Claudio

[Claudio]

Here's a stumper, for me at least. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

When I start my computer, the boot sequence fails to initiate, the power lights come on but the screen remains black. At this point I have to shut the computer from the switch on the back and re start it again. On the second try, the computer partially boots, it seeks and finds the master and slave hard drives but it hangs when seeking the primary CDROM. Once again I have to restart the computer and on the third try it usually boots fine into Windows.

This happens everytime the computer has been off for a few hours or overnight. It boots fine when the system has been running for a while, sometimes the problem will occur when performing a warm boot but not as often. There are also no beep or text errors which makes it harder to diagnose.

Any suggestions are apreciated, thank you... Claudio

Motherboard AMD K6 700Mhz with a fairly new 350W power supply.

[sm8000]

Can you give more specific details of your hardware? It can't be a K6 if it's 700MHz. The more we know about what you've got the better we can help you.

[Claudio]

Riiiiight you are, here's the info

AMI BIOS version 062710 dated 7/15/1997
Motherboard PC CHIP 810LMR
Processor AMD Duron K7 700Mhz
256 RAM
20Gb Master HD, 5Gb Slave HD.
CDROM
CD-R

At the moment I am using the motherboard's onboard integrated audio and video.

Thanks again
Claudio

[rangeral]

Disconnect the cdroms completely see how it acts if its better plug one in one at a time should tell you which one is doing it or sounds more like the psu is not up to it which is quite common with generics, if you can try another one, probably see a difference rite off the bat.

[Claudio]

Thanks for your reply. I have to apologize, I gave some inacurate information. AT the second restart, the boot sequence correctly seeks and finds both hard drives and both CD units, right after that is when it attempts to initiate the S.M.A.R.T. features of the disk drives but during this stage is when it freezes. Well, I solved this problem by dishabilitating this feature from the BIOS and the computer now boots completlely, as opposed to only partially.

However, I still have the problem of no boot when attempting to initiate a cold start (after the computer has been off for a while). I tend to agree with you regarding a possible faulty PSU. I'm thinking that the PSU is sending a "Power good" signal to the CPU before the voltage has actually stabilized and therefore the CPU does not reset. Im also thinking that the reason it starts on the second attempt is that the coil on the PSU has already generated a magnetic field on the first attempt and that is why the second restart is always easier. Does this sound reasonable to you? I will try to substitute the PSU for a new one and see what happens. Any comments are apreciated

Thank you
Claudio

[sm8000]

That's a pretty old BIOS you have there. Look for an update for it - make sure it's exactly the right one for your board! - run it and see if that helps any.

[rangeral]

Your not working with the best of boards, after changing the psu if it still chokes a bit might try a bios update and or if it does work properly after a swap intermittenly might disconnect that 5g slave drive. The drive electronics could be going bad if you enable smart and it starts choking again, in any event save or burn any important data on that drive since smart could be giving you a warning.

[Claudio]

Yeah, I actually didn't notice how old it was until I pulled the info last night. You raise a valid point, I had thought initially that the BIOS might be faulty since it wasn't kicking in at the first try, but what is really curious is that it never fails to boot on the second try and for that reason I focused my suspicions on the PSU. I figured if the BIOS was faulty the computer just wouldn't boot at all. Also; I haven't installed any new toys that may cause the BIOS to encounter any conflicts and this problem started from one day to the next for no apparent reason.

I will update my BIOS like you suggest and I will also replace the PSU, all symptoms seem to point to either one of these as the culprit. Anyways, once the problem is resolved I will write back to share the info on how it was fixed. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would apreciate your input.

Symptom: Start the computer on cold boot, power and HD leds light up and stay lit, CDROMS spin but computer doesn't boot, the screen remains black. Problem seems to be anywhere from the point on which I press the power button right up to before the BIOS is supposed to kick in (BIOS does not initiate). Computer always boots fine upon second try restart.

Thanks
Claudio

[Claudio]

I fully agree with you about not working with the best board out there. Due to their price of purchase, I initially gave it a two year life span, right now I've had it a little over two years and this is the first time it has ever given me any attitude. If the problem is easy to fix and I can get a little more juice out of it, then I'll consider my self lucky since it has served me extremely well (short lifespan and all). However, if the problem is irrepairable I'll have no problems parting with it since I knew from the beggining that sooner rather than later I would have to give it a Jimmy Hendrix guitar burial, I've been itching lately to upgrade anyways so this may be my chance.

Rangeral, I have tried two diferent HDs and the problem persists. I've even taken all the data and power connectors (including the CPU and RAM) off and reseated them to make sure that the problem was not related to a bad contact, but still. Anyways, in the words of the immortal Hommer Simpson, "Hey, what are you gonna do?".

I've really apreciated you guy's input and allowing me to use you as sounding boards. In the mean time I'll do what I said I was going to do and then I'll let you guys know the results.

Claudio