PC that won't switch off!!

[ifx]

Hi all,

This is a bit of an odd one:
Recently I replaced my motherboard with an Abit NF7 v2. One day it decided to not boot up - fans and drives going but no beeps and no graphics output - pretty dead. After buying some replacement RAM it still wouldn't boot up - however I noticed if I moved it from slot 3 to 2 or 1 it worked. I tried with both sticks or RAM only made sure slot 3 was pushed down nice and firm and it worked. No problems there then.. just a bit of a sloppy RAM slot. However a couple of days after that I've now found the thing won't switch off!! It shuts down fine, but at that point when the power normally goes off automatically it just restarts.

The power seems to switch off for a tiny fraction of a second (slightly different from hitting the reset button) but comes straight back on again and it begins the whole boot up process over again. Any ideas what might be causing this!? Am I not alone in this problem!? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[paparazi]

Maybe unrelated but I had the exact same problem after intalling some logitech keyboard driver software, it was cured by uninstalling and downloading the latest iTouch software off the Logitech site, apparently a known issue with earlier Logitech drivers.
Although this may not be what you're experiencing it may just jolt your memory as to something you have perhaps installed etc as to when is started happening?
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[reinrev]

Have you changed any settings in your dial up connections or remote start up authorisations?

I'm fishing here and quite frankly don't really know where to send you as you don't give vey much info.

Reinrev

 

[jsauce]

What operating system is this? Its possible that if its Windows 2000 or XP it might be set to reboot on crash. So when you try to do a shutdown it causes a crash which then causes it to reboot. What OS is it?

John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
Network Administrator

 

[ifx]

It's Win XP Pro - a pretty fresh installation with only a few progs installed (VS.NET, Office XP, SQL Server, IIS and Norton AV). I might try pulling out the RAM from slot 3 and see if that makes a difference?! I hadn't installed any new progs when this problem started - is there a setting to stop XP restarting on a crash? Thanks!

 

[Freestone]

Right-click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab, Startup and Recovery section - Settings button, uncheck Automatically restart

 

[mma1123]

Try only the new ram and pull all your cards out ,even your modem just to make sure you don't have a bad piece of hardware.

 

[ifx]

Well, just for a bit of closure, in case anyone else has the same problem, I figured out what it was. The problem got worse when the computer would just power off after about an hour. I replaced the PSU and it's all cured now!

BTW I used Hardware Doctor that came with my Motherboard to check the voltages. The Vsb voltage was down by nearly a volt as was the +12V. They fluctuate much less now, and the Vsb is rock steady at 4.99. The new PSU is 450W as opposed to the old 350W Enermax which may also help.

Thanks for all your suggestions!