What is the computer hardware troubleshooting?

Computer troubleshooting: hardware geek needed (I think)

• I am having some very serious computer issues that I think are hardware related. Here is a description of what has happened. I would like to have your ideas as to what the problem is and (if possible) some way to verify/test your idea. Description of problem: Last night I shut down my PC using the normal routine. This morning, when I tried to turn the system on, it powered up (i.e. the issue is not that the system lacks power), but would not go through the boot process. The system appears to hang before any drive is detected, before the system goes through the normal system memory check—even before the keyboard is detected. The only thing that happens is that the system correctly detects the processor types and characteristics. Due to the fact that the keyboard is not detected, I cannot even get into the system BIOS. Things that I have tried: 1. Removing/re-installing the memory modules (thought that one had gotten loose). 2. Unplugging all drives, except the primary master drive. Though I do not think that this is a hard drive issue, I suppose that I can’t rule it out. I’m going to attach the drive to a new system to see if I can access the file system. My gut instinct is that my motherboard is fried, but I would think that this would prevent anything from happening at all (including the successful power up and processor detection). Could a virus have infected my system BIOS? Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated.

• Answer:

  Hi Svannes, The reason why I asked you to check if the components are secure and to verify if the system makes the usual beep tone is because I suspected, based on your original descriptions, that nothing was actually wrong with the integrity of the system and what you experienced is an occurrence, called "chip creep" or "card creep". It is the result of expansion and contraction of the component during the normal heating and cooling cycles of the system. As this process is repeated over time, the components "creep away" and become loose from the sockets or slots. You can find more info about this phenomenon through the links below. Total Seminars LLC Chip Creep http://totalsem.com/010806chipcreep.htm "chip creep" ://www.google.com/search?q=%22chip+creep%22&cat=&hl=en Search strategy: Personal knowledge + Google web search for "chip creep" Regards, Feilong