Mobo ?

[Simon]

Hi all

Problem:

A pc I built for a customer a few months ago (only been in use for 3
weeks though) had a problem on Friday - video display reports out of
range. I went in, tried another display and this worked for an hour or
so before displaying the same problem. Today I swapped out the video
card and all was well when I left, an hour later the problem was now
lots of unexpected blue screens etc.

I've been in again, and tried a repair install of the xp, this gets into
the copying files stage and then there are numerous instances of cannot
read file from cd (4 attempts, mainly different files) and then same
time each time the setup blues screens with an 0x..D1 error scsiport.sys.

PC is an abit ul8 with AMD 3500, gig of ram and 2 sata disks configured
in raid 1 via the motherboard.

I've got it here now so will try new ram, and maybe a replacement dvd
drive, and maybe an install onto an ide disk.

I suspect the mobo though.
Any thoughts ?

This customer has had dodgy mains caused problems before, however this
is connected via a surge protection device.

Thanks for any replies,
simon

 

[Simon]

Hi all

Problem:

A pc I built for a customer a few months ago (only been in use for 3
weeks though) had a problem on Friday - video display reports out of
range. I went in, tried another display and this worked for an hour or
so before displaying the same problem. Today I swapped out the video
card and all was well when I left, an hour later the problem was now
lots of unexpected blue screens etc.

I've been in again, and tried a repair install of the xp, this gets into
the copying files stage and then there are numerous instances of cannot
read file from cd (4 attempts, mainly different files) and then same
time each time the setup blues screens with an 0x..D1 error scsiport.sys.

PC is an abit ul8 with AMD 3500, gig of ram and 2 sata disks configured
in raid 1 via the motherboard.

I've got it here now so will try new ram, and maybe a replacement dvd
drive, and maybe an install onto an ide disk.

I suspect the mobo though.
Any thoughts ?

This customer has had dodgy mains caused problems before, however this
is connected via a surge protection device.

Thanks for any replies,
simon

Oh and case is an antec sonata II with 450 antec psu

 

[Mike T.]

Hi all

Problem:

A pc I built for a customer a few months ago (only been in use for 3 weeks
though) had a problem on Friday - video display reports out of range. I
went in, tried another display and this worked for an hour or so before
displaying the same problem. Today I swapped out the video card and all
was well when I left, an hour later the problem was now lots of unexpected
blue screens etc.

I've been in again, and tried a repair install of the xp, this gets into
the copying files stage and then there are numerous instances of cannot
read file from cd (4 attempts, mainly different files) and then same time
each time the setup blues screens with an 0x..D1 error scsiport.sys.

PC is an abit ul8 with AMD 3500, gig of ram and 2 sata disks configured in
raid 1 via the motherboard.

I've got it here now so will try new ram, and maybe a replacement dvd
drive, and maybe an install onto an ide disk.

I suspect the mobo though.
Any thoughts ?

I'd be surprised (but not shocked) if this is a mainboard problem. I'd
think more likely suspect would be a bad power supply, or possibly bad RAM
on the mainboard. What makes me lean toward power supply is you say at one
point it ran for about an hour and then the problem returned. This is
classic symptom of bad power supply. Either it works OK immediately, but
poops out after a while, or just the opposite . . . won't boot easily, but
runs OK if you can get it to boot eventually.

Other thing to wonder about is heat (mainboard and/or CPU overheating), but
that's somewhat unlikely. Let us know what you find. If it was my system,
I'd start by replacing the power supply with something like an enermax 550W
or similar. I'd try that first, just because it is such a time-saver, in
the sense that most problems like that are eventually found to be the power
supply anyway. So eliminate that real quick, and then move onto other
things. -Dave

 

[Simon]

I'd be surprised (but not shocked) if this is a mainboard problem. I'd
think more likely suspect would be a bad power supply, or possibly bad RAM
on the mainboard. What makes me lean toward power supply is you say at one
point it ran for about an hour and then the problem returned. This is
classic symptom of bad power supply. Either it works OK immediately, but
poops out after a while, or just the opposite . . . won't boot easily, but
runs OK if you can get it to boot eventually.

Other thing to wonder about is heat (mainboard and/or CPU overheating), but
that's somewhat unlikely. Let us know what you find. If it was my system,
I'd start by replacing the power supply with something like an enermax 550W
or similar. I'd try that first, just because it is such a time-saver, in
the sense that most problems like that are eventually found to be the power
supply anyway. So eliminate that real quick, and then move onto other
things. -Dave

Cheers mike/dave,
Yeah I thought about the psu, but with antec and a mains protector I
sort of ruled that out for a while, but can see your point.
I'll try that too b4 I replace the mobo, cheers.
simon

 

[Michael Hawes]

Cheers mike/dave,
Yeah I thought about the psu, but with antec and a mains protector I sort
of ruled that out for a while, but can see your point.
I'll try that too b4 I replace the mobo, cheers.
simon

What display? Did you load inf file for monitor? Display out of range
means that video card refresh setting is too fast/slow for the display
device. Often down to user 'fiddling' to 'make it better'. What refresh did
you originally set? Was it still the same? Run a memory test, as dodgy RAM
can corrupt the WinXP installation.
Mike.

 

[DaveW]

From the symptoms I also suspect a bad motherboard.

 

[RussellS]

From the symptoms I also suspect a bad motherboard.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, check/replace SATA/IDE data cables/connections. The XP CD read/copy
errors are a common symptom of bad data cables (as well as a damaged
installation CD or bad memory.) As Michael mentioned, the out of range
symptom could be an incompatible graphics card setting as it relates to the
monitor's default support settings.

If you've ruled out dodgy cables, the most likely remaining suspects would
be memory, PSU and motherboard, in that order.

Good luck to you.
-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

 

[ToolPackinMama]

Good thoughts,everyone.

I assume that malware has been considered and eliminated. Malware
infection can sometimes mimic a hardware failure.

 

[BigJim]

try increasing the voltage to the memory

 

[Simon]

try increasing the voltage to the memory

Thanks all,
yes I ruled out the video refresh rate as I've seen that before.
Will try psu/memory/cables then the mobo, I'll let you all know.
cheers simon

 

[Simon]

Thanks all,
yes I ruled out the video refresh rate as I've seen that before.
Will try psu/memory/cables then the mobo, I'll let you all know.
cheers simon

Just to end this, new mobo and for safety a psu fixed the damn thing.
Thanks for the help
simon

 

[The Seabat]

So we still don't know what the problem was??? The MoBo or the PSU??

 

[dMn]

So we still don't know what the problem was??? The MoBo or the PSU??

If there's a survey, I would vote PSU. That's a lot of power need and I
had repeated problems just like this on AMD based systems. Just last
week I resolved a problem like this one. On an Dual AMD 2800+ MP system
I fought with XP stopping reporting problems in video drivers, memory
tests would fail in different places, XP would fault on a disk scan of
the third disk. Finally I noticed that it faulted more then once when
the compressor on the freezer next to the PC kicked in. I replaced the
power supply and have had no errors since.

dMn