System Failed Cpu Test...

[Sharingan]

Hi, the computer has suddenly started yelling ' System Failed CPU test' over and over again. It did this once before and my Dad did something to it but he's in the Ukraine at the moment so can't really ask him. Can any techie type people tell me how to stop it please? Thanx xx

[The Builder]

I'm only an amateur, Shari, but there don't seem to be any Techs about.

Did you get this at boot-up, or in the middle of something?

[netibiza]

Well if all else fails, reboot, it Works wonders, but I am not an expert.

[anaxcrosswords]

STOP!
Sharingan, just want you to keep in mind the possibility that this could be a virus. Couple of years ago something popped up on my PC warning me of some kind of imminent system failure and, like an idiot, I clicked a scan/repair option. What I actually had was a serious virus which had generated this warning and I had to call in an experienced techie who still needed several hours to sort it out (even now some of the effects are still on my PC!).
The warning 'failed CPU test' suggests a CPU failure - that being the case, it seems to me your computer would be unusable anyway.
If you can access it (sometimes these viruses block everything you're doing - I hope not in your case) try to run a full AV scan, see if anything turns up.

[Sharingan]

Hi all,Thank you for responding. It happened halfway through posting on here. I stopped, rebooted, still the same. Ran a virus scan- nothing, but on googling it seems to be a common enough problem and I do remember it doing it before ages ago and my Dad fixed it by turning something off in it's system screen when you start up I think, but I have no idea what, and can't find a definitive answer on the google machine.

[The Builder]

From what I've read, Shari, this is a hardware problem usually associated with ASUS motherboards.

The possibilities are...

Motherboard fault
CPU or heatsink (cooling) problem
Memory
Graphics card seating

Often overlooked is the Power Supply (PSU). This may be dropping the voltage to the motherboard, or the CPU, or one of the drives.
At boot-up, Asus boards flag just about every fault as "Failed CPU Test"

Can you remember what your Dad did last time?

[The Builder]

Ok - cross-posted.

Sounds like he changed something in the BIOS set-up. It must be something quite "technical" then. Perhaps removing a drive from the BIOS.

I'm sorry. I wish I could help. Bit of a long shot really :o(

[Sharingan]

Thank you The Builder, no it's got me beaten as well but thanks for trying to help. It's the most annoying thing in the world, you can't listen to music, watch videos, record anything, it's awful :)

[ChuckFickens]

I'd take a guess that one of the CPU settings in the BIOS has managed to get itself set incorrectly (clock speed, multiplier, FSB speed or voltage)

However, without knowing the exact details of the system (motherboard make and model and CPU make and model) it's not possible to say what they should be set to.

[ChuckFickens]

Also, it's a bit of a scary one to advise on, because if I told you to set something wrong it could fry your CPU.

[Kevink]

If it's actually yelling, then it's gonna be an Asus motherboard.
Unfortunately it could be any number of problems from (believe it or not) a badly seated video card, through an incorrect BIOS setting, a faulty PSU, a failed fan, or an actual CPU failure.

[Alston]

I am no expert...but why are folk somewhat positive that issues involve Asus.?

Al.

[Kevink]

"I am no expert...but why are folk somewhat positive that issues involve Asus.?"
Because the OP says "yelling", and as far as I know, Asus were the only manufacturer to produce a motherboard that spoke to you when you had a POST problem. All the others use beep codes.

[Sharingan]

Hi thanks everyone. It is an ASUS motherboard which says ASUS A8 SNLI on bootup and is showing ACPI x86 based PC in Device Manager. It has an AMD Opteron Processor 146, 2Ghz and an Nvidia GeForce 6800 GS graphgics card. It is old as the hills :/
I rebooted it from cold and and it was still doing it, so shut it down and took the side off and reseated the Graphics card. It's been running for about 10 minutes now and hasn't done it yet, so fingers crossed. I'll post again if it occurs again. Meanwhile thank you everyone, I was a bit lost as to what to do with it and it's horrible yelling at you all the time:)