My computer has developed the "blinking box" syndrome

I have a feeling this might be related to my hard disk, but I'm not sure.

At either rate, it froze up completely today. I restarted it, and then it gave me a bad disk read error and prompted me to Ctrl+Alt+Delete to reboot. I did that a few times, and now nothing at all happens. It turns on, but nothing comes onto the screen.

The computer is a custom-build (with an overclocked processor). I de-overclocked it, but that did nothing. The hard drive model is a MAXTOR 2 Hard Drive 600GB Raid 0 7200RPM

If nothing else, I would like to save the hard drive data. All of my music is on it and I don't have recent backups. However, the main priorty is to at least get the thing to boot to the BIOS screen, so i can make it boot from the CD-Rom with the Windows install CD in it.

Any help with this would result in the most massive props ever received in your entire life.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You'll need to give more detailed hardware specs of this custom rig, and also how old the parts are that you're using as well as how far you overclocked and what kind of cooling is available to the machine. It's possible that you simply stressed the motherboard and/or memory too much and it ended up corrupting some data, causing your drive to acquire a fault. That's total conjecture but without further details noone can help you.

Hmm, maybe you need to reset the BIOS. I have had that happen to me occasionally (crap BIOS, no overclocking) and sometimes it just goes crazy. I'm sure someone else will chime in with other suggestions; again, it's just a theory.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Ah, I thought I forgot something.

Stats:
Processor: Intel 3.4 Ghz overclocked to 3.92 Ghz
Motherboard: Asus Proactive AI P5GD1 (LGA 775, FSB 800 Mhz
Memory: 2x 1 GB Corsair 240-PIN DDR 400 SDRAM Dual Channel with Aluminium Heat Spreader
Storage: 1 MAXTOR 2 Hard Drive 600GB (Raid 0, 7200RPM)
Video Card: Ati Radeon X1600PRO 512MB PCI Express
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 7.1 24-BIT
Operating System Windows XP Professional SP 2
Power Supply: 600 Watt

The parts are only 6 months old, and I bought them new. I will look into resetting the BIOS.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

See, I think it might be corrupted. I have this annoying problem with my system (which is supposed to be a server-class motherboard, also an ASUS) where if I get a BSOD or a freeze, and then hit the reset button, it corrupts the BIOS and I need to go into it and quickly adjust the settings back to how they should be. I need to do this a couple of times before it'll stick. If I just hold the power button down for a few seconds and shut-down that way, it reboots normally.

Numerous updated BIOS versions haven't fixed it so I just live with it. Fortunately my system rarely hangs. If you can boot from your motherboard CD, the built in flashing tool on the motherboard should be able to copy the BIOS file onto the CMOS chip without a problem, but i'm sure I don't need to tell you that :P.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

So wait a second, it won't go into BIOS? So it isn't even getting to the hard drive. Unless I misunderstood your first post.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Ulysses:
I triet resetting the BIOS (remove the CMOS battery , wait 10 seconds, put it back in), but that did nothing. From what I can tell, it's not starting the hard drives (2 300 GB linked via RAID).

And yeah, russ, it's not getting to the BIOS. It might be BIOS corruption, but unsure how to fix it as it won't boot with the Winodws CD. I'll give the motherboard CD a try.

EDIT:
Won't let me boot with the motherboard CD. I put the CD in and the CD drive seemed to try to read it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

If you can't load the BIOS you might as well give up on CDs since the BIOS has to get read first. Have you tried powering up with the bare minimum parts? Unplug all your drives, all PCI cards (except your video card obviously), and see what happens.

Most amazing jew boots

I will try that right now.

EDIT: Nope, didn't work. Could it just be the processor/motherboard crapped out (and if so, how would I tell)?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Is your RAID mirrored or striped? I was gonna say if it was mirrored, just use one drive and plug it into a normal controller (unless it makes no difference - some motherboards have dedicated controllers attached to only a few of the SATA ports for RAID purposes).

How ya doing, buddy?

The RAID is mirrored, so I'll give that a shot tomorrow.

Thank you all for your help. It's been much appreciated.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It might be the motherboard or processor. Is your monitor even turning on when you power up your machine? As in, does the power light on the monitor change from orange to green? And does anything show up? Does your computer beep?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

As Magic said, listen for the beep. If you get a beep, then you're at least getting to the BIOS. If you still have no video, I'd start to look at either the monitor or your video card. If you have an extra of either of those, try switching them.

Did you do anything out of the ordinary before the problem happened? Maybe moving the computer or installing something new?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

My guess it is the processor or motherboard (hopefully just the processor, because my motherobard was a BITCH to put in. The monitor at no time gets sent a signal, and I don't get any beep codes.

I didn't install anything recently, but I did have to forcibly restart the computer after a crash.

How ya doing, buddy?

Removing CMOS battery does not always properly reset the BIOS. Better look for a jumper to clear CMOS, should be somewhere on the board near the BIOS chip or near the battery.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

LiquidAcid:
Good idea, but I just sent the compy over to CompUSA to take a look at it.

Anywho, thank you all once again for giving a shit.

FELIPE NO