Hang on Boot when CPU cold

[Guest]

This may sound strange but having upgraded windows 98 to windows xp on an AMD
machine, it will now hang on boot when the CPU temp is below about 26 degrees
C. On hot days it boots fine. If I turn the M/c off and on again
immediately it boots fine. However If I turn the Machine off, allow it to
cool and then turn it on it will hang. I will then hit the reset switch, and
assuming it has warmed up enough it will continue and boot correctly. This
is a pain in the proverbial because it will then run a checkdisk, and will
probably fix up crossed tracks etc and take forever to start up.

I have all the latest drivers and have the latest BIOS installed. Does
anyone have any ideas?

I have re-installed windows xp and ensured that only MS certified drivers
startup (as per the MS white paper on debugging this sort of issue).

It also hangs whether I do a SAFE MODE boot or a normal boot.

 

[Slippery_one]

This may sound strange but having upgraded windows 98 to windows xp
on an AMD
machine, it will now hang on boot when the CPU temp is below about
26 degrees
C. On hot days it boots fine. If I turn the M/c off and on again
immediately it boots fine. However If I turn the Machine off, allow
it to
cool and then turn it on it will hang. I will then hit the reset
switch, and
assuming it has warmed up enough it will continue and boot
correctly. This
is a pain in the proverbial because it will then run a checkdisk,
and will
probably fix up crossed tracks etc and take forever to start up.

I have all the latest drivers and have the latest BIOS installed.
Does
anyone have any ideas?

I have re-installed windows xp and ensured that only MS certified
drivers
startup (as per the MS white paper on debugging this sort of issue).

It also hangs whether I do a SAFE MODE boot or a normal boot.

I have ideas, but you are not going to like them. It very well could
be the mother board going south! Look at the capacitors by the CPU.
http://www.burtonsys.com/bad_BP6/PA090008.JPG Look by your heatsink
for caps bulging like this one (the green thing with the gold stripe
down the side). The

I do tech support for a different industry in electronics. Sometimes
when circuit boards have intermittent connections or a coil winding
has a break in it, they can do some pretty strange things like: Not
work when they are cold or not work when they are warm.

Intermittent problems are the worst to solve!

I did a warranty job for a fellow that had the bulging caps problem.
Yours could be a bad or intermittent connection - worst case scenario!

 

[Guest]

You are right on both counts. There are a couple of capacitors bulging at
the top (worse than your photo I am afraid). And you are right that I don't
like the idea that I need to replace the motherboard, although replacing the
motherboard will probably end up being cheaper than the time I have spent on
the issue so far

Many many thanks for helping identify the problem. I can now stop wasting
my time trying BIOS and XP settings in an attempt to fix the problem, and
look at finding a motherboard that supports my CPU and memory.

 

[Dwight Stewart]

Intermittent problems are the worst to solve!

I did a warranty job for a fellow that had the
bulging caps problem. Yours could be a bad
or intermittent connection - worst case
scenario!

Man, have you got that right. I spent days over a two week period trying
to track down a bad connection once. I could press the motherboard with my
finger and it would work fine. However, no matter what I resoldered, the
problem refused to go away. I spent hours over that period looking at the
motherboard and each component with a magnifying glass. To make matters
worse, just when I thought I had it fixed, the problem would return,
sometime immediately and sometimes not for two or three days. I went from
shear determination at the beginning to utter fustration by the end.
Ultimately, it was cheaper, and a heck of a lot easier, just to replace the
motherboard.

Stewart

 

[Slippery_one]

Man, have you got that right. I spent days over a two week period
trying to track down a bad connection once. I could press the
motherboard with my finger and it would work fine. However, no
matter what I resoldered, the problem refused to go away. I spent
hours over that period looking at the motherboard and each component
with a magnifying glass. To make matters worse, just when I thought
I had it fixed, the problem would return, sometime immediately and
sometimes not for two or three days. I went from shear determination
at the beginning to utter fustration by the end. Ultimately, it was
cheaper, and a heck of a lot easier, just to replace the
motherboard.

Stewart

You could always try throwing it a toaster oven <bg>

 

[Slippery_one]

You are right on both counts. There are a couple of capacitors
bulging at
the top (worse than your photo I am afraid). And you are right that
I don't
like the idea that I need to replace the motherboard, although
replacing the
motherboard will probably end up being cheaper than the time I have
spent on
the issue so far

Many many thanks for helping identify the problem. I can now stop
wasting
my time trying BIOS and XP settings in an attempt to fix the
problem, and
look at finding a motherboard that supports my CPU and memory.

"Slippery_one" wrote:

Confront the manufacturer about it and ask for a drop in replacement.
I did this for an ECS mother board and they eventually responded a
with what replacement model to use. It was out of warranty so they did
not replace it but a new only cost $39.95 so it wasn't that big a
deal. Of course one can be reluctant to use the same brand as the one
they had the troubles with. You can email other manufacturers the same
way and give them the model and ask for a drop in replacement. Your
install might be hosed and you'll have to reload windows. I would get
the system running and rip out everything under:

System devices
Network
Sound
Modem
USB

Then when you boot with the new Motherboard be ready with driver disks
and let windows re-find the new hardware. I use to do this with Win98
and it worked for Motherboard transplants. I'm not sure if it will
with XP (anyone?).

Sorry about the bad news BTW