Mobo, Memory, or PS? 1

[ImpetusEra]

The other day I was working on a system that needed the hard drive replaced. A new 80GB Western Digital was used. The cd that came with it worked fine and the installation of Windows 2000 started fine. After it got to 100% on the format it froze so I rebooted it. Instead of booting it kept giving 1 long post beep, which for AMI I think is memory. So I pulled all but 1 stick and it started up fine. Started the Windows install again and it started installing files then just rebooted for no reason. Also the cd that came with the hard drive causes a general protection fault error. I moved the hard drive into another computer and everything worked fine, windows installed and the HD manufacturer cd worked fine. I put it back in the problem computer and it booted to Windows but froze shortly after. The system had 3 sticks of ram so I tried all 3 individually and it froze at some point every time. At first it looks like bad ram but all three sticks being bad seems like a slim chance. I'm thinking either the DIMM slot is bad or the power supply isn't producing steady voltage causing the memory to glitch. The mobo is an AOpen AX6BC. Opinions? Thanks.

 

[franklin97355]

Could be many things. I'd start with the power supply since you've already checked the memory.

 

[kippy13]

This could also be a dodgy processor.


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[zpetersen]

Focusing on your statement that "it just rebooted for no reason" .. that would suggest that it is the power supply. i have seen such a thing a few times and each time it was the power supply.

also.. i would assume that if the power supply wasnt supplying the memory with sufficient .. clean voltage... the memory might not store data correctly thus causing the cd to error out. (?)

i would take those memory sticks and try them in another machine.. see what happens. (my careful side would also wonder if putting bad memory chips into a good mobo could possibly do damage)

 

[ShadowFox333]

I had an aopen ax63 that was flakey like that for a long time
and it turned out that the ultra ata 100 cable was not on correctly. Make sure that the proper colors are attached to the MOBO, Hard Drive, and CD-Rom.
Ya never know.....
Enjoy Bob

 

[ImpetusEra]

Tried different cales including keyed ones so they couldn't be put in wrong. I'll try the memory in another computer also, damaged memory shouldn't damage a good system. Of course if the PS is bad and over voltaged the memory then it would ruin it making it seem like bad memory but replacing the memory would ruin the new memory also. Just changing the PS would show no improvement with damaged memory. I'll probably hook a volt meter onto the PS and see what it shows, go from there. Thanks everyone.

 

[JohnnyTime]

You also can't dismiss that it might be a damaged mobo. I have one where there's a faulty resistor that caused the machine to reboot when there was tiny voltage fluctuations... (Hopefully its just your PS though)