[tatakau]

System Specs: AMD 64 X2 4400+; MSI Neo2 Motherboard; ATI X1800 XT; 2 GB RAM; etc etc...

This is not a brand-new rig here. My computer has been running pretty well for the past 1.5 years, since my last major upgrade. Except that I ran into a brick wall yesterday with it. I did as much troubleshooting as I could, but I just wanted to ask my fellow geeks for their opinions before I dropped $50 on a new motherboard.

My computer gets past the bios and POST checks just fine. Once it goes to load the OS though, it eats [bleep] (technical term) and reboots. ANY attempt to boot off a HDD results in a reboot. Attempting to boot from an Ubuntu 7.10 live linux cd will also cause a reboot (weird). BUT you CAN boot off of a Backtrack2 live linux cd (weirder).

So, as far as my troubleshooting goes, I stripped down to the basics (CPU, RAM, Vid Card, Keyboard). That went fine, except there was nothing to boot from. Hooked up a CD drive - couldn't boot Ubuntu, but Backtrack worked. Disconnected the CD drive, and tried the HDDs separately - couldn't boot, computer rebooted.

Anyway, several hours of booting and rebooting, and I figured there was a small chance that this was drive related. So, I went out and bought a new hard drive (500 GB - I needed one anyway). Unfortunately, that didn't fix the problem.

I also ran a RAM test off the Ubuntu CD (ubuntu's boot menu works, you just can't boot the linux OS), and it came back clean - all my RAM is good. HDD diagnostics are clean, too.

SO, I'm thinking I have a motherboard problem, probably something with a HDD controller or something. Honestly, I've always suspected that there was a HDD problem with my motherboard (this isn't the first issue I've had with it). So I'm probably going to buy a new motherboard. Before I do that though, maybe someone sees something here that I can't, or has had this problem before and has a solution?

And of course, if anyone has any suggestions or links to socket 939 motherboards that will work with an ATI X1800 XT video card (pci express), let me know!

Thanks a million in advance! (I know it was a long read ><)

~ Nick





extra: almost forgot, I was running 2x raptors in raid 0 (35 gb each), which seem to hang up the bios now. even with them disconnected though, I can't boot off HDDs.

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How about the psu? Whats the voltages look like? These things when weak can cause some strange behavior.

If you have the time I would make a ubcd UBCD and run Mersenne Prime Test, this is similar to prime 95, I would be interested in how the system handles the stress

[Doby]

How about the psu? Whats the voltages look like? These things when weak can cause some strange behavior.

If you have the time I would make a ubcd UBCD and run Mersenne Prime Test, this is similar to prime 95, I would be interested in how the system handles the stress

[tatakau]

This boot CD looks AWESOME - I'm downloading it now! (I've always wanted something like this...)

My power supply is less than a year old, and is quite a beast. I'm sure this isn't the problem though - in fact, I would strongly recommend this PSU to anyone looking for a new one! Major plus is that it's also super quiet, and all of the power cables / chains are DETACHABLE!!!!!!!! That's right, if you aren't using a chain, you can throw it in a box!!!

Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail

Simply amazing.


But just for shits and giggles:

Vcore: 1.38 V
+3.3 Line: 3.344
+12.0 Line: 12.22 V
+5.0 Line: 5.059 V
+5VSB: 5.248 V


Looks pretty good to me. And stable, too - Vcore only fluctuates 0.01 V.

Once this ultimate boot cd downloads, I'm gonna burn it and run some serious mobo diagnostics, if it has any.

~ Nick

[Doby]

Yea I agree that psu is awesome! I expected you had something that good just by the content of your post but had to be sure.

Let me know if you find anything but I too see nothing but a bad motherboard.

You wouldn't happen to have a ide controller card laying around would you? I would love to know if that would work, I know its not a acceptable work around but would love to know for the heck of it

[tatakau]

Hmm... never thought of that. Of course, I don't have one, but I agree that it definitely WOULD be interesting to see if that could work around the issue...

Would be great for my business too. :-p www;lgcrepair;com. I've had similar issues with other computers I've tried to repair like I'm having now - a PCI IDE controller would be great for debugging.

~ Nick