Infrequent bootup of PC ( boots but infrequent POST) 2

[thomasmoen]

Hello!
First. I have read a couple of other articles on bootupproblems, but still think my pc needs an own thread.Thanks to all the posters.(LONG POST)

My case began probably long time ago, but in the last few months and especially days, it's been bad.

My computer suddenly dies..My screen goes fading away like when you lose signal, but sometimes the power stays on, and sometimes the power goes dead. the former being the NORM.
I use W2K.turned off bluescreen(BSOD) info in the OS and has set it to restart.Earlier the BSOD showed ..00x23 which I read has something to do with memory issues. So, do I stop there and replace?
I didn't. And my computer worked for months with the normal inconvenience, the pc shutting down at least 1 or 2 times a day. Earlier I could just restart and do scandisk,but now(when it dies) the computer still has only power(PW), and the PW can't be stopped with use of the "off button", but only by removing the PW cord! So, normally when I just put the PWcord in, it just starts the PS and the MB lights up showing it got PW, but no sounds except for other devices getting PW too. No POST.
The strange thing is that sometimes the computer suddenly can work. When this happens I do the same as above. I just put in the cable and once in a while the computer shuts itself down immediately the cord is plugged into the PS.
Then I can use the PWbutton and the PC restarts normally...of course I have to enter the BIOS and configure HD etc, and then restart and then the OS boots. BUT: lately, my computer have DIED sometimes after 10 minutes, but max at 2 hrs of uptime.

Just now I did the following(after the computer crashed yesterday):
I removed all cards and IDE cables, except Video,MB,RAM,CPU and FAN. I put in the PWcord. power went on, light on, HD's getting power etc, but no sounds. Then, I pulled out the cord and just fastened the monitor cable a little better to my VIDEOcard to be sure it was secured and plugged in the PWcord again... The computer turns itself off and I can now boot up normally when I press the powerbutton....

so, what is going on?
New Powersupply?
Thanks for anyone advising me!

 

[thomasmoen]

One adding: I also have in the OS frequent problems with getting my USB optical mouse found at startup of W2K.
My solution so far has been to go to add/remove hardware and then remove the USB hub I see with an exclamation mark on it, and then exiting and adding it again. Then I get my mouse back up. Might this be a problem related to the above? and then point a finger to my MB?

thanks.

 

[pudda]

Problems with booting up after shutting down or crashing have a common denominator- the power on/off switch.
The ATX power supply needs a momentary connection to turn itself on. If the connection stays on (shunted because of a faulty switch) the power supply does not recognize this for two seconds, then powers itself off for good. It then needs a complete power off/on cycle (such as unplugging the power supply A/C cord) before it will activate and look for a signal from the on/off switch again.
Knowing this, is it possible your power switch is bad? A local Radio Shack store and a few bucks could at least remove this from the problem list.
Good luck!

 

[thomasmoen]

thanks pudda for your info, but I'm not sure if that's the case, or maybe the case if more complex in addition to the powerissue. Just now my computer froze while in W2k with a high pitch noise emitted from my speakers...
I did one change to w2K since my last post and that was to not make w2k reboot if something went wrong, and this might be the result. what could this mean? something other than, or more in addition to the power? Tonight I have had 3 restarts in maybe 2 hrs..

 

[b4mule]

What type of mother board are you using? There have been some weak CMOS batteries floating around, your solution might just be a new (quality brand name) battery. These batteries are rated at 3v but a good quality one will keep at about 3.4v for a few years.

Some newer mobo's are just chewing up the poor quality batteries that they are shipped with, giving no post, the users having to wait progressivly longer befor there computers will start up, until they just don't. Have seen a case where a poor quality battery was used as a replacement and only lasted 2 days.

nick

 

[thomasmoen]

Sorry. I thought I had given it...HEre it somes(my system info)
MSI K7 PRO(MS-6195) Slot A
256 MB RAM
Geforce3 Ti200 128MB RAM(AGP)
Soundblaster Live
1 CDROM 52x and 1 sony 8X burner
SMC NIC
1 seagate HD and 1 western digital
USB cordless logitech optical mouse
PS Ergoforce keyboard

 

[thomasmoen]

I have tried running my pc with only my Geforce3 VIDEO card installed, but the computer still freezes. I've also used another matrox G100 card in the AGP slot, but still the computer restarts. Next I'll try with only a PCI 1Mb videocard to see if it could have something to do with the AGP. But I guess it really hasn't anything to do with my Video.

 

[thomasmoen]

Now I've tried with a PCI video card too, alone or with other cards. What happens is that the OS freezes quite fast after start or as in a few cases I can let the computer stay on a whole night.E.g. I let the computer stay on showing a movie in repeat all night, and the computer kept on untill I myself rebooted it, then shortly after it went dead again...

However, could the following be of interest?
My computer suddenly went black again with the power still running to its components. I removed the powerswitchcable from the MB. Then I uplugged the powercord from the chassis and put it in again.nothing happened, BUT: when I pulled out the mainpowercables from the PS to the MB then computer went online...
Any ideas? PS or MB? I have also removed one of my memorychips, so we'll see if my computer brightens up.

Tomorrow I'm also doing a format and reinstall of w2k.

 

[thomasmoen]

well.I guess it's not the memorychips.computer still goes down either way. MB and PS ... One of them or both have to be the sinner!

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi Thomas,

I have the same prob on my end here...

see thread602-480027 (more than likely it is your chipset chip getting to hot and going out on you)...

that is what I've found out to be my problem...

wish you good luck with the mobo...

Ben

 

[thomasmoen]

BadBigBen:

Yeah. I'm thinking it's my MoBo too. But, what did you do with your problem in the end? Did you throw away your MB? or did you manage to "repair" it?

Thanks.

 

[thomasmoen]

okey.done more investigations and found another very interesting effect on my system. This time we are looking at my Slot A CPU from AMD.(nintendocassette-like) I have a coolerfan connected on its side. picture beneath:
|
|
|-------| <-- AMD CPU
|-------|
| |___| <-- Coolingfan

^
|
(MB)

So, I removed the cpu and the coolingfan from eachother and from the MB. I now have 3 pieces. Between the CPU and the Fan I see a tapelike area that is on the CPU excactly in the middle where the cooler have been. I guess this is a sort of coolingpaste(now green) or something that I put on 3 yrs ago.
|--------------|x <- what u see is the CPU longside.
| |x <- where u put the FAN on it.
| ______ |x <- (x) marks the side that is put into
| | | |x <- the MB.
| | OO | |x <-the small squared area is what I think
| | OO | |x <- is the paste(now green in color) on
| |______| |x <- the CPU. Notice the (O) I've put
| |x <- inside the &quot;paste&quot;. Right here I
| |x <- guess the paste have been worn down
|______________|x <- or eaten through or something.

I guess the tear have been caused by longtime exposure to heat? Am I right? Should we normally do maintance of this kind? It's understandable that paste or what it is has to be replaced each other year or so.

Anyways, My conclusion so far(without knowing, please give me some feedback) is that my CPU is overheating because of this GAP in the paste(or whatever it is) on my CPU. So, on monday I'm going to buy myself new paste(or whaterver). And then I'll give my- hopefully last post on this thread.

So, BadBigBen: For now I also think I have a chipset overheating situation.

 

[thomasmoen]

arg. my ascii picture didn't work very well.
JUst a comment for it, so plp understand what it is.

There is one big square(i dont know the work for a box with two longsides identical and two shortsides identical- where all sides are 45degrees ) and inside it is is another smaller square. just so you understand the picture.

 

[BadBigBen]

Thomasmoen: Yeah, I got me a new mainboard... sigh... but I've foundout that the CPU had gone aswell... now I got me a new mobo and CPU and it's working good...mostlikely the original mobo wasn't thrashed after all... great pain with this stuff...

anotherthing I would carefully wipe the old paste off and reapply a very small amount on the CPU reinstall all components and try it once more...

it's trial and error...

wish you good luck with finding the problem...

ben

 

[thomasmoen]

Great...! I thought... After getting new cooling paste and mashing it between my fan and cpu I had my pc running for 3 hrs straight! Next time I started the computer(i turned it off for the night) it rebooted after appr. 3-4 hrs... So, what does that tell me? The there is something bad happening to the CPU chipset? I stayed in the bios last time to check the temperature. It said 38 degrees celsium, a modest temperature I would believe... and then.. POOF.. pc died on me again...

It's up again now but for how long I wont know...Next thing I'll try is getting a new ATX powersupply that is greater than 300W. Maybe that does the trick... Any comments people?

Woohoo! Pc-trouble-is-SOOOOO-fun..(!)

 

[BadBigBen]

Hey Thomas...

Testing the PSU or replacing it with a new one can help...

but I finally came behind my troubles...

it was a bad stick of memory... I replaced it with a namebrand and it works great now... it seems the old one overheated a bit...

You see I went thru all this SH*T and in the end it was the cheap a** MEM that done me in... replace MoBo, CPU, PSU, but not the damn Mem (cuz it seemed to work and did in my friends PC without probs...)

good luck try a new stick of Mem (brandname preferred)...

Ben

 

[thomasmoen]

Hi again!

Good that you found out the memory part, but I've already done my own test with mine. They're fine.

Well, I might be a little early with my conclusion here, but here it comes. I've had my computer running now with another PSU for almost 24 hrs straight... So, drawing my conclusions to the limit I'm guessing this is going to hold. Therefore, my computers problem was a part-time defect PSU ( 3 yrs old last month). However I wont feel 120% sure before after saturday. I'm going to pressure this PSU even more to see if my computer reboots or hangs. but for now it looks great! Hurrah!

Good weekend!

 

[BadBigBen]

Glad to hear that you found your problem...

and DITO on the Weekend...

Good Luck...

Ben

 

[thomasmoen]

Talking about making conclusions and then the conclusion hits you in the face.. I'm back where I started.. Here the other night my computer spontaneously rebooted again..And then, later, once more.. and then we were back to the no-post problem..

So, this time I'm going to buy myself a new Mobo..New Ram..New CPU... It's gonna be costy..
I will however try to get that RAM on last thorough check with a floppyprogram I got. But I'll have to do that on another pc.Untill then I'll tomorrow investigate what I need to use. PRobably around 500£ to get something longlasting and decent.

It's gonna be bread and water a long time forward.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi Thomas,

the problem could be that the RAM chips heat up and stop working after a while... like it did in my case... see I ran three different Testing progs on the damn system and everything passed with flying colors...

I rebuild my PC and spent only around 200 Euro for it...

New case (40 €), MoBO (40 €), CPU (80 €), Ram (50 €), the rest I salvaged from my old PC (GFX card, Drives, cables etc.)...

now I got me a PIII running on 1100 Mhz/256MB Ram... and it does what I want it to... Internet and for Work...

I wish you all the Luck in getting your system up to par...

Ben