Help, Before I RMA this Mother...board

Velcrow

OK so quick overview of the problem.

Machine starts, runs the OS, then as the desktop is appearing or a little after it switches off as if there was a power cut. No restart no blue screen, and if I want to restart I need to unplug the power, then plug it in again before the on buttons works.

The motherboard is a ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2.0 and I have been able to exclude memory, hard disk, video card... the only things left are the cpu ( Barton 2600+ ) and the board itself ( Asus Cop acting up ? ).

Heres the odd thing - it does not happen if left in the bios and the cpu temps are low 31 - 35.

Finally, I used Knoppix boot cd to see if it was a windows problem and the same thing happens except a little earlier after knoppix detects the video card. ( but have tried different video cards and it don't matter )


So is it time to send this Mother back to Komplett as it is under 1.5 years old or is there still home of a diagnosis.

Thanks in advance for any help on this !

Velcrow

Morkin

I'd try to isolate the chip first if you can. Komplett won't give you the full value of the mobo as it's 18months old. If you can't swop in another CPU then RMA both I think.

Good luck,

Velcrow

Thanks Morkin,

Have a duplicate setup, and was trying to avoid changing chip - but I have gone this far - why not.

As for the RMA value - I was under the impression that Asus give a 2 year warrenty...but must look this up.

Lastly, why am I making this effort because the Barton chip is great and I really like the Asus board - have them in other machines without fail.

Dyr

Could it be the PSU is just not working properly? Had something similar with that mobo where the PSU went gaga and the disks etc just werent getting enough juice so it would either randomly just power off/reboot or the mobo would see the disks etc

The fact that its okay in the bios might suggest theres not enough power when the peripherals kick in

Blub2k4

Make sure your CPU fan is tight on with thermal grease, this MOBO has CPU overheat protection on it and if the heatsink is not on right or the fan is off then it will shutdown to protect itself.
I found this out the hard way :P

DublinWriter

Velcrow wrote:

Heres the odd thing - it does not happen if left in the bios and the cpu temps are low 31 - 35.

And what does that tell you?

Sounds like a problem with the CPU cooling.

Blub2k4

I think he meant AND the cpu temps are low, may be wrong.

unkel

Bambi wrote:

Could it be the PSU is just not working properly?

My first thought too. Either that or CPU temperature problem

Blub2k4

COHP seriously check it, Cpu Over Heat Protection. I had exactly the same issue on my own new build (same board) then spotted the disconnected fan and was happy that it had the COHP feature.

hopeful

I had exactly the same symptoms a while back with a Barton chip (2500). For me it was the PSU just not having enough power.
Be wary as continued shutdowns like that have a nasty habit of borking mainboards and/or grfx cards if it happens too many times.

Velcrow

Thanks all for the advice

Bambi wrote:

Could it be the PSU is just not working properly?

Yeah I thought that but I now have an Enermax 400w on it! But it does seem to happen alot when an external device is "probed" for want of a better word.

Blub2k4 wrote:

Make sure your CPU fan is tight on with thermal grease

Its on real tight and the fan has been changed new grease applied! Same problem. In bios the CPU temp is recording 25 - 35 and stays that way?

unkel wrote:

My first thought too. Either that or CPU temperature problem

Yeah I wonder is the bios or heat probe reporting the wrong temp. I have the latest bios 1008 - maybe I should try an older one?

hopeful wrote:

I had exactly the same symptoms a while back with a Barton chip (2500). For me it was the PSU just not having enough power.
Be wary as continued shutdowns like that have a nasty habit of borking mainboards and/or grfx cards if it happens too many times.

Well I will try one more power supply but the poor board has switched off an on so many times that I may have compounded the problem!

hopeful

Good luck..I hope it gets sorted for you quickly

Morkin

I think it's be worth trying with a PCI graphics card as well if you can scrounge one up. AGP slot or AGP card may be fecking things up.

M.

Blub2k4

Any joy with this?

Velcrow

Blub2k4 wrote:

Any joy with this?

In the mist of a job - so want to wait till the weekend - just incase I fry two machines....

Will let you know how I get on .... lets hope the simple yet loyal barton 2500 is ok