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PC lethargically slow (POST/BIOS paints slowly, unresponsive)

midgetspymidgetspy Registered User regular
edited March 2009 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I plugged in my USB stick to a USB port on the front of my PC tonight and when I did it shut down instantly. I figured it was a short in the power switch or something and just rebooted it. Upon booting, however, the PC is so slow it can't even boot. I can watch the lines print to display my POST screen and getting into the BIOS config takes a few minutes. Once in there it's extremely unresponsive but I can look around. All BIOS settings look fine - voltages are normal, it detects my CPU and RAM and everything properly, etc.

Maybe if I left it long enough it would get into Windows but as it is it gets past where it detects my RAID array and then never goes any further.

Any idea what could possibly cause this? Seems like it must be the mobo or CPU (what else is even a factor in displaying the BIOS?) The PC is:

ASUS mobo (M2N)
AMD X2 6000+
2GB Kingston Value RAM
eVGA 8800GT
Antec Sonata case

Thanks in advance for the help.

EDIT: While I went and typed this post up on another PC this one finally booted into Windows and is responding just fine. WTF? I'm scared to reboot it now for fear that it'll take 15 minutes to get past the BIOS again...

midgetspy on

Posts

  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    My guess is that the USB stick shorted the USB plug and did some minor damage to the motherboards south bridge chip causing it to spam hardware interrupts* to the CPU. This is not stuff that is replacable, so if the problem is there after you reboot and you probably need a new motherboard. Does USB still work on the PC?
    Also, the USB stick might be broken.

    *A hardware interrupt is how hardware tells the CPU it has some urgent stuff that it must attend to. You young whippersnappers don't care about them, but back in the day IRQ conflicts were all the rage.

    ArcticMonkey on
    "You read it! You can't unread it!"
    venstre.giflobotDanceMiddle.gifhoyre.gif
  • midgetspymidgetspy Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    ArcticMonkey wrote: »
    My guess is that the USB stick shorted the USB plug and did some minor damage to the motherboards south bridge chip causing it to spam hardware interrupts* to the CPU. This is not stuff that is replacable, so if the problem is there after you reboot and you probably need a new motherboard. Does USB still work on the PC?
    Also, the USB stick might be broken.

    *A hardware interrupt is how hardware tells the CPU it has some urgent stuff that it must attend to. You young whippersnappers don't care about them, but back in the day IRQ conflicts were all the rage.

    The stick works fine, I plugged into a different PC right after and it worked properly. I guess I'll see how it responds to the next reboot and go from there. USB still works on the PC, yes, though I haven't tried the front panel.

    And I'm not a young whippersnapper, I did my share of fighting with IRQ conflicts, hehe. Thanks for the info. Is there any component that could cause that behavior other than the mobo?

    midgetspy on
  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    If it is something that spams interrupts, then that limits it to everything except RAM, CPU and possibly PSU.
    But the MB is where you connected the USB when the computer blacked out, so it is the most likely suspect.

    Broken RAM should not affect speed, only stability.
    Broken CPU usually means broken computer, not slow. And if a broken CPU was slow, I guess it would be slow inside windows as well. Slow CPU usually means heat, but nothing you said suggests heat.
    The GPU seems not likely.
    Everything else is connected to the south bridge, so something not broken connected to a broken south bridge could slow down computer, which could lead to false positives if you remove stuff.

    ArcticMonkey on
    "You read it! You can't unread it!"
    venstre.giflobotDanceMiddle.gifhoyre.gif
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    ArcticMonkey wrote: »
    My guess is that the USB stick shorted the USB plug and did some minor damage to the motherboards south bridge chip causing it to spam hardware interrupts* to the CPU. This is not stuff that is replacable, so if the problem is there after you reboot and you probably need a new motherboard. Does USB still work on the PC?
    Also, the USB stick might be broken.

    *A hardware interrupt is how hardware tells the CPU it has some urgent stuff that it must attend to. You young whippersnappers don't care about them, but back in the day IRQ conflicts were all the rage.

    Oh god IRQ conflicts *shudder* brings back horrible memories of trying to build computers and installing Win 95...

    tsmvengy on
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  • EgoEgo Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    CPU damage to cache can cause slowness (as busted = disabled) but not to the degree experienced by the OP (I just mention it since you can have cpu damage but still a 'working' system.)

    Ahhh, IRQs. I don't think anything made me as fond of computers like the amiga as did auto-configuration of expansion cards.

    Ego on
    Erik
  • bowenbowen Sup? Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Sounds to me like someone wired it up to the motherboard as the old USB 1.1 standard for wiring a split up connector but it was a USB 2.0 system and thusly probably caused a short in the whole unit. I've seen this happen once and it sort of matches what happened to your PC.

    Did you ever plug anything into this USB? Usually they work fine until the fateful day someone plugs something into it.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • midgetspymidgetspy Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    bowen wrote: »
    Sounds to me like someone wired it up to the motherboard as the old USB 1.1 standard for wiring a split up connector but it was a USB 2.0 system and thusly probably caused a short in the whole unit. I've seen this happen once and it sort of matches what happened to your PC.

    Did you ever plug anything into this USB? Usually they work fine until the fateful day someone plugs something into it.

    Yes I use that USB port all the time. I've used it with this exact memory stick before, even. I can't imagine that the front panel for my Antec Sonata case would be wired in such a way that it could kill a USB2.0 motherboard?

    So the consensus is that if something is damaged it has got to be the motherboard then? That's kinda what I'd assumed, but the fact that it's running Vista just fine seems really odd to me.

    midgetspy on
  • bowenbowen Sup? Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    That's interesting then. I retract my USB1.1 comment.

    The fuck.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • victor_c26victor_c26 Chicago, ILRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    ArcticMonkey wrote: »
    My guess is that the USB stick shorted the USB plug and did some minor damage to the motherboards south bridge chip causing it to spam hardware interrupts* to the CPU. This is not stuff that is replacable, so if the problem is there after you reboot and you probably need a new motherboard. Does USB still work on the PC?
    Also, the USB stick might be broken.

    *A hardware interrupt is how hardware tells the CPU it has some urgent stuff that it must attend to. You young whippersnappers don't care about them, but back in the day IRQ conflicts were all the rage.

    Oh god IRQ conflicts *shudder* brings back horrible memories of trying to build computers and installing Win 95...

    The joys of pre-mid '90s PC gaming.

    Did you try clearing the CMOS? Nothing's bridging motherboard components inside the case (Wires, metal plates, etc)?

    victor_c26 on
    It's been so long since I've posted here, I've removed my signature since most of what I had here were broken links. Shows over, you can carry on to the next post.
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