Computer startup problems

Hi there. Recently my boss's computer has been having some weird problems. If you shut down the machine overnight and try to turn it on the next morning, it will give you either a CPU POST error or will just shut itself down after running the memory test at startup. The POST error suggests that the the CPU could be overclocked and that the POST sequence was unable to finish. When it gives you this error, you have the option of entering the BIOS setup. If you do this and let the computer sit(because the most common errror is the one where the computer just shuts down after the memory test) for a minute or two, it almost always seems to boot up fine after that. Once you get it to boot up, it runs fine until you restart or shut down. If it's been running a while, I can usually restart without any problem, it just seems to happen after the computer has been off for a period of time.

My boss almost always leaves his computer on 24/7 and has done so for the year and a half he's had the computer since I built it for him. I'm hard pressed to figure out where the error is occuring. I pretty much figure it's got to be the power supply, the CPU, or the motherboard.

He's running a ASUS A8V-E Deluxe MB. A Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego CPU. We're running it with a Eagletech 470W ATX/EPS12V power supply.

While I was typing out this message we ran into a new problem. The computer entered a endless restart cycle. It would run through the POST, memory test, and hard drive detection and right before the point where it would normally boot off the drive, it would restart. On a hunch, and also just because I think working on computers is a mostly deductive process, I unplugged the hard drive to see if that was the problem. It was not and would restart at the same point, right before it would normally be booting from the hard drive.

After about 10 minutes of turning off and on, the computer booted into windows. This is important because it's payday friday and my boss prints our paychecks on his computer. No computer, no money for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions or answers as to what the problem here is? My boss has suggested buying a new MB, CPU, and Power Supply but I wanted to see if I could get a clearer idea on here of what the problem is before he goes out and spends 300 bucks.

Thanks in advance for any help. I greatly appreciate it.

 

First I would check CPU Temp in Bios or with Everrest or Sandra which can be downloaded from this site. Then, if possible, try another PSU as it does sound like a heat problem. Has it been cleaned out recently? Be sure all fans are running. And there is good air flow.

 

CPU temp everytime I checked BIOS was around 39C/86F. That was one of the first things I checked after getting the CPU error. The case has 2 fans built into it as well as the HS fan and the power supply fans. All morning I've been running the system with the side panel off as well. I sprayed the inside of the system out with that air-in-a-can stuff about a month ago and seeing it this morning, I can say that dust and dirt is minimal.

An interesting development has happened since I posted my original message. On a hunch, I tried unplugging the printer's power cord. After doing this, the system booted up fine and my boss was able to print our paychecks. After he was done, I plugged the power cord back into the printer. Within 5 seconds, the computer system restarted. I unplugged the printer and then plugged it in while the system was stables a couple more times. All times the system restarted after plugging the power cord into the printer.

I just installed a UPS for each of the 3 computers in our office. I only have the monitor and computer plugged into each and the monitoring software with the UPS says that the power load is within acceptable ranges on all of the systems. I'm just wondering if we're having electrical problems. I'm also wondering if this is the same problem I was having with the system cold booting or if they are separate. I only just installed the UPS's yestarday and the computer was having the POST errors before that.

 

The taskbar clock is accurate. I had also thought that it could be a RAM issue. I removed the 1G stick of RAM to see what would happen but the MB halted on startup because the memory was missing. It even told me in a females voice that there was a memory problem which I thought was a little neat. I don't have any other systems here that have the same kind of RAM so I can't swap it out to test.

I have not tried reseting the BIOS to default. We are not getting the POST errors anymore so if I did it now, I wouldn't know if that made a differance. I'll have my boss shut down his system again before he leaves today and try that in the morning to see if we get the same errors when booting cold.