OT:Being driven insane by new PC..

**Andrew Pratt** · 20 March 2004, 13:57 Saturday

Thomas is this occuring with both units or just one? I assume both which makes this even more baffeling. I will say that my sister in laws Asus board we just used was very picky about its ram and we couldn't install XP with one stick we got...but that's quite a different issue then what you're seeing. Have you tried removing as much as you can from the PC (CDROM's, other PCI cards etc) and seeing if that helps?

**ThomasW** · 20 March 2004, 15:27 Saturday

Hi

Yeap it occurs with either MB, any of the memory, and either of the video cards. (note that all these are identical) I also took the memory out of one of my other machines and tried it. No difference.

There aren't any devices in the PCI slots, only device in the machine is the AGP video card

I have all the current drivers and newest bios............

I've tried all different bios settings from optimal -agressive- default. The CPU isn't overclocked. Nothing I do seems to make any difference.

Looked on a ton of different PC forums regarding these MB's. It does appear that they are picky. I bought Asus thinking that they would be no-brainers.

Now I'm not sure what to do. Most likely will return the MB and get something different.

Anyone got any suggestions? Since these PCs are gifts I was trying to keep the MB cost in the $75ea range...so far it appears that the Albatron MB's seem to have the fewest complaints. Perhaps that's because they don't sell a ton of MB's......

theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

**Andrew Pratt** · 20 March 2004, 16:31 Saturday

Thomas I'm using the AX7NE-Deluxe board and its been flawless but its more expensive then the one you're trying now. The MSI K7N2 is also an nForce board that's about the same price as the Asus you're using now...at least up here. The board we used for my sister in law was the Asus A7V600 which is loaded with features but no nForce chip (its a Via chipset)

What power supply is in that case?

**ThomasW** · 20 March 2004, 17:33 Saturday

Actually it's not in a case, just in pieces on the floor. I've done this many times before without any problems.

The idea was get everything debugged before tearing down my friend's existing systems. I'm certainly glad I discovered this now, as opposed to gutting their systems then have this issue pop up.

Power supply is a 300watt ATX out of one of my old server cases. It should have enough power since it's only powering one HD and one CD-ROM in addition to the MB. That's about the same load as one of those micro-ATX supplies that only deliver 220watts.

My main PCs have Antec 480 TruePower supplies. I could pull one but I really don't think that's causing the problem.

It's so strange to see XP freeze at the load-up screen, then load up and run fine, after doing a warm boot from safe mode........

BTW, remember Joey ? He's coming down to Denver for dinner tonight. His new day job is preconfiguring all the PCs used by the US federal government. Perhaps he'll have some ideas.............

theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

**Gordon Moore** · 20 March 2004, 18:00 Saturday

When all else fails...it's likely the power supply... you may want to boot into BIOS for a while and watch the verious power rails to see if they are solid or if they are dipping...try leaving it on for 20 mins and then start watching the voltage levels.

**Andrew Pratt** · 20 March 2004, 20:12 Saturday

BTW, remember Joey ?

Of course Joey's a hard guy to forget

Say a BIG hello from me

**Kevin P** · 20 March 2004, 20:27 Saturday

Well, I don't have much else to offer what hasn't already been suggested... I was thinking maybe heat expansion causing a faulty solder joint to flake out, but once everything warms up it stabilizes. Have you tried a different CPU chip? HSF working properly? Have you tried a different power supply?

Ahh Joey. Yes, he's the one who got me hooked on TTP. Say hi to him for me, and tell him not to be so shy! He always has a great story to tell.

Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
My HT Site

**Gordon Moore** · 20 March 2004, 21:20 Saturday

I forgot to add, "or XP had a bad install"...might be worth tearing the OS down and try again. Any hiccups that you can remember in the original install? Is it a USB keyboard and/or mouse?
If yes,
Something may be messing up there in the hardware id phase of bootup. Try a PS2 keyboard/and or mouse and see if things iron out. It may not be the core stuff you think it is.

Another shot in the dark for those what the heck moments is check for possible static discharge corrupting things...possible grounding issues with the P/S and MB :?

**ThomasW** · 20 March 2004, 21:50 Saturday

Joey says big hi to all.....

He's also completely dumb founded by what's happening

To answer the various questions.

No USB devices are being used, PS2 mouse and keyboard.

I did grab another CPU, changing it made no difference either.

It's the strangest thing. The longer it's been turned off, the more times it must go through this cycle before loading completely. It's as if there's something that must reach a certain temperature before XP will load. I would suspect a bad solder joint but we're talking about the same thing happening on 2 identical MB's....

I'm typing this reply on the effected computer. Joey and I went to dinner. When we came back it had to go through the warm boot to safe mode twice then it loaded XP and is now running fine.

The XP install is from my generic resealed HD. It was booting ok in the beginning. Nothing has changed regarding the install except for the addition of things like MS office, Nero, etc. Some how I doubt that any of these have caused the problem.

I have run all the various antispyware and antivirus programs so that's not it either.

Maybe I just give them the PC's and tell them never to turn them off 8O

Since I can't get a RMA from Newegg until monday, I'll probably pull one of the TruePower 480's out and see if that makes any difference. Some how I doubt that it will........

Thanks for all the help/suggestions

Thomas

theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

**Brandon B** · 21 March 2004, 07:17 Sunday

Built my kid a PC with this

TigerDirect Sunset

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=624725&Sku=S450-4210%20R&CatId=1223

$100 for a decent Soyo MB, case and PS, after rebate. Had no problems with it. (one note, the included 1394 port is non-functional, no included hardware). 2nd PC I've built. Actually, made my wife assemble it so she'd lose her fear of PC intestines, and it still works fine.

Cheap. A friend who builds and tears PCs down monthly has used a lot of the Soyos with few problems also.

BB

**Andrew Pratt** · 21 March 2004, 12:37 Sunday

Thomas do you have an earlier version on windows to try? I'm curious if it would do the same thing if the OS were windows 98 etc.

**ThomasW** · 21 March 2004, 21:47 Sunday

Well appears that the Asus MBs don't like the 'resealed' hard drives. I've used these on my last 2 PCs (Abit and MSI), everything worked great and saved me hours and hours of installing and updating XP and all my apps.

I tried a XP restore on the drives that was hanging on boot-up, just to see if that would fix the boot-up issue. XP restore itself locked up giving the same error everytime I tried to run it.

So I reformatted the drive and did a fresh XP install. So far it's booting the way it's supposed to.....

theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

**JonMarsh** · 21 March 2004, 23:32 Sunday

Ain't nothin' says lovin' like a handcrafted fresh install from the ground up... :B

~Jon

Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

**Kevin P** · 22 March 2004, 09:25 Monday

Originally posted by ThomasW

Well appears that the Asus MBs don't like the 'resealed' hard drives.

Maybe you should create a "resealed" HD specificially for the Asuses. They probably use different drivers than the ones that got installed initially.

Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
My HT Site

**ThomasW** · 22 March 2004, 11:44 Monday

Kevin,

That's exactly the plan now ...........

theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

OT:Being driven insane by new PC..

OT:Being driven insane by new PC..

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