound that occurs after boot. i.e., is it the hard drive / something else initializing?

I guess the next question, would a bad video card / bad slot be a possible cause of this? I have taken the vid card out and put it back in, ensuring that it is in firm, etc..

The randomness of the problem compounds the difficulty of trying to pinpoint it. Once the comp is on, it works fine…and it’s really just random when the freeze-up / boot problems occur, i.e. I can think of no specific activity/action that causes it.

Thanks in advance.

2

The clicking could be the power supply, though hard drives do have a tendency of clicking when they’re on the way out. Random freezes can happen from bad RAM, an overheating CPU, or insufficient power.

I’d start with making sure the CPU cooler is firmly attached. If you’re comfortable doing so, it might not hurt to remove it, clean it and the CPU off with isopropyl alcohol, then apply a thin (paper thin) layer of thermal paste. Arctic Silver is some of the best stuff, but FutureShop or Radio Shack may have some for fairly cheap (around $5-10 USD).

Next, I’d snag Memtest86 for a CD or floppy and boot off of that. Let it run 3-8 hours to see if it picks up any errors. If it does, try one stick at a time to determine if one or both sticks are bad.

Lastly, the power supply. Troubleshooting this is going to involve replacing the power supply with another unit.

You probably won’t need something really high-end for this box, as far as power supplies go. Something like this should do the job for your box, unless you go with a high-end video card.

3

emachines are noted for bad power supplys and there push buttons. I have had two of them and the power supply on both went bad. I would first test the power supply, or try another one..