Motherboards Abnormal computer behaviour

Hello,

Last time I was on my computer it restarted randomly during gaming (NFS Shift). It then emitted random car like noises (but different to the game's). Later when I restarted it, the USB ports didn't work but still provided power . POST didn't give any errors and Windows booted normally (other than none of my USB peripherals working) . The air noise was very slightly different to normal. I haven't been able to do more testing because I can't login with my mouse not working and don't want to cause any more damage, especially to my data.

My system specs are :
CPU: AMD athlon II X2 245
Motherboard: MSI 770 C45
GPU: ATI Radeon HD4670
PSU: OCZ 400W
RAM: Kingston Valueram 2GB (2X1024MB)
HDD: 2 X 80GB Seagate
Sound: Realtek Intergrated Audio
OS: Windows XP SP3

I haven't installed any new hardware recently or changed any drivers. My gpu's cooler is touching my southbridge, so I think the gpu might have killed off the southbridge. Is there any way to find out what is wrong, or is the only way to throw it out ?

 

Before you start throwing it, clear the Bios settings.
In your case, I'd suggest you turn the PC off at the wall, remove the battery on the motherboard and then give it a few minutes.
Put the battery back in, then turn it back on at the wall. See if that makes any difference.

 

If you have custom bios settings you might want to note down what they are first before you reset it back to default.

 

It's possible it's the south bridge given what you've said about the USB's. As for the mouse if you've got a PS2 mouse try that.

 

Thanks to everyone! After removing my BIOS battery, my computer seems to be running better for now. Although the USB ports take around a minute longer than the rest of the system to initialise. I also seem to have lower airflow than usual but that's probably just PWM on my coolers and fans.

PCBuilderSven

 

Ah, good to hear. Probably worth going through your BIOS settings and restoring the settings you know you needed if you haven't already done so: e.g. fan settings