210P boot problems

[username1234]

210P boot problems

[username1234]

Hi,

My 210P has been working fine for months. A few months ago I swapped the CPU, PSU and Case fans for SilenX and I was really pleased with how quiet my 210P is. As I said, it has been working fine for months until....

This morning I switched the 210P on and it went through to the Black Windows logo screen, completed the status bar, as if it were just about to load into Windows and then the screen just went black.

I restared several times to no avail and then had to go out....

When I got back I had the same trouble, however it started up after about 11 restarts and was ok untill I had to go out and turn it off..

Then the black screen thing happened again when I got back....

So I tried:

Using the Windows XP cd and booting from that to repair the installation, however the screen analyses the computer and then just stops at a blue screen with 'Starting Windows XP' on the bottom - it doesnt actually do anything though.

Using 1 stick of Ram/Ram from another system= No difference

Using another hard drive= Nothing happened, it just got confused.

I took out my Hard drives from the 210P and connected them to my desktop and it booted into windows fine.

So its not the Ram, its not the HDD's

Its not the Graphics card as I can see everything on the screen until it goes black.

I dont think its the fans as it has been working fine for months, only slight increases in temps, and I have never had it crash or shut down due to heat issues...

So that leaves only the Motherboard, IDE cables (could be faulty?) and the CPU itself.

What do you guys think??

Thanks, 1234


------------------------------

iDEQ 210P
Athlon 64 2800+
1024 mb Kingston DDR400
MSI GeForce 6600GT
2xHDD
Videomate Gold Plus 2 TV tuner
Windows XP home
2x80mm SilenX fans (CPU and Case)
1x90mm SilenX fan (PSU)

[Darkeone]

Did you try clearing the cmos and maybe some different ide cables. A long shot, I know but you never know sometimes. Maybe try plugging in different fans and see if you can boot with those.

Did you visually inspect the board for popped caps or other apparent damage. Sometimes you don't have to smell it for it to be damaged.

Just a few thoughts that I'd try if it were me.

My 210P is out for RMA so I'm awaiting it's return.

[anitract]

Make sure heatsink and processor are making good contact and all cables are securely plugged in.

You might also want to try your old power supply to see if its a PS-related issue.

If nothing else, there's a good chance its your motherboard.  Perhaps something surged or what-not.

[Ultim8um]

Have you tried safe mode?
Or booting off a winPE cd (or Knoppix)...

[username1234]

I have tried safe mode but it still will not boot up.

The computer did boot up last night (in its original configuration, the same RAM HDD's ect) after I had tried changing the RAM ect and harddrives, and it booted up this morning, but It wouldn't boot up since.

So it seems to be an intermittent fault of some kind.

I cannot see that it could be the fans suddenly making these problems happen, as I said it had been working fine for months.

I cannot see any motherboard damage, if there were anything obvious then I dont think it would have booted up this morning.

The CPU is only reading 36-40 degrees and I have NEVER seen it go above 55, even when gaming.

I really do not know what to do!

[anitract]

Even if you do not see MB damage, it may be there.  I wouldn't discount that theory.  Did you try a different Power Supply?

[username1234]

Thanks for the replies.

I have gotten the computer working, after several restarts and about half an hour, but the problem still persists.

I have not ruled anything out, so am still open to suggestions....

I don't have another PSU so I cant really see if that is causing the problem, however it seems to be working 'for now.'

I will keep you posted....

Thanks, 1234

[username1234]

I still have the same problem, the screen goes black after the Windows logo,

I have found that plugging a USB device (MP3 player ect) and rebooting the machine works if you remove the USB device once the screen has gone black, it must trigger something to make Windows load up.

Very strange.....

Is this a sign of a faulty motherboard???

Anyone???

[Ogami]

Have you installed anything recently? like SP2 - its know to do horrible things to A64 due to the NX bit.

Oher than that i'd suggest a fresh install of Windows.  It is possible that the machine is shorting somewhere but its hard to tell unless you want to take it all out of the case.

There seem to be some nasty issues with the 210p and the USB ports especially the front ones just plain not working and causing reboots.

[Cholly]

Mmmm--Ogami, have you any further info regarding USB  ports and reboots?  I tried using a Netgear wireless-G USB adapter with my  210p and  any time I tried to download from the web, my system would reboot. No problem when I use the onboard ethernet port. I don't have a problem with my Microsoft USB remote for MCE2005. (In both cases, connected to rear USB ports).

[Ultim8um]

I have no problems with my front USB ports... I am running XP Pro with SP1 and the default microsoft USB drivers...

[username1234]

I have not installed anything recently, however I did a fresh instal of XP Media Center 2005 last night (its on a dual boot system) stil have problems with starting the machine, I really dont know what has happened.

Cholly,

I see you have MCE 2005, Is your AverMedia tuner any good?

I was really dissapointed with the analogue (cant get DVB-T in my area) Hauppauge MinTV 150MCE. The images are dark, jagged, washed out and really horrind compared to my Phillips Based Compro card.

Any suggestions on a replacment for my Hauppage card?

Thanks, 1234


--------------------------

iDEQ 210P
Athlon 64 2800+
1024 mb Kingston DDR400
MSI GeForce 6600GT
2xHDD
Videomate Gold Plus 2 TV tuner (whist I replace my Hauppuage)
Windows XP home (With Media Centre Edition 2005)
2x80mm SilenX fans (CPU and Case)
1x90mm SilenX fan (PSU)

[username1234]

OK...

The system works fine, not crashing, no errors or anything so I beleive all of my components are ok.

Seeing as I need to have a USB device plugged in which gets Windows 'kick started' by removing it when the screen goes black, I think its most likley to be some kind of motherboard problem.

Any thoughts???

1234

[fobis]

i would talk to Biostar about it...
but it seems an RMA would be something to consider.

[username1234]

I have spoken to Biostar UK and they suggest I try another PSU and if that fails I will have to RMA it.....

Thanks, 1234

[Cholly]

quote:
Originally posted by: username1234
I have not installed anything recently, however I did a fresh instal of XP Media Center 2005 last night (its on a dual boot system) stil have problems with starting the machine, I really dont know what has happened.

Cholly,

I see you have MCE 2005, Is your AverMedia tuner any good?

I was really dissapointed with the analogue (cant get DVB-T in my area) Hauppauge MinTV 150MCE. The images are dark, jagged, washed out and really horrind compared to my Phillips Based Compro card.

Any suggestions on a replacment for my Hauppage card?

Thanks, 1234


--------------------------

iDEQ 210P
Athlon 64 2800+
1024 mb Kingston DDR400
MSI GeForce 6600GT
2xHDD
Videomate Gold Plus 2 TV tuner (whist I replace my Hauppuage)
Windows XP home (With Media Centre Edition 2005)
2x80mm SilenX fans (CPU and Case)
1x90mm SilenX fan (PSU)

I was somewhat dissatisfied with the AverMedia UltraTV 1500MCE until I noticed a note in MCE2005 that it wants 32 bit color (I'd had 16 bit color set up). Since making the change to 32 bit, picture quality is better. In response to your question about my GeForce4 Ti4200SE, I've noticed no problems at all with video. No stuttering or hiccups in picture.

[username1234]

Thats interesting, My graphics are in 32bit colour, so I would presume that MCE is too...

Do you think that your GeForce 4Ti4200SE has more power than an FX5200?

I am considering just sticking with my 6600GT because performance was awfull with the FX5200!!

Thanks, 1234

[fobis]

for the most part, any GeForce4 Ti series graphics card is better than the FX5200 with DirectX 8.0. What is ironic is the FX5200 is the lowest card that nVidia provides that supports DX9 and the FX5200 couldn't even render in DX8/9 very well.

[Ogami]

I wouldn't be supprised if the PSU got over heated.  I got the 58cfm 120mm silenx fan to replace the PSU fan.  The air coming out was kinda warm and when i touched the back of the PSU it was scolding hot.

I have since replaced the PSU fan and am currently seeing how it goes with an 80mm Silenx on the CPU and no case fan.

[username1234]

Apparently the stock PSU fan pushed only 16CFM of air, now thats nothing compared to my 28CFM or your 58CFM SilenX fans!

Do you really think that this could be the issue? I have noticed that the PSU does get warm but its nothing significant, or much warmer then it was before.

Did you replace the original PSU fan or was it a different fan again...?

How hot is it now...?

Thanks, 1234

[Ogami]

Yeah, i was supprised too, it's possible that i didn't have my fan in right - it was a hell of a squeeze.
I watched some TV on it for about 20mins then took the case off and touched the top of the psu and it was burning hot, the bios also said the system temp was around the 50c mark.
I've put the original fan and cover back onto it and now the actual psu never gets more than mildly warm and the bios says around 40c .
I guess the air just isn't directed enough to cool the psu properly, shame really because its made it a bit noisier again.

[username1234]

Ok...I'm sure that we can fix this.

My 92mm fan is mostly (all but 5mm) underneath the whole PSU, almost all of the air from the fan is blown into the PSU. Do you think that perhaps covering over the sides of the PSU where the fan doesn't reach might help direct airflow over the hot components, instead of blowing out the exposed sides, and keep the temps down?

My PSU doesn't get as hot as yours sounds like it did, but I would be happier getting it a little cooler, I decided that a 120mm fan would just have been way too big to squeese inside, but the 92mm seemed like a good compromise.

I really would like to keep the SilenX fan because the PSU fan is really noisy - especially with SilenX fans on the CPU and case.

Any suggestions?

1234

[fobis]

Well, on my 200Watt PSU, i inverted the fan so that it blew down and sucked air from outside. That really helped my cooling situation. I found that with the high-powered 80mm rear case fan, the PSU fan just couldn't get enough air since all of it was going to the back.

[username1234]

Thats interesting - I will look into this,

Did you find any noise increases? I would presume that the PSU temps went down? and also the case temp?

I am beginning to think that this is not a PSU related problem as I now have yet another problem with my iDEQ.

When Windows sign is on screen (before the black screen) there is a wired loud crackling noise coming from the speakers and it only goes away when Media Center, or it might be another prgram like system control or the graphics driver loads on startup.

My problems really do seem more technical than a faulty PSU - most likley the motherboard as the system works fine once its switched on - But then again I'm no expert so could be wrong.

What do you guys think?

1234