shutdown/reboot problem

I have never seen a problem like this.
I have an XP SP3 system (or was) which currently contains nothing but the moterboard, a USB CD drive and a hard drive.
It runs about 30 minutes while I am trying to install XP SP3 and it begins freezing, then reboots and shortly later will power down by itself.
After that amount of time I restart it and it will only run about 2 to 4 minutes without powering down.
I have replaced the power supply, the memory and currently have removed all of the hardware possible from the computer. It is running right now with nothing but the USB drive connected and it is not shutting down.
I have used several hard discs on it in an effort to fix this issue they all do the same thing.
The fact that it will run forever with no hardware attached but the USB drive would normally say I must have a bad hard drive. I have not yet tried also connecting the hard drive but not booting it to see if it will run with that also attached.
It is beginning to look like it heats up and fails when processing data which might indicate a bad CPU (which I have on order).

I have also shut off all types of shutdown signals from the BIOS and am using the motherboard's default settings.

Anyone have an idea about this/


Thanks

 

I have one more data point:
If I plug in a disc drive with no OS on it and just let it sit there it will also run without powering down. As soon as I try to use the drive by beginning an install or something it will power down.
I also learned that I can remove the disc drive and put an XP live CD in the CD drive as soon as it starts processing the system powers down.

I am not sure if this is the motherboard or the CPU.

....

 

Sounds very much like your CPU is over heating. Check that your heatsink is clean and the fins are clear of dusk. Make sure all your fans are operational.

 

Expanding on Tueur's post-- You may also want to apply new thermal paste.

 

Thanks to you and Tueur for your help.

I had already removed the CPU, cleaned out the fins manually and replaced the thermal paste. Same results.

My thinking is that the CPU had gotten so hot for so long that it must have caused internal damage to the CPU. I have ordered a new CPU and I will try that when it comes. I will let you know how that works.

I had worked on another computer that had similar symptoms and cleaning out the fins brought it back to life and it is working to this day. It is the sister to this system so I bet the CPU is the culprit.

Thanks again to you and Tueur for you help.


..............

 

Its possible but it could be a dead fan. I managed to cut through the cable that powers the front fan on my antec 900 (bear in mind that this still has a 120mm fan on the rear a 200mm fan on the top Plus PSU exhaust) and becuase there was no direct cooling to my HD I started getting all sorts of wierd freezes going on. Your system will usually shut down before you do any damage to CPU

 

Yeah that would certainly cause some interesting symptoms. This computer has had nothing done to it before it heated up and started shutting down. I will check to be sure of course.

I received the new CPU but have not installed it yet. I would not go to all of this trouble but it has been a very good computer so I would like to salvage it even if it means buying another motherboard. Basically it is faster than any of my computers that I have now so I think it will be worth the time spend on it.

Thanks for your input.............

 

Okay thanks for all of the help I installed the new CPU and it is fixed!

Although they sent me a slower CPU than I ordered it does work in the system. I sent them an email regarding the wrong part but meanwhile it is working and I was able to load a system on it even if it was a bit slower. This CPU does not even have hyper threading.

Thanks again for all of your help..........

 

Hey folks I got a new problem. Ugghhh........

I finally received the new 3.2 GHZ chip and installed it and and guess what? The same exact problem!
I start up the system and it runs about 5 to 10 seconds and powers down. Very, very similar to my original problem. I re-installed the 2.2 GHZ CPU and it works fine. This system originally had a 3.2 GHZ CPU but replacing it with a new one does not work. I thought at first it was a bad CPU but now I am wondering if it is something else. Using the 2.2 GHZ CPU everything works great.

I am reluctant to send this 3.2 GHZ CPU back as defective since it exhibits exactly the same symptoms as the 3.2 GHZ CPU that I am replacing. Now that the 2.2 GHZ CPU seems to work well I am at a loss as to where to look now.

Any ideas anyone?


Thanks..........

 

Have you tried coretemp to check temps? the 2.2 will prob run cooler than the 3.2. Could also be PSU but i would go with heat first

 

Thanks for your input.
I don't think it is heat it is not on long enough for heat to stop it. We are talking about just a few seconds or minutes and the box is sitting on it's side wide open. I also shut off anything in the BIOS that would shut it down. I tried two 3.2 GHZ CPU's and they both acted the same.
The system runs fine with the 2.4 GHZ in it so I am going with that. I can't really see the difference in speed I guess the hyperthreading on some programs would show up but for right now I am living with it that way.
I doubt that I would get two 3.2 GHZ CPU's that did not work and have the identical symptoms so I have to believe it is an issue with the board.

Thanks for helping

............

 

Have you checked for a Bios update?
Sometimes it helps with cpu problems

 

I will check for that but the board works fine with a 2.66 Ghz CPU but will not work with a 3.2 GHZ. It must be the board though because two 3.2 GHZ CPU's failed with the same symptoms. If I plug it in with nothing connected to it except the power supply it will shut down within 10 seconds. At one with a DVD reader attached it would run until I inserted a disc but now it has changed a bit. However the 2.66 GHZ chip works fine so it must be something in the motherboard. I tried resetting the BIOS, etc. but nothing seems to help. I will try to upgrade the BIOS. I am thinking of replacing the board I see they are still readily available.

Thanks.


......

 

Sounding more like a power issue, - have you tried a different psu?

 

Oh yes that was the first thing I tried. Changed PSU and memory right off the bat. Also reset the BIOS.

Funny thing happened today I hope everyone does not get the idea I am crazy. But I got to thinking the other night and wondering if there was possible that I might have mixed up the old 3.2 CPU with the new one since I had three CPU's sitting on my desk at the time.
I took a chance and installed one of the 3.2 CPU's and it has been now running for well over a half an hour with no trouble!
In fact I am using it to make this post with the previously unworking 3.2 GHZ CPU installed.
Now I don't believe in spooks or anything but this problem is getting more weird all the time.

Next I am going to shut it down and install the other "non working" 3.2 GHZ CPU in it to see if it also works. All this time it has been running with a 2.66 GHZ CPU so maybe the BIOS still thinks that is what is installed because I know hyper threading is turned off. So let me explore this mystery further.

I do have an upgrade for the BIOS downloaded but Biostar has recommended that it not be used if the motherboard is in working order. Ughhh... So I am not in a hurry to try it especially since the system seems to be working now. I guess all of the speeds, etc. are set for the 2.66 so I am not sure this test at this time is valid.

I will let you know what happens when I reset the BIOS for the 3.2 GHZ CPU.


Thanks for the help

 

Okay the problem with the 3.2 GHZ CPU's is solved there were no spooks!

I guess I managed to mix up t he CPU's when the three of them were sitting on my desk. As you know once they are in the computer all markings are erased so you have to guess which is which. Naturally I guessed the wrong one.
I changed both of them and found the bad one which is now reclining in my waste basket. So the original failure was the first 3.2 GHZ CPU I muddied the water by mixing them up. Ughhh.

I guess everything is working now with the 3.2 GHZ CPU and the task manager is even reporting hyper threading by reporting two CPU's.

Thanks for all of your help folks!


..........

 

Okay same system probably the same problem. I installed the new 3.2 GHZ CPU and while it appears to work if I try to do anything like installing updates to Win7 it suddenly does the blue screen of death either that or it hangs and nothing moves and it needs to be rebooted.
If I replace the 3.2 GHZ CPU with the 2.66 GHZ CPU everything works normal. This board is a Biostar P4M900-M4 and supports up to a 3.4 GHZ CPU. In addition for the past two years (probably longer) this computer ran fine with a 3.2 GHZ CPU in it so I know it is not a support issue.

I guess I could have just got a defective 3.2 GHZ CPU from the vendor but is there a chance that there is something wrong with the motherboard? Could there be some reason that the motherboard would not work with a 3.2 and it works okay with a 2.6? Something very strange about this computer. It has me stumped though. Maybe it would be worth investing in either a new 3.2 chip or a new motherboard. Not sure which to try I guess the motherboard because that 3.2 chip was just bought.


Any ideas on this anyone.

 

Sounds more like software. Post the latest minidump files in C:\windows\minidump and ill have a look

 

Thanks for your help. I think you may be right because this system has plugable drives. If I plug in the XP OS I cannot get the 3.2 CPU to fail, if I plug in the WIn7 OS it blue screens withing minutes. However they both work fine using the 2.66 CPU.
I have all of the clock speeds, etc. set to the maximum for this motherboard by the way. But whether they are maxed or not the same symptoms occur.

I will try reloading Win7 on another drive and see what those results are.

Thanks..........

 

Woah there. What do you mean all the clock speeds set to max? as in you have OCed it in the BIOS and just maxed everything? If this is the case I am amazed you havent blown the CPU. Get everything set to stock while troubleshooting. and then post the mini dumps.

 

I didn't mean to excite you this board does not allow overclocking or anything. I just set the CPU clock speed from 200 to 265 and the PCIE clock from 100 to 150 and enabled Top Performance which is just a selection. But the symptoms were the same in any event. So increasing those clock speed did nothing.

I loaded Win7 on another disc though and it worked fine so there must be something wrong with that first Win7 load but it is really weird how it will work with the 2.66 CPU but not the 3.2 CPU.
I guess I will just accept it since it does not seem to be a real problem. This is one of those things that I would like to know but I probably will not spend any more time on it since the last load seemed to work okay.


Thanks for your help..........

 

This is the definition of overclocking. Your CPU speed is difined by the CPU clock times the CPU multiplier. It also sets the speed of transfer between memory and CPU. So by increasing it you have overclocked your system.

This could cause problems in itself.

 

Well it was not the overclocking that was burning me but you were on the right track. There is an entry in the setup called "high performance" and it will not work with that option set. It works fine if I turn off that option. Changing the CPU speeds did not seem to effect if though.
Funny I have a system in the next room exactly like this one and the "High Performance" works fine on it along with the overclocking.

I took out all of the changes and went to "Optimum defaults" and it worked flawlessly so then I turned on the "High Performance" option by itself and the system failed withing 2 minutes. So I took that out and put in the overclocking and it is running fine with that option.

So I guess I will close the case it seems to be working fine this way. I guess when my daughter allowed the CPU to get overheated with dirt it must have done something to the motherboard as well as taking out the CPU. I replaced the CPU but now it shows me something has also happened to the motherboard but I guess I can live with this.


Thanks very much for your help on this issue.

..........

 

Hi Zepherz,

Please dont take offence by this but from some of your posts I get the impression that rather than go through a methodical and calculated overclock, you have simply pushed everything to max (I may be way off the mark but I would rather risk offending you than you distroy your system).

If not done correctly OCing can and will kill systems and will certainly reduce the life expectancy of any system and on that basis I strongly urge you to set your system back to stock settings and read up on overclocking to make sure that you understand how the different components of your system interact and how the changes you make in the bios wil impact upon those components. I have read up on your board and it will not support a CPU clock higher than 200Hz. The Max FSB is 800hz which equates to a clock speed of 200x4 as it is a DDR2 system.I have my system OCed but I cant get Higher than about 220Hz before it becomes unstable. 250Hz is highly unlikely to be stable.