Question for all you hardware problem solvers...

zurich

Kendoka
Veteran
I'm normally very good at this, but I'm stumped :?

My friend just got a slick new PC, so I got the hand-me-down, which is an Athlon 1700+, 512 megs of PC2100 ram, SiS735 based PCChips motherboard ( :LOL: ), Radeon 9500 Pro, nice Enermax 460w PS, and a 21 inch monitor :p

Anyhow, he got a new system because the old one was really flaking out.. randomly rebooting, not starting up, etc.

So I put my 4 HDs in the system (jumpers all set correctly, etc).. booted it up, auto detected the HDs, and then realized that I had IDE0 and IDE1 mixed up, so the HD with the boot sector was on the wrong channel. I swapped the cables, started her up again, and this time the system sat there after OKing the RAM. I tried hitting DEL to go into the bios, but again it sat there.

I took out all the HDs, PCI cards, and left 1 stick of RAM in, started it up, same deal. I connected the one HD with the WinXP install on IDE0, and this time it detected the HD, but I couldn't get into the BIOS or get past the HD auto-detect.

I tried swapping in old IDE cables (rather than ATA66), same deal as above. Tried swapping RAM sticks, and again the same. I even tried connecting only the new 100 gig WD drive, just to see if I could get by the HD autodectect after the RAM 'ok', but to no avail :?

So I'm stumped! :?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

The system has always been REALLY flakey (my buddy couldn't get it to boot for 2 weeks, then he kicked it and it ended up booting fine..), so I suspect it's the ghetto SiS735 PCChips board. I'm prepared to go out and buy an A7N8X-DX (nF2), but I wanted to see if you guys had any other ideas.

Any theories appreciated!
 
ByteMe said:
Sounds like the MB needs to replaced to me. You did try clearing the CMOS?

Nope, shall attempt that now!

edit: seems happy-ish now, but it wont boot off the WinXP installation (even in safe mode) that was on my P2 300.. so I guess a reformat is in order.
 
zurich said:
Nope, shall attempt that now!

edit: seems happy-ish now, but it wont boot off the WinXP installation (even in safe mode) that was on my P2 300.. so I guess a reformat is in order.


I'll refrain from making the obvious noob joke. Not that I have ever been guilty of missing a simple one.
 
ByteMe said:
zurich said:
Nope, shall attempt that now!

edit: seems happy-ish now, but it wont boot off the WinXP installation (even in safe mode) that was on my P2 300.. so I guess a reformat is in order.


I'll refrain from making the obvious noob joke. Not that I have ever been guilty of missing a simple one.

Normally I'd feel bad about missing something that simple, but as I've been running a fever the past few days (flu), I don't feel bad!
 
zurich said:
Normally I'd feel bad about missing something that simple, but as I've been running a fever the past few days (flu), I don't feel bad!

My worst one a few years ago was it took me 20 minutes to figure out that I did not have the PS plugged in. What a tard I am.
 
zurich said:
ByteMe said:
Sounds like the MB needs to replaced to me. You did try clearing the CMOS?

Nope, shall attempt that now!

edit: seems happy-ish now, but it wont boot off the WinXP installation (even in safe mode) that was on my P2 300.. so I guess a reformat is in order.
windows XP is not like Win9x.
If you move to a new PC with a new ATA controller, you are usually screwed. Same with 2000 actually.
It kinda pisses me off - it detects the HD, starts loading the OS, then bluescreens. not even safe mode works. Just about the only step back in win2000/XP, imo.
Now, win9x, hell, all you had to do was delete the Enum key in the registry, reboot a couple dozen times and you were good to go!
 
The PC Chips SiS735 based motherboard is the equivalent of the ECS K7S5A. Both boards are known for bios problems. I had an ECS board that would reset it's bios settings to default a few times per week. Talk about frustrating. I updated it's bios when the fix came out but it didnt work.
 
Some new issues, and boy was this infuriating.

I popped in a 20 gig HD and started to install XP on it (IDE0). It read the disc as a 20 gig drive, and I deleted the partition. *As I was deleting the partition*, the install crashed and the system reset. When I rebooted, the BIOS read the drive as only being 2 gigs. When I got into the XP installer, again it read it as 2 gigs.

I hooked up a 6 gig HD I had an XP install on, booted into windows and checked the admin-storage aplet, and it didn't read any unallocated space.

It's frickin wierd, so it seems that some freak accident happened and now this HD is toast?? :?

Anyone have any ideas? (and yes, I cleared the CMOS :p)

I'm fed up with this POS motherboard, so it looks like I'm going to go out tomorrow and pick up an Asus A7N8X-DX and a 36 gig SATA Raptor. But I'd still like to save this HD if at all possible..
 
You need some good non-MS hdd partitioning software - even Linux will do the job IMHO. Otherwise if you can use Partition Magic... and last resort is some disk-editor - writing 0's in the MBR ( c/h/s == 0/0/0 ).... actually with good-old DOS you can try 'fdisk /mbr'
Hm, and if the BIOS is recognizing the disk as 2GB ... you cleared the CMOS again, yeah?
If this board is k7s5a's twin, best BIOS for ECS k7s5a can be found here: (use Cheepoman's , these are the only ones which support thoroughbred's completely) http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/ecs/k7s5abios/cheepobios.htm

2 Althornin
Actually booting in 2k/XP on another MB is possible - assuming you can modify a string or two in registry (using Win preinstalation environment gives such ability - it's not impossible to find ready iso-image of it - and legal too :) ) . In MSKB there is article explaining what&where to change (but I don't have the link - but I believe nforce was mentioned there ..)
 
chavvdarrr said:
2 Althornin
Actually booting in 2k/XP on another MB is possible - assuming you can modify a string or two in registry (using Win preinstalation environment gives such ability - it's not impossible to find ready iso-image of it - and legal too :) ) . In MSKB there is article explaining what&where to change (but I don't have the link - but I believe nforce was mentioned there ..)
nothing we've tried has worked reliably. Or course, we stopped trying about 3 months after Windows XP came out - we found other ways to do stuff - so its totally possible there ius a way now. If you have more info, please let me know. I'd bet that its not as easy as it was in win9x anyways....
 
God, after spending $400 CAD on an Asus A7N8X-DX and a 10k RPM Raptor HD, it seems my buddy crushed the core of the Athlon XP while putting the heat sink on.

Even with just the Radeon 9500Pro, 1 stick of DDR Ram, and the CPU installed, the system powers up (fans start whirling, no video), then about 4-5 seconds later it powers down. No matter what I do, same deal as above. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

I've wracked my brain trying to figure out if its something stupid like 'clearing the cmos' or 'not plugging the PS in', but everything checks out ok.. we took the heatsink off and the core doesn't LOOK damaged, but I guess you never know.

Anyone have any bright ideas?
 
Is it beeping and stuff? It should, my computer did something similar awhile ago, I had just washed the cpu off with Isopropyl alcohol, and then reattached the heatsink, it turned on spun up went beeeeeeeep then turned off. I was worried there was water in the CPU (b/c it was only 78% isopropyl alcohol I used) Anyway I was very annoyed/angry so I calmed down went a read a book for an hour came back and viola! It turns on perfectly.

So the moral is relax, then take another cpu try it, take your try it somewhere else.

Also, I have rather frequently had an issue where the HD or CD is not detected, my abit SE6 did this, my wifes parents computer did it, and just last weekend a friends computer started doing this, every time it has been different and difficult to resolve, once it was IDE1 would not work, another time only one device would show up (but on IDE1 or 0 it would work by itself), and yet another a cable died.
 
Nope, no beeping, nothing. Like I said, its giving me nothing at all to work with.. powers up, fans whirl, 4 seconds later it turns off. No beeping, no video, nada. And its a pretty good power supply too, an Enermax 360w..

Only other thing I could think of (besides a crushed core) is that when we took the HSF off to switch motherboards, the thermal paste on the CPU was all flakey and caked off.. we didn't have any here, so we put the HSF on 'au natural'. This wouldn't cause an overheat on an Athlon XP 1700, would it? Besides, the A7N8X-DX is supposed to have beep codes for that, in addition to some funky voice diagnostic message (neither of which seem to play).
 
AFAIK this mobo has some kind of "overheating" protection...
Check the BIOS manual - it must have something like "enable/disable cpu protection" , "critical temperature for shutdown" etc.
For example, on Abit kt7a (we have 30 of these), if you enable cpu protection and CPU fan is not connected to 'cpu fan' header (or the fan has no fan-speed wire), you'll have exactly same result - starts, 2-3 seconds of fan rotating and lights on CD flashing then shutdown - no beeps.
So.
Check if the heatsink is correctly seated (what kind is it?)
check if the fan is connected
check WHERE is it connected
clear CMOS - try POST
take out EVERYTHING except the CPU. Even the memory and the video card. try POST. It SHOULD START BEEPING (BEEEEEEEEEEEEEp, beeeeeeeeeeeep) if the CPU is OK. If it shuts down again....
plug out the PSU
press several times 'poweron' & 'reset'
take a look at the MB - look for bad capacitor etc.
firmly press any chip which is in socket (bios?)
try again.
check cmos battery (it should give no less than 3.2V)



start to panic .... :)
 
zurich said:
Only other thing I could think of (besides a crushed core) is that when we took the HSF off to switch motherboards, the thermal paste on the CPU was all flakey and caked off.. we didn't have any here, so we put the HSF on 'au natural'. This wouldn't cause an overheat on an Athlon XP 1700, would it? Besides, the A7N8X-DX is supposed to have beep codes for that, in addition to some funky voice diagnostic message (neither of which seem to play).


Yes, It most certainly would cause a problem. Start it a few more times and the CPU may toast. Air is a very poor conductor of heat and without HS paste in there, about 80% of the interface is air(On a microscopic level) It will only Beep at you before overheat protection shutdown if it is turned on in Bios. It is an option whether to Beep or not to Beep. the Beep is prob. turned off.

I just hope you haven't permanently damaged the CPU trying to run it in it's present state.

edit: FYI according to AMD Tech docs, the 1700+ is dessipating between 45 and 50watts from Idle to Load. Think about how Hot a 50W light bulb gets and then think about concentrating that heat into an area the size of a CPU core. Hot! Hot! Hot!
 
I still don't understand have you any friends with athlon boards? Just take the stupid processor over to their house and put it in see what the deal is problem solved.
 
as for you guys who can't seem to manage to switch mobos on XP/2000 I accomplished an even greater feat- I went from a single-CPU intel-chipset to a dual-CPU via-chipset. That means not only did I have to change the drivers, but I had to change to a new HAL as well. And I did it without having to reinstall XP ;)
 
Back
Top