boot problems

[garwain]

I have a computer running a ASUS A7M266-D board and dual AMD 1600+ processors. My problem is that it will never start the first time.

When the computer has been shut down, when I press the power button My monitor will flash it's led green and the fans will start but there will never be a POST, no beep, nothing. then after a second the monitor will change the led to red. I have to either power off by holding the power button for 5 seconds or use the switch at the back. Then next time I press the power button, it will work. this will happen whether the system has had power cut completely or not.

When I reboot or even change the bios, when the system has finished it's shutdown, I'll be left with a black screen. No post, nothing. I power the computer down, restart it... still just the black screen. Power down again then restart and it'll post and continue booting.

I returned the main board on warrenty due to other problems, and the replacement board does the exact same thing... This is really starting to annoy me!

What I have done so far:
disabled all power management features in bios and windows
disabled wakeup on lan and wakeup on modem
double checked and triple checked the connectors for the
power and reset buttons
tried one processor at a time in each socket
slapped the case around
banged my head on the desk
remove all but essencial hardware
tried another vid card

I'm left thinking that it's either the power supply or memory (don't have any extra DDR to test with).

Can anyone offer any ideas as to whether it's the PS or RAM or something else altogether?

This computer has been nothing but trouble for me!

Thanks.
Ben

 

[dumdum]

Well, this may take some time but lets look at one or two things at a time.

1. Are the CPU's MP capable?
2. Are the fans working on both CPUs? You may be getting shutdowns due to heat or a fan not working properly.
3. Are you sure the FSB setting is correct?
4. What rating is you PSU?

At first glance it sounds like either the FSB or one of the PCI/CLK dividers may be set improperly. Keep me posted. Lets fix this!
We are always looking for new members at: forums.jlrforum.net Please come join our community too.

 

[edfair]

This sounds like some older machines I had where the POST arrived at power check before power good came up. About 1 of 3 times it would lock up and the reset switch would let it boot on the second try. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[garwain]

1. Are the CPU's MP capable?
both are AMD 1600+ MP processors
2. Are the fans working on both CPUs? You may be getting shutdowns due to heat or a fan not working properly.
I've got 1 AMD heat sync and 1 CoolMaster, both working great. With additional case fans and Arctic Silver III I've got both processors running at 40 celcius under regular load and 45 max under full load, all fans are running properly.
3. Are you sure the FSB setting is correct?
yeah, settings are correct
4. What rating is you PSU?
AMD approved 300Watt Power Supply. I've talked with a few technicians and am now waiting for the local computer shop to receive another 300watt PSU to see if that's where the problem is.


Ed. My reset button never accomplishes anything. It's always on the second cold boot that the machine comes back to life.

 

[stormy2700]

Hi,
going by the t/s logged so far, it sounds similar to a problem one of my students had with his PC. We checked the P/S and though all indiciations were good, I ran my POST card on it, and it returned an error code showing problems with the +5v.
We replaced his 300W p/s and it solved that problem.

Bill

 

[garwain]

I'm hoping thats the problem with my machine... I've been trying to get this to work properly since early January and after sending the main board back 2x for repair and then having it replaced I've got it down to this one glitch.

 

[gavrc]

hmmm. Is 300W enough for an MP board? This sounds a lot like a juice problem. I'd certainly be using 400W for this How many HDDs/CD-ROMs/cards are you running with this system? Last ditch, have you tried holding the mouse by the cable and hitting the monitor repeatedly with it?

Gav
A problem with Windows??? Never...

 

[garwain]

Yeah, the 300W is fine for the system. The shop where I bought most of my hardware built a system in December using the same board and processors with 2 HDD's a CDRW and a DVD-ROM. It shouldn't be too much pull for the PSU because the problem exists even when all I have is 1 CPU, the ram and a vid card on the system.

They just told me they will have a PSU available for me to test with on thursday (earliest I can go in to check it out), and if the PSU is the problem I might go for a 400W instead... I just dread the re-wiring job, maybe I'll switch to a fullsize tower as well