Click, TwoTone Siren, & Shutdown upon "Setup is loading Windows" during fresh install

SmiGDig

Hello Everyone:

My NF7-S 2.0 system has been acting pretty wierd over the last year (Tow Tone Siren/random BSOD and crashing on cold boots, and some random crashes during system usage (not very often, negligible)...), and as a result, I haven't been using it.

I found another thread post that describes greatly the problems I had, but no solutions... computer-shuts-off-startup-like-needs-warm-up

With some extra time on my hands, I decided to take care of it...

First, I took it all apart and put it back together, cleaned everything up.

Next, I cleared the CMOS and everything seemed to work great up until during a fresh Windows install it began crashing...

It boots from the CD fine and loads all the setup files. Immediately after all the files load, it says "Setup is loading Windows," and comes to the screen where you select which hard drive to install too... I hear a clicking sound, and two seconds later the systems shuts down. (Sometimes the Two Tone Siren goes off just before this happens.)

I disconnected one of the hard drives thinking it may be a power load issue and it got through installing the base files on the hard drive, but upon rebooting to complete the install, it loads up the windows setup page and shows an error message in a dialog box then crashes...

I then tried connecting only the other hard drive, and it went back to crashing at the original "Setup is loading Windows" and following partition screen.

Everytime it begins to load Windows, besides setup loading files off the autoboot CD... it dies. And it seems it may be connected to using the hard drives...

SOME UPDATED NEWS FOR THIS POST:

Now that I have been rebooting the system for about an hour, it runs fine! I just completed the fresh install I couldn't get to work! I used to have to boot my computer about 10 times to get it to run without dying at startup (as described in the thread linked), and I guess this continued... Why would it need to "warmup" in order to function fully?

Any ideas?

I have my system details posted below:

CPU - AMD Athlon XP-M 2400+ 1.8GHz Socket A, 45w Barton Core
-Cooled by Thermalright SP-97 Copper Heatsink (Thermally Controlled Fan)

Motherboard - Abit NF7-S v2.0

Video Card / GPU - MSI RX9800 PRO 128MB 256-Bit DDR AGP 4x/8x
- Arctic Cooling GPU Cooler

Memory - 2 x Corsair XMS Xtreme Memory Speed XL 512MB DDR400 (PC3200)
- Dual Channel DDR400 Enabled

Power - Antec PP-412X 400w PSU

Storage -Western Digital Caviar 120GB & Maxtor DiamondMax 100GB
Pioneer DVR-107BK

Leonardo

Why would it need to "warmup" in order to function fully?

Good question, which leads me to ask a question. How do you know this isn't a PSU problem? I would test your system with known, good quality PSU and see if the symptoms are still there. I would also run one stick of memory at a time and see if the problems persist.

NiGHTS

First thing I thought of was RAM. According to a google search, though: "generally caused by overheating or out of specification voltages." Got another PSU you can plop in there? Leave the side off the case to vent it, too. See if the problem replicates like that.

Leonardo

Have you tried Fail Safe default settings in the BIOS? Nights brought up a good point. Years ago I had the same board you do. I remember that damned siren going off a few times when I was working up an overclock. Heat?

Are you overclocking? Are you sure about the alignment of the heatsink on the CPU?

SmiGDig

Hello everyone!

Thank you for the great feedback.

Leonardo: As I have suspected all along... I agree, it could be the PSU. This old Antec PP-412X has been through the golden age of two systems... it may finally be dying...

I ordered a CoolerMaster 500w PSU to replace it... hopefully it can do the trick. ($44 after a $36 instant rebate at CompUSA - http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=346241)

I have flashed the BIOS to the latest version, as well as cleared the CMOS several times... I am currently not overclocking and running it all at standard...

I have not realigned the heatsink however... Maybe as the Arctic Silver 3 "Warms up" it makes a better contact with the core, and stops crashing? However, that seems odd since it would continuously crash at the same moments, and Arctic Silver 3 prides itself on not changing viscosity with heat...

Nights: I'm gonna look into the RAM, however, today I did try running with just one stick at a time... and it didn't do anything.

I keep going back to the "generally caused by overheating or out of specification voltages." line describing the two tone siren... thinking it may be a power issue when starting up more components...

I'll see how the new PSU after the New Year works out...

Please keep any other ideas/experiences coming. They are much appreciated!

Thanks again,
Adam

Leonardo

Having read your update, I would say, in order of likelihood, the problem is due to hardware malfunction:

1) PSU
2) memory
3) motherboard

HW_Hack

""Now that I have been rebooting the system for about an hour, it runs fine! I just completed the fresh install I couldn't get to work! I used to have to boot my computer about 10 times to get it to run without dying at startup (as described in the thread linked), and I guess this continued... Why would it need to "warmup" in order to function fully?""

This is a very common problem (if you do a lot of HW debug) - somewhere in your system you have a chip that has become faulty and needs to get to a certain temperature before it works properly. In rare cases it could be a new part with a bad chip. But bottom line you have a bad component somewhere and most likely its one of your older components ( PS - Hard Drive - MB - etc)

From reading your desc. --- BIOS boots the system ok so that means a basic system check is ok - the fact that you can boot a windows CD tells me that most likely your DRAM (system memory) is ok (because windows is loading a lot of junk into DRAM to do the system prep) -- it craps out when you start the actual windows load (and the clicking) --- my first shot is either the hard drive or the I/O chip on your MB that controls the hard drive. But the HD is the most likely suspect.

Quickest test here is do you have a spare HD or borrow a HD and try to load windows (with your system totally cooled down ---- let it sit UNPLUGGED and opened up for at least an hour)

Or do the reverse - let your system warm up and get stable --- then very selectively spray cold spray onto the DRAM sticks --- then onto the chips on the HD -- then the I/O controller on the MB .... each time seeing if your system remains stable --- you can buy cold spray at most PC shops for $6-$10

Someone mentioned the PS -- but if the PS had a thermal issue your system would not get thru BIOS if 5v or 12v (or any voltage) was flakey while cold.


Lastly -- a "bullet proof" test of a MB / DRAM / Video is to boot any type of Linux Live CD --- if your system can boot to off a CDROM to a Linux desktop your system is pretty solid (except the HD which is not technically needed to boot a Live CD)

Good luck

Leonardo

HW_Hack, thanks. Logical. What you wrote about the problem being the hard drive makes sense. I hadn't thought of that.

SmiGDig

Quick follow-up point for HW_Hack and Leonardo...

I had tried the windows install with both of my hard drives, then the WD Caviar 120GB and Maxtor DiamondMax 100GB each independently on IDE1.

Once I went back to trying both, it worked... and managed to fully install Windows, and has been running Prime2004 since then... (I haven't let it cool down yet.)

I've got a new PSU coming in after the New Year... we'll see if that helps, but based on your explanation it might not...

That leaves me worrying it is the motherboard (Abit NF7-S 2.0)... Any suggestions for a replacement to buy and try if the PSU doesn't do the trick?

Also...

A buddy of mine built the EXACT same system as me at the same time. (We made a double order on newegg actually...) He is experiencing the same "warm up" isssue in order to get it running (frantically pressing power and reset as it crashes, until it works...). He had a different PSU and different hard drives... and it started within half a year at most of my mirrored occurence.

Thanks again for the wonderful insights. You're saving me alot of headache!

Adam

Leonardo

He is experiencing the same "warm up" isssue in order to get it running

Ahh, why didn't you report that earlier? Given the the common denominator is the motherboard, well, it's probably the problem then.

HW_Hack

I think Leonardo has nailed it with the common thing being 2 identical MBs bought at the same time - they build (assemble) MBs by the hundreds (or thousands) at a whack -- so its not uncommon to get a bad build (or partial build) due to a faulty component.

However - reading thru all this again I'm still not sure we've nailed the exact problem area. One thing you might try is to go into BIOS settings and see if they have an option for "Full Test" etc during boot (also turn on the setting to display the boot tests)--- select that and let your system sit over nite unplugged - then plug in and boot. You may get some more info on the exact sub-system of the failure. This may be helpful in dealing with New Egg or Abit if you're still under warranty.

Abit - ASUS all make good stuff --- also the MBs from Intel aren't bad either (I used to design those ). But I'm not Intel centric as I have both a Mac and an AMD system at home.

Good luck

SmiGDig

Another symptom I just experienced which I had forgot about happening previously (sorry), random shutdowns.

I left it on for a few day span over the new year running Prime2000 at base speed and it shutdown. It had already ran for that same amount of time a few days prior...

Wierd thing is, I tried to turn it back on and it booted up the first time fully, no hiccups, and has been running for over a day since...

Anyways, the new 500W Coolermaster PSU came in, so I'll plug it in and see if that changes anything. If that doesn't fix the problem, it'll be time to find another good Socket A motherboard with built in Sound and LAN, similar to the NF7-S 2.0.

Thanks again for everything!