Starts then dies, starts dies, starts... OK... hmm

blode

Hi

This is my first post to this forum. I've built several systems and come across most of the normal problems both in 98 and XP and hardware. My system is:

Abit NF7-S, Athlon 2500+ Barton (Zaman flower cooler on standard speed setting), 512MB PC2700 (bios set to 'optimal' - won't take 'aggressive'), IBM 80GB IDE HDD, Radeon 7200, ADSL internal modem, NIC (don't trust the onboard ones), Audigy, Q-technology 300W PSU, 1 case fan. Win XP-home + Win 98SE (dual boot tho' I usually use XP).

The system has been running stably for several months (since I had BSOD problems with a bad memory stick) but just recently it has been exhibiting these features on statup from cold:

When it gets to the final user selection screen on XP (or just after the network logon on 98), the machine turns itself off, dead. On restart the same thing happens (no scandisk as I was so used to getting after my RAM BSOD episode) but sometimes (not always) the overheat bleeps come on. Usually after the third attempt all is well and the machine is up all day. Temperatures (via Sandra) stable at 45C ish. I've given it a good dust-busting with compressed air but no difference.

This morning it took five attempts to get started.

Any ideas for this behaviour?

Blode

FWIW, the name is borrowed from 'tales of the blode', check it out! :jelly:

kryyst

could be a faulty sensor. Or it could be that your machine is overheating and shutting itself off.

blode

Hi Kryyst

Thanks for replying - I don't think it could be a heat problem - if it was, heat would surely build up and get worse over time (and/or under a heavy CPU or graphics workload)?

I had thought of the possibility of a sensor problem but I don't know where to begin on that one! I had a car which needed £££ worth of repairs because an inaccessible engine sensor worked loose :-(

The cpu and system temperature is stable (but I suppose that if it was a faulty temp sensor it could be a false reading - OTOH, whatever the reading, it is still stable).

I forgot to mention that I have a CD-RW and DVD drive as well. Probably a red herring, but the CD-RW reads discs OK but fails on writing - I'll test that asap by swapping out.

blode

rapture

If you are sure that temperature is not a problem it might be possible to disable the shutdown feature in the BIOS. Have a look around and see if you can find the setting.

Its strange you only get the problem after booting but once the computer warms up after a few tries things are ok...

blode

rapture wrote:

1 If you are sure that temperature is not a problem it might be possible to disable the shutdown feature in the BIOS. Have a look around and see if you can find the setting.

2 Its strange you only get the problem after booting but once the computer warms up after a few tries things are ok...

1 I'll have a look, it'd certainly be less annoying - I'd like to find what's going on though!

2 This morning it took five attemts - on the last try the temp alarm came on for about ten seconds but all was OK.

Blode

kryyst

If it is the sensor then that's a mobo replacement, only way to fix the sensor.

You should be able to dissable it in the bios though as I haven't come across a mobo yet that has a temperature feature that can't be adjusted. You should be able to either dissable it or set it to a temperature so high that your CPU won't hit that heat.

normally the sensor is underneat the chip in the CPU block, on AMD's anyway.

blode

kryyst wrote:

If it is the sensor then that's a mobo replacement, only way to fix the sensor.

You should be able to dissable it in the bios though as I haven't come across a mobo yet that has a temperature feature that can't be adjusted. You should be able to either dissable it or set it to a temperature so high that your CPU won't hit that heat.

normally the sensor is underneat the chip in the CPU block, on AMD's anyway.

I'm wary about disabling safety features but I'll give it a try - I can't test it until the system has been switched off and cooled down (it works fine restarting normally, just when it's cold). I'll try to get the mobo replaced as it's still (just) within warranty. Better than risking a fried processor!

Thanks

blode

Mackanz

blode,

Do you have another disk to install the OS on?

I hate to say it, but it actually sound like a virus. The new worm is supposed to do just what you are experiencing. I hope i'm wrong though.

blode

Mackanz wrote:

blode,

Do you have another disk to install the OS on?

I hate to say it, but it actually sound like a virus. The new worm is supposed to do just what you are experiencing. I hope i'm wrong though.

Yes, I heard about that one too - but the symptoms for that were repeated *re*starts. This one just stops dead. Norton is Norton up-to-date and I've run the Spasser tool but nothing untoward showed up.

When I start up cold tomorrow (the bios is updated to 24 now, and the temp and fan sensors have been disabled) I'll report back. I should be able to pin it down then.

blode

blode

It now starts up OK - tried re-enabling the fan and temp detectors and still OK. The virus checks were done earlier so I can probably eliminate that. I did the dust-busting earlier as well so it wasn't that. The main difference is that I flashed the bios from v 1.8 to v 2.4. I've either changed a bios setting and it now works OK or something new in bios 2.4 has fixed the problem. It doesn't explain why the problem suddenly appeared in the first place though.

blode

blode

blode wrote:

It now starts up OK - tried re-enabling the fan and temp detectors and still OK. The virus checks were done earlier so I can probably eliminate that. I did the dust-busting earlier as well so it wasn't that. The main difference is that I flashed the bios from v 1.8 to v 2.4. I've either changed a bios setting and it now works OK or something new in bios 2.4 has fixed the problem. It doesn't explain why the problem suddenly appeared in the first place though.

blode

Waaa! I spoke too soon (I should know better). Same problem again, had to restart 5 times this afternoon (from cold). I think its probably a motherboard fault as I'm running out of ideas. Possibly a sensor as suggested by kryyst. I've raised a ticket with scan.co.uk, hopefully they'll just swap it as it's still within guarantee.

blode

blode

It looks like it's cured itself - no drop-outs for 2 weeks now. I'm pretty sure it was temperature related - maybe it's working OK because the ambient temperature has increased a degree or so because it's springtime.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Blode