Boot - NT Loader - Reboot - Repeat *argh*

[E3xtc]

Hi,

Have a situation where PC is loading NT4.0 and gets to the NTloader stage - goes to the normal blue boot up screen, then simply reboots itself.
No beeps, no errors, no nothing.

Computer is:
P3 733
128Mb PC100 Ram
40Gig H/d - new as I replaced it thinking it was a h/d fault
MSI MS-6309 Mainboard

Even when starting fresh and loading a new copy on - it gets to the point where it needs to reboot (after removing all the install disks), and it does the same.

I thought it might have been a power issue, however I have removed everything which is not necessary (ie modem, NIC, ZIP Disk) and it still does the same.
I have reseated all the cables - including the main power to the board, all to no avail.

I have run AMIDIAG - diagnostics on it and nothing shows up as being dodgy, ie no errors.

Can anyone please offer this poor soul some advice on what might be going wrong here?

Thank in advance

Troy

 

[jrbarnett]

Can you get in using VGA mode? (select it at the startup menu.)

John

 

[SYAR2003]

MSI says install on minimum NT sp3 ,
didn't you get the via drivers in either .
Aren't we supposed to place the 3rd party drivers in \i386\$oem$ to install 3rd party drivers in the NT setup phase .

In your case the via chipset drivers.

 

[E3xtc]

Thanks guys, but I don't know if this is a driver issue....I am thinking it might be more hw related *sigh*

Selecting VGA doesn't make any difference sadly - which is why I don't believe this to be a driver problem.

Also the problem arose on the machine when it was running Sp6.

What would the indications be if it was a faulty power supply?

Thanks!

 

[viol8ion]

It sounds hardware related. Have you tried reseating the video card? I would suspect a video card problem. Do you have onboard video or a card? If onboard, can you disable it and install a known good video card?

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[jrbarnett]

How big is the first HDD partition?

I seem to recall that NT 4 has problems recognising boot partitions over about 8Gb in capacity in NTFS format, but can't find anything about that quickly.
Of course, the limit for a FAT partition is 2Gb in NT4.

The solution is to split the disk down to smaller partitions.

 

[wolluf]

Does sound like hardware - have you swapped out RAM - or tried just one stick (if > 1)? From what you say, machine was working - went wrong. Any history on this (eg, hardware/software changes, virus, crash just before).

also - checked cpu fan (could you have had an overheating problem - which has damaged cpu?)

 

[E3xtc]

Thanks guys!

Does appear as though there is a problem with the ram slots - the actual RAM DIMMS themselves are okay - as swapped out with many other ones and no difference.
Also ran a more exhaustive test and came back with errors while trying to write to certain parts of the RAM...

So looking as though the MB is at fault here.

Bugger

Thanks again for all the advice/help/ideas/etc.

Have a good one!

 

[Paulies]

Just a crazy thought, I had about 35-50 IBM Netvista systems that were part of my coverage, I discovered that the Capasitors were bulged and leaking. The symptoms were VERY simular to what you discribed... I know it is far fetched but so it was also for my systems till I saw it..


And IBM denied knowing anything about it although when ordering replacement boards they came back with a new part number...? ! ?

Paulies