Frequent reboots untill windows finally loaded :confused:

[r0n1n]

Hi all,

Will try to keep it short and clear, although it's a complicated problem.

Problem is: pc (system in sig) stops running at different locations when powering on. It just shuts down during post, during windows (xp sp2) loading (both black and blue screen). When I finally get into windows, there's no problem whatsoever anymore.

I should also mention that each time I boot, normally it gets a little further, but now I spend 3+ hours booting.
Whenever it stops, I have to wait a couple of minutes after pushing the 'on' button, and then it starts running, sometime within a blink of an eye, sometimes it takes a couple of minutes (upto 20 or so).

I first noticed this on my previous pc, where I changed the PSU. That worked for a couple of weeks. In the meantime we moved, and the problem persisted.
Now put together a new system, put again, the problem occurs.

PSU was rma'd in the beginning, recieved a new one from the shop, no difference.

Other things I already checked: ram is fine, cpu and graca are fine, disks are fine. tried to boot without cdroms, or as less HW as possible... still the problem persists. Tried to unhook all USB devices, together and separate... that's not the solution either. The system (when finally turned on) consumes some 300 watts when at medium to high load (running for example 3Dmark06).

Incomming AC power (in Antwerp) is ~220 to ~230 v. (I also thought that could be the prob, but the enermax I use is designed to work from 110-240 or something).

I have the strange impression that it doens't like to boot when it's cold, by which I mean when it was shut of for a night or so...

Could you guys (and girls, don't wanna be a sexist here) give me some other ideas on what to check? Or has anybody been plagued by this same prob???

Thanks for reading and posting your comments...

Cheers, r0n1n

[r0n1n]

Bump,

Common guys, doens't any of you computer -wizzes have a clue :confused:
I would find that hard to believe...

Or did I post in the wrong forum?

[Origin_Unknown]

have you checked the heatsink? is it mounted corretly?

are you over clocked?

[Okda]

i was facing the same problem twice with diff causes

[1] the elec in my room is not stable enough, solved by buying a psu

[2] figured out that the psu itself was dieing, a capacitor in it used to get very very hot even when the system is idle and it won't work well till it cools down, solved by modding the psu and adding a 90mm fan on top of it

[KILLorBE]

If your system is OC'ed I'd try booting @ stock speeds.

I doubt it's your OS but you never know, so...
Does it also happen when you boot in "safe mode"?

If you're running XP Pro (Not sure about Home) you could check the DrWtsn32.log file (Drive X -> Doc. and settings -> All Users -> App. Data -> MS -> DrWatson).
You could also enable boot logging (Restart -> F8 -> Windows Advanced Menu -> Enable Boot Logging).
When done booting check the Ntbtlog.txt file (Drive X).
There's also an option called something like "Don't restart on errors" which may be of some help.

I'd try a different PSU first.

[r0n1n]

Ok guys, thx for the tips so far.
Will get back after trying UPS and other PSU.

@ Safrout, how did you test the current in your room, and what do you define as 'not stable' pls...

Might take some time to get a hold of.

System is oc'd, but has it at both stock and oc speed and voltages. I tried everything down that lane, even underclocking.

It's XP home, but I'll sure check the logs, although I doubt that there is gonna be info about what happens before windows starts loading.

Will try to post as soon as possible, hopefully with some good news...

[Okda]

i don't know its name in english but i will try to use simple words

but my room has lots of hardware beside a powerful a/c and when the computer used to shutdown the power switch for my whole room outside the apartment turn off also which means that it was handling more laod than it can do

[r0n1n]

Hi,

A little update after some bench testing...

Nothing helps :(

tried a UPS, but still it doens't fire up properly, so I ordered a new PSU.
I went for a tagan 800 dual engine.

Also ordered two HR05 for north and south bridge.

Hopefully the new PSU will help me out here...

Cheers, r0n1n

[Knight]

Try to reduce your system to the simplest form. Only use what is the minimum. Includes RAM, HDD's, etc.

[r0n1n]

Try to reduce your system to the simplest form. Only use what is the minimum. Includes RAM, HDD's, etc.

That's what I did when I was benching.
Just mobo, cpu, ram, HD and vid card.
Still the system had troubles firing up, and sometimes I have to wait after I push the 'on' button for as long as 20 mins before it fires up (and shuts down after a couple of secs).

This all made me blame the PSU. What's your opinion?

It also only provides 36 A on the 12+ volt line... maybe that's not enough, so I ordered a Tagan 800 watt dual engine PSU. Bought to span some time now...

Kind regards, r0n1n

[laragirl83]

i had the same problem, long ago, with abit st6 mobo. it was motherboard related :( changed that, it worked.

[r0n1n]

i had the same problem, long ago, with abit st6 mobo. it was motherboard related :( changed that, it worked.

I'll bear that in mind, but since I had something similar (but not entirely) in my previous pc.
I first of all doubt that it's the 'same' issue twice , you could speak about bad luck then...
And secondly, the only thing that I took from that pc was my psu. I didn't like to blame that, since that meant buying a new one, but it's pretty obvious maybe...

Thanks anyway, r0n1n