system not booting

Petri

heres what i have ::

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
XP 2500+
Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200C2
Coolermaster Jet 7
sharkoon acrylic case
400W Qtec power supply.
Msi GF4MX460-vtp

Software :: Win xp Sp1
directx 9.0 b
latest nvidia drivers

Bios is running with defaults
cpu is running at 43 ish solid

no overclocking is occuring


whats happening is .. whenever i start a game it loads the menu then powers itself off totally after about 30 secs (tried quake3 and Call of duty ).
Power cable has to be removed from supply and replaced before the thing will power up again.

There are no system logs to say what is occuring in there.

so far i have tried disconnecting all unnessary componets extra drives etc ( only one now running)
Changed the slot the ram is in.
Disabled AGP 8x
checked that AGP card is secure

doing that has improved the ammount of in game time to about 2 min, then she powers down again

got it staying up solid late last night by lowering the core voltages and the fsb to 100 mhz.

powered it up this morning now she locks directly after post when it hits the windows bootstrap, at this point num lock, scoll lock and caps lock are nesponsive

popped into a recovery console, fixed the mbr and wrote a new bootsector, no joy

did a windows repair to see if that resolved it, still no joy

CombatCow

Sounds like a power supply problem,but iv a 450W version of that psu powering 2800+gf fx 5900 ultra 2hdd's and dvd writer,with no problems so yours should handle your system.tho the q-tec get a lot of flack on these boards:dunno:

Also if your not to pissed with your comp,can u take a pic of it,id like to see that clear case ?


CombatCow

BluE-WinG

Originally posted by Combatcow
Sounds like a power supply problem,but iv a 450W version of that psu powering 2800+gf fx 5900 ultra 2hdd's and dvd writer,with no problems so yours should handle your system.tho the q-tec get a lot of flack on these boards:dunno:

Also if your not to pissed with your comp,can u take a pic of it,id like to see that clear case ?


CombatCow

Some more Random QTEC *abuse*

They really are 5hit!!

Petri

COMBATCOOOOWWWWWW... !

sure buddy i will take a piccy of it for u
its a bit of a mess at the mo with all the "troubleshooting"

Will get it tydied up a bit and take a photo ( still need extendors etc, cables are a wee bit stretched atm.)

Hopefully will be all up and running properly for gamecon

fester

It could also be a dodgy CPU or RAM.

See if you can borrow someones RAM and try replacing it. Just try replacing things one by one!

Ryaner

I've had that asus board and had the same problems before my board died completely. Currently my board does nothing when powered on. No beeps nothing.
Firstly checked the ram. Leave a test running for a few hours to be sure. Then bios and setup defaults. Disable all onboard stuff that you dont use.
Beyond that it either the psu which kinda unlikely and more than likely the gfx card.

Petri

the board totally died ?, i have kept the machine on for quite a few hrs but no seeing any issue. However the VMemory is going up to about 1gb hits its threshold then the machine shuts down, however i dont think its to do with my config as one of my housemates has just discovered he has the same issue, seems to occur when we start playing with avi files, we have scanned for virus's etc and are using the latest hotfixes as well.

Im thinking its the psu as its brand new to me , the vid card has been working fine on an old machine for about a yr now with no issues

Ryaner

I had a problem with ram that killed the bios. Started out with things like that and now I have a board that will power on the spin the cpu fan. An led or two lights but thats it. It's fun.
If the virtual memory is going up and up then I suggest you set it to a static file. It shouldnt be rising like that either. You have said there is problem with playing avi's. I've noticed that before. I had one avi that worked great on my mate's pc but on mine ,fresh install new codec's etc it killed it when it ran. It's to do with files being encoded with old codecs and compatibility. That wouldnt account for windows shutting down unless part of the ram is faulty.

Petri

you should be able to reflash ur bios to get back functionality.

the swap file is static , but its the usage of the static swap that grows till it flatlines, and when it does that, so does pc.
Codecs, aint ever seen that happen ever, these are using fairly new codecs and dont seem to be causing issues other wise
as for testing the ram i can try a mem test tool , apart from moving to another machine , any thoughts on that way of going ?

Ryaner

My system dont do nething. No system ok beap so there no chance of reflashing it because it dont get to the part of booting from floppy. I may just send off for a new chip. I got new mobo anyway so not too pushed atm.

If the ps is rebooting once the swap files maxs out then it is more than like the prob with the avi's causing it grow. It shouldnt reboot the system when it maxs though. Although you said it happens during games so I'm thinking maybe not.

Fully test the ram. Get one of those bootable cd's for doing it. I can never remember the name of the one I use. If you get errors then stop the system and replace the ram. Any errors on it will just kill the system. You got good ram tho so I aint expecting errors there.

How long does windows just sit on the desktop before doing it or is just in games etc when it kicks out? If it does kick out during normal windows you can always get linux than boots from a cd and run it. It'll tell you if it's a driver issue or hardware.

Petri

yeah thats my thoughts as well about the ram, have done some preliminary tests on ram and all looks to be fine

it only boots out during games, can leave windows running for ages with no ill effects , unless the swap file issue gets triggered, havent worked out exactly what is triggering it yet, while in games it depends on what FSB the chip is running at .

100 mhz -stable
133 mhz - 5 mins
166 mhz - 1 min

Ryaner

Ok if the fsb is making a difference like that I'm thinking the mobo is faulty. Extremely hard to pin point though.

One thing I'm thinking. What are the cpu temps? The board reports them MUCH lower than they actually are before flashed (ie out of the box) and even then they still lower than normal. The mobo does have a function for auto shut down. Open the case and then turn this off in the bios. Feel the heatsink to make sure nothing is going crazy temps etc. If it burns your finger something is really wrong but it wont be so dont worry.

Petri

hmmm.... much lower than they actually are you say........

that may be it.. will see about flashing etc tomorrow evening..

thanks for taht, might just be the info i need..

Ryaner

Yeah I first installed mine with a 2000+ pal core and the zalman flower cooler on silent mode and was getting temps of 22oC in the bios. Once I flashed they went upto41oC. Even then they prob were a bit higher. Does differ bit board to board though. The cooler you have is good though so provided it's seated properly it shouldnt be a problem

unkel

Originally posted by Petri
it only boots out during games, can leave windows running for ages with no ill effects , unless the swap file issue gets triggered, havent worked out exactly what is triggering it yet, while in games it depends on what FSB the chip is running at .

100 mhz -stable
133 mhz - 5 mins
166 mhz - 1 min

Presuming cpu / ram are not overclocked, it's almost certainly the PSU. Above case is classic example. Qtec's should be banned

Giblet

I've a Q-Tec 400W and its fine.

My PC is a 2500 Barton and TwinMos 2x256 with an 9600 pro..

Have 2500 running at 3200 speeds
Have RAM tightened to 6 2 2 2 (from 7 3 3 2.5)
Have GFX card up to 700/500 (from 600/400)

Rails are fine and stable.

I doubt everybodies problems who have a Q-Tec are as a result OF the Q-Tec.

Petri

ok so , checked my bios, its the newist one available 1008

can neone recommend a good ram diag tool ?

Ryaner

Here's some memory testing apps.

Firstly DocMemory
http://www.simmtester.com/

Secondly memtest86
http://www.memtest86.com/

Memtest is one I used I'm sure. It great program. Will def tell you if the ram is stable.

I do recommend trying to disable everything in the bios tho as it can cause problem with auto shut down etc.

unkel

Originally posted by Petri
can neone recommend a good ram diag tool ?

memtest86

unkel

Crossed posts Ryaner

Ryaner

NP.
It's happened to me alot. Slow for pages to load on dialup :P Bring on BB