Intermitent boot probs..grrr

[TJones4T6]

I am having problems getting my computer to power on. I recently reflashed the BIOS and had no boot problems until I tried to hook a printer up to the parallel port. The computer and printer were both turned off when I did this. Now when I turn on the power, the computer will boot once, and will continue to work properly, as long as I restart it instead of shutting it. When I shut it down and then try to turn it back on, the fans spin and the power LED comes on, but no video signal or drive lights/activity. Let me list steps I have already tried.

Reflashed the BIOS to previous version, tried different RAM, removed and reseated the processor, tried booting with less things attached to power supply, removed motherboard to make sure no contacts were fried, tried a different power supply and hard drive, cleared and reconfigured CMOS...still have same problem. If i unplug the machine for about an hour and plug it back in, it will boot and run fine...UNTIL I SHUT IT DOWN. If i try to restart it again without unplugging it for a while...no boot.

Any ideas?

[userserver]

What OS are you using? Is ACPI enabled in BIOS and implemented in the OS? Do you have legacy devices?

[TJones4T6]

I am running W2K pro, ACPI enabled, no legacy drivers. When the machine wont power up to boot (power light still on), it also wont power down from front panel switch. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[jmichna]

TJ,
Any error beep codes? The reason I ask is, I have a temperamental Asus A7V133 mobo. Anytime I do anything internal, I "always" get the no video "1 long, 3 short" error beep... and have to fidget with reseating the video card (an Elsa Gladiac Ultra) and rebooting until the error stops. Sometimes it takes several attempts. Once recognized, I have no further problems.

This really used to mystify me... example, I'd change/add memory, not even touching the vid card and - bam - no boot and video memory error. Add a slot exhaust blower - bam - no video. And so on...

In my case, I suspect it may have something to do with pin alignment within the ago slot... having to get it just so...

Wonder if your situation may be similar.
jmichna
:confused:

[TJones4T6]

no beep codes at all

[Ammok]

Perhaps when you flashed the bios it lost your parrellel port setting in bios. newish ones give various options like "bidirection" ECC and so on.

Try going in your bios and choosing each setting(unless you got the printers manual?) to see if it clears.

Don't work, disable apic?

i hate printers.

[TJones4T6]

No settings for parallel ports as far as printers go ( I did disconnect thr printer by the way). If I disable ACPI...the machine goes into an endless boot cycle until I change the settings to enable it once again. It seems strange to me that it will boot with no problems if it has been unplugged for a little while.

[Ammok]

heatsink and fan on ok?

[TJones4T6]

yes, fans (including processor fan) come on everytime i try to power on

[Ammok]

Another stoopid suggestion, but what the heck when your desperate.....



Your bios may have a "resume" setting for power failure. Perhaps you can try setting it to "power on" and see if this works. This can be called the "ACPI"

Try turning off all power management functions.

I still think your flash and the printer are implicit in this skullduggery.

If you flashed, you lost all current settings.

If you flashed back, you still lost all current setting.

Problem appears after this.

There is a "parallel port " setting in every bios. Double check its settings as this may be the culprit.

[frank5]

I had a similar poblem to this once. It turned out to be a bad PS.
This problem is probably due to a power supply or regulation issue. You already changed ps. Do you have a separate feature in the BIOS allowing you to disable power management aside from acpi? Try disabling these features even if you have to disable each individually. (hard drives,suspend, sleep mode etc.)
May also be a MB issue.

[TJones4T6]

wellllllllllllllllllllll.... I tried the power on after outage jumper and the ACPI configurations in all positions and settings...as well as all the parallel port settings( I must have been sleeping when I missed those). And I tried all power settings and all configurations ...still the same thing. Popped the chip out and into another board...worked fine. I am beginning to think I have a failing mobo onmy hands...but at least it will boot every hour or so if I unplug it after I shut it down....so I can still try more things til I can fork out for a new mobo...didn't really care for this one much anyway (Abit BX-133 RAID). The idea that it will actually support the 133MHz FSB is a joke no matter what version of the BIOS is running. Thank god for backup computers. If you guys can think of anything else....any help is appreciated. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

[bluemoon]

Shooting in the blind again.

80% chance not hardware related but has something to do with settings, most likely in your bios but could also be win2k power management related.

What happens if you use your reset button to reboot when your second power up fails?

If you unplug your machine to get it to work,that indicate it is settings related.


bluemoon

[TJones4T6]

neither the reset button nor the power button do a thing on startup attempts where it does not post. Power light comes on, floppy drive light comes on. HD light and cd rom dont. Power button wont even turn it back off..have to unplug it.

[bluemoon]

Well,in this case,what if you leave a boot disk in drive A: ?????Does it boot then????

bluemoon

[TJones4T6]

no such luck....wont even post after a successful start and powerdown. Will still reboot if I dont turn it off.

[bluemoon]

Okay,another try.
I think win2K is taking over how your computer boots.You don't by any chance have standby activated do you?
You can try to put your machine into hibernate mode and see.
I think some power management features only work on laptops,so could be one of those things.

Only sure way to isolate if it is 2k related is to install a non 2k os.
For all info I read so far,I think I am going back to square one----either settings in bios or settings in win2k.Is there any timing setting related to "wake up" in the bios??

bluemoon

[TJones4T6]

I checked to make sure i had no standby/hibernation features activated. Didnt think to try 98SE on it, just tried a fresh install of win2K. Cool....a project for the day. We will see what happens. Thanks for all your suggestions...I would say this is driving me crazy, but I blazed through crazy and didnt even slow down for the stoplight there.

[bluemoon]

Something just come across my mind.

I wonder if you can try unplug the C: and just boot to drive A.If the trouble remains then reinsatll win2k might not help either,right.?

Good luck to your project.See you later.

bluemoon

[TJones4T6]

wont boot to floppy even after power off. Installed win98....still no luck. I have a question that may make you all want to hang me...just didnt think of it before. When I flashed the BIOS ....I had a Prophet II MX with on-board bios and memory....could this have screwed up the flash??

[Ammok]

Even if it did, re-flashing would have rectified the fault?

[TJones4T6]

still wondering about these power issues. ONLY boots if it has been UNPLUGGED for a while. Doesnt boot if it has been turned off and not unplugged.


Straight-jacket please.... already padded all the walls.

[Ammok]

I'll have one those too thanks.

Can you get a loan of another psu? Or another mobo. I think your flash has buggered something and I think you need to go for a trial installation of different bits to help you unearth the culprit.

Mobo first. PSu second if you can.

[TJones4T6]

i have tried another power supply...no change. Tried the chip in another board (unfortunately no AGP in other board ..so I can't test the video card)....chip worked in other board. I have tested everything but that video card in another board...no problems...I am still thinking i got a bad jolt through the board when I attached that printer. Is it possible for a mobo to have an intermittent failure such as this?

[bluemoon]

I am ready to give up on this.

Some of the settings in bios is not set untill first power up and will be gone by unplugging the power source.

Some of the bios setting is not activated untill the os is involved---that's why I suspected it could be os related.

Sorry my last idea didn't help.In order to isolate if your bios is indeed under the influence of your os,you should still try unplug the c and only boot to A drive.Of course,you need to clear your bios by unplugging first.

I am not sure if your 12V+ should be power good under this circumstances or not??Nice if someone more knowledgeable on this subject can shed some lite to it.

I agree with Ammok,may be a reflash to the old version could rectify the trouble.

bluemmoon

[TJones4T6]

thx again for all the help. I dont think there is any combination of bios/cmos/os power settings I have not tried ( I took notes on my changes..no other combos left). Can't seem to even get 1 succesful POST today. Think I am going back to the drawing board on this one. I have had my eye on a new mobo anyway. Good luck and thank you to all that helped, sometimes it helps to have a few extra minds in on it.

[Ammok]

Hammer.

When I get a situation like this, i always try and bugger up someone else's day as well.

You must have a know it all freind, or mug, that always has to have one over on you? (if your that freind, never mind, this trick always works)

Well give him the mobo and the cpu only, and ask him if he will test it out for you on his system, and the bait, "cos I can't get it to work".

If he's any good, he'll come up with the same problems, and if he gets it work, do a swap for his mobo+cpu that should be out of his machine lying on the desk.


:D Sorry couldn't help, but good luck.

[bluemoon]

If you have already tried the boot to A only then only things left are either

1)your floppy drive or contrller is not good.You can easily bypass by instructing the bios to boot straight into C:

2)you bios irq conflict with you icpi controller,which usually won't happen untill you load you os.Or some cards in a wrong pci slot

3)like you said,mobo.


Good luck pal and thank you for reading thru all my guessings.


bluemoon