How to proceed?

[Dave]

Three years ago I put together a machine, as carefully as I could.
(Everything was double-checked, static precautions observed, all
connections secure.) I didn't get to the point of installing an OS,
because the computer had intermittent problems. Right at that time my
girlfriend ripped me off of all my money and left, so I got really
depressed and just kept using my old machine.

Now I want to fix the problem, but I've forgotten almost everything I
knew about putting computers together. Plus it's been a long time,
in computer years, and technology marches on. But I'm hoping someone
could give some advice.

The machine shows no problems at all if started cold, with 15 minute
breaks in-between. (I tried 25 times yesterday, to be sure of this.)
When warm - and by that I don't mean overheated, just not turned
off for long -- I do get intermittent problems. When I start up using
the power button, the monitor gets no signal maybe 1 time in 4. (This
almost never happens when I use the reset button.) The power button
doesn't always work the same way. Also, the machine sometimes goes
to Setup and complains that it's now in safe mode because the last
time it was booted the speed settings for the processor were
inappropriate. (I never altered any speed settings.) I also seem to
remember it complaining three years ago that I had the wrong processor,
but that was a long time ago, I don't remember the exact message, and
I can't duplicate the problem.

Any ideas about what I should do? Replacing the motherboard seems like
an obvious step to me, but there might be a better idea than that. And
if I do replace it, does anyone have any suggestions about what boards
to get? As I said, it's been a long time.

Below is a list of the parts. I don't know what I had in mind,
putting so much in there - I can't remember why I thought I needed
so many drives (and both types!), or what scheme I had for partitioning
them. I'll have to take something out, as the temps get too hot when
the ambient temperature gets up there. Thanks for any help.

- Dave

Asus P4G8X Deluxe motherboard
Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz
2 meg pc2700 DDR ram from Crucial
PC Power and Cooling Turbo-cool 510 ATX power supply
Matrox Parhelia video card
Adaptec SCSI card 29320LP
Seagate Cheetah 36.7GB SCSI drive ST336753LW
2 Seagate Cheetah 18.4GB SCSI drives ST318453LW
Asus DRW-0402P DVD-R / RW Drive
Generic diskette drive
Viewsonic 19" VX900 LCD display (plus two old Trinitrons, if I ever
get this thing working)
Western Digital WD2000JBRT drive
Big case with lotsa fans

 

[John Doe]

Any ideas about what I should do? Replacing the motherboard seems
like an obvious step to me, but there might be a better idea than
that. And if I do replace it, does anyone have any suggestions
about what boards to get? As I said, it's been a long time.

Below is a list of the parts. I don't know what I had in mind,
putting so much in there - I can't remember why I thought I needed
so many drives (and both types!), or what scheme I had for
partitioning them. I'll have to take something out, as the temps
get too hot when the ambient temperature gets up there. Thanks
for any help.

- Dave

Asus P4G8X Deluxe motherboard
Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz
2 meg pc2700 DDR ram from Crucial
PC Power and Cooling Turbo-cool 510 ATX power supply
Matrox Parhelia video card
Adaptec SCSI card 29320LP
Seagate Cheetah 36.7GB SCSI drive ST336753LW
2 Seagate Cheetah 18.4GB SCSI drives ST318453LW
Asus DRW-0402P DVD-R / RW Drive
Generic diskette drive
Viewsonic 19" VX900 LCD display (plus two old Trinitrons, if I
ever get this thing working)
Western Digital WD2000JBRT drive
Big case with lotsa fans

You have a lot of parts there. The first thing you do is simplify.
Remove everything you don't need except to start the system and
conceivably reproduce the problem. If you don't need the hard drives
to reproduce the problem, remove them too. Otherwise, just leave one
hard drive installed. Use only one stick of memory. Use only one
video card and monitor. No other add-in cards.

Good luck.

 

[Brian K]

You have a lot of parts there. The first thing you do is simplify.
Remove everything you don't need except to start the system and
conceivably reproduce the problem. If you don't need the hard drives
to reproduce the problem, remove them too. Otherwise, just leave one
hard drive installed. Use only one stick of memory. Use only one
video card and monitor. No other add-in cards.

Good luck.

I agree with the previous poster. Keep it simple. Test with only the
bare minimum. If settings are changing, have you checked to see if BIOS
date shows the wrong date? Could the BIOS battery be problematical?

Have you checked the case to motherboard connections for power button?
What about monitor? Is it pinned in, to system? Where did you store
the machine? What's the dust situation inside the case? It may not
isolate the problem, but if components have mucho dustola there's always
the remote possibility of problems when heat and dust mix.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

 

[johns]

Adaptec SCSI card 29320LP

They fail every time. Toss the SCSI drives.
Sure is junked out.

johns

 

[Mike T.]

Your symptoms are pointing at the motherboard or power supply. OR, it
could just be a loose connection. Start over by removing everything from
the mainboard. EVERY cable, EVERY connector, the CPU (yup, the CPU), the
RAM, the video card, any expansion cards, the power supply . . . get that
mainboard totally naked. Reinstall everything carefully (don't forget to
put the HSF back on the CPU, and plug it in). Only this time, skip the SCSI
card and try one stick of RAM. If your symptom doesn't change, power down,
remove the RAM stick, install the other RAM stick, but in a different slot.

If the symptom still doesn't change, the best thing to do at that point
would be to find a known good power supply and try swapping that in. Maybe
borrow one from a friend?

If you replace the power supply with one that is known to be good, and the
symptom hasn't changed, then it's time to look at a new mainboard. If you
get to that point, try a MSI 865PE NEO2-V, after verifying that it will
take DDR333 RAM. It should, as it supports 533FSB. -Dave

 

[Randella]

Are there any BIOS beeps?

 

[John Holmes]

Dave "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

Three years ago I put together a machine, as carefully as I could.
(Everything was double-checked, static precautions observed, all
connections secure.) I didn't get to the point of installing an OS,
because the computer had intermittent problems. Right at that time my
girlfriend ripped me off of all my money and left, so I got really
depressed and just kept using my old machine.

Now I want to fix the problem, but I've forgotten almost everything I
knew about putting computers together. Plus it's been a long time,
in computer years, and technology marches on. But I'm hoping someone
could give some advice.

The machine shows no problems at all if started cold, with 15 minute
breaks in-between. (I tried 25 times yesterday, to be sure of this.)
When warm - and by that I don't mean overheated, just not turned
off for long -- I do get intermittent problems. When I start up using
the power button, the monitor gets no signal maybe 1 time in 4. (This
almost never happens when I use the reset button.) The power button
doesn't always work the same way. Also, the machine sometimes goes
to Setup and complains that it's now in safe mode because the last
time it was booted the speed settings for the processor were
inappropriate. (I never altered any speed settings.) I also seem to
remember it complaining three years ago that I had the wrong processor,
but that was a long time ago, I don't remember the exact message, and
I can't duplicate the problem.

Any ideas about what I should do? Replacing the motherboard seems like
an obvious step to me, but there might be a better idea than that. And
if I do replace it, does anyone have any suggestions about what boards
to get? As I said, it's been a long time.

Below is a list of the parts. I don't know what I had in mind,
putting so much in there - I can't remember why I thought I needed
so many drives (and both types!), or what scheme I had for partitioning
them. I'll have to take something out, as the temps get too hot when
the ambient temperature gets up there. Thanks for any help.

- Dave

Asus P4G8X Deluxe motherboard
Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz
2 meg pc2700 DDR ram from Crucial
PC Power and Cooling Turbo-cool 510 ATX power supply
Matrox Parhelia video card
Adaptec SCSI card 29320LP
Seagate Cheetah 36.7GB SCSI drive ST336753LW
2 Seagate Cheetah 18.4GB SCSI drives ST318453LW
Asus DRW-0402P DVD-R / RW Drive
Generic diskette drive
Viewsonic 19" VX900 LCD display (plus two old Trinitrons, if I ever
get this thing working)
Western Digital WD2000JBRT drive
Big case with lotsa fans

Please don't listen to those idiots who already replied. Well, we cannot
hold them for their stupidity as they just can't read.
Now to your problem: what you said is that your monitor gets no signal
when you "cold-boot" the computer and when you hit the reset button the
monitor gets signal on some occasions.
You *have* tried another monitor, now didn't you?

 

[John Holmes]

Randella "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

Are there any BIOS beeps?

Yes, I have one everytime I start my computer. Is that OK?

 

[Michael Hawes]

Dave "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:


Please don't listen to those idiots who already replied. Well, we cannot
hold them for their stupidity as they just can't read.
Now to your problem: what you said is that your monitor gets no signal
when you "cold-boot" the computer and when you hit the reset button the
monitor gets signal on some occasions.
You *have* tried another monitor, now didn't you?

Try clearing the BIOS settings with the Clear CMOS jumper! (usually near
the battery)
Mike.

 

[John Holmes]

Michael Hawes "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

Try clearing the BIOS settings with the Clear CMOS jumper!
(usually near
the battery)
Mike.

Tell that to the OP.

 

[Mike T.]

Are there any BIOS beeps?

Yes, I have one everytime I start my computer. Is that OK?

It's OK, but it's also meaningless. It means that your mainboard doesn't
have any problems that your mainboard can identify. That isn't the same as
saying your mainboard is GOOD, obviously. -Dave

 

[John Holmes]

Mike T. "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

It's OK, but it's also meaningless. It means that your mainboard
doesn't have any problems that your mainboard can identify. That
isn't the same as saying your mainboard is GOOD, obviously. -Dave

Thanks for that, I feel much better now!

 

[Dave]

You have a lot of parts there.

Yeah, I know. I was a bit embarrassed to admit it.

The first thing you do is simplify.
Remove everything you don't need except to start the system and
conceivably reproduce the problem. If you don't need the hard drives
to reproduce the problem, remove them too. Otherwise, just leave one
hard drive installed. Use only one stick of memory. Use only one
video card and monitor. No other add-in cards.

Good luck.

Thanks. Sounds like good advice. More work than just replacing the
motherboard, but good advice.

- Dave

 

[Dave]

On 6/14/06 9:26 PM John Doe wrote:
I agree with the previous poster. Keep it simple. Test with only the
bare minimum. If settings are changing, have you checked to see if BIOS
date shows the wrong date? Could the BIOS battery be problematical?

It's kept perfect date and time over the three years it was idle. And
the settings don't seem to be changing, even though they're *reported*
as changed, in the error message.

Have you checked the case to motherboard connections for power button?
Yes.

What about monitor? Is it pinned in, to system?

I've reseated the card and reconnected the cables, if that's what you
mean.

Where did you store
the machine? What's the dust situation inside the case? It may not
isolate the problem, but if components have mucho dustola there's always
the remote possibility of problems when heat and dust mix.

I stored it in a plastic garbage bag. The insides look brand new.

- Dave

 

[Dave]

Your symptoms are pointing at the motherboard or power supply. OR, it
could just be a loose connection. Start over by removing everything from
the mainboard. EVERY cable, EVERY connector, the CPU (yup, the CPU), the
RAM, the video card, any expansion cards, the power supply . . . get that
mainboard totally naked. Reinstall everything carefully (don't forget to
put the HSF back on the CPU, and plug it in). Only this time, skip the SCSI
card and try one stick of RAM. If your symptom doesn't change, power down,
remove the RAM stick, install the other RAM stick, but in a different slot.

If the symptom still doesn't change, the best thing to do at that point
would be to find a known good power supply and try swapping that in. Maybe
borrow one from a friend?

I've got a second one, that I decided was underpowered when I started
adding the SCSI. I can try that. The voltages reported in Setup seem
really stable, but that's not right at powerup, of course.

If you replace the power supply with one that is known to be good, and the
symptom hasn't changed, then it's time to look at a new mainboard. If you
get to that point, try a MSI 865PE NEO2-V, after verifying that it will
take DDR333 RAM. It should, as it supports 533FSB. -Dave

Thanks, Dave

- Dave

 

[Dave]

Dave "contributed" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

Please don't listen to those idiots who already replied. Well, we cannot
hold them for their stupidity as they just can't read.
Now to your problem: what you said is that your monitor gets no signal
when you "cold-boot" the computer

Not exactly. It *always* gets a signal when I wait 15 minutes or so
between bootings.

and when you hit the reset button the
monitor gets signal on some occasions.

Almost always. Maybe always, as my notetaking was a little sloppy.

You *have* tried another monitor, now didn't you?

Um, well, yes, that would be the smart thing to do, but I was more
concerned about the processor error complaints.

- Dave