New Computer, Dual Core Athlon 64

OK, I built my Dad a new computer. Just to check out the hardware I installed a used copy of XP, being very careful not to connect the network connection, and everything worked. Since it needed an OS, I took it home and ordered one.

OK, a week later...

I powered it up and tried installing a legal copy of XP Pro X64 I had kicking around, and several time while installing it the computer powered down. It resumed installation on power up, and seemed to go further during each install (about 5 power downs or so). **it, I thought, I had skimped on RAM, so I exchanged the DDR2 PC5300 667 RAM for the recommended DDR2 PC6400 800. No luck. So I exchanged the 450 W PSU for a 550, no luck, and have put the 450 back in for now. I have a better 575W PSU I will be trying in the near future with crossed fingers, but I thought I would put it up here for alternate ideas. The computer works, but powers down without notice after being down for a little while. The PC health shows the CPU is running cool, so I don't think that is it.

I have another copy of XP Home I can use, which is similar to the first OS I tried without problems. It worked, now it doesn't.

ECS GeForce 6100SM-M V1.0 motherboard w/ built in PCIE
2 Gig RAM (2 1.0 Gig sticks)
Using the IDE connector for 300Gig HD or 100Gig HD (Master) and Sony DVD dual layer RW (slave).
Fancy case with over 3 extra fans throughout and lights galore (gaudy, but not too power consumptive).

When I try the other power supply I'll post on this thread again. Right now I'm looking for ideas of what I might have missed.

 

overheating? possibly bad heatsink install or something, maybe check the temps in the BIOS before running the install; they should be pretty low because the processor has basically zero load on it (no OS or anything to run) You've covered everything else i can think of though lol

 

You might have a bad power connector on the Mobo.

Got a blank HD? Try installing the OS on that drive with another computer. It's possible that with the CD-Drive on the slave, that XP is trying to take it over, and jamming up the installation. It's been known to do weirder things.

 

I would say bad harddrive or dirty disk,few obvious suggestions Bill hat may give ou some luck, remove everything that isnt needed to install xp,just use one stick of memory,an older cdrom drive if you have one or newer,a different ide cable\s,disable all the lights ect,move the drives around,try a smaller partition 10-15gigs for the windows install you can always add the remainder with partitionmagic at a later date,set the motherboard bios options to compatibility least performance,you could disable all of the onboard hardware in bios such as firewire,usb,soundcard,lan then turn them on one by when windows is installed

Check the CPU and memory is detected at the correct speed and the voltage is set,double check all the cables have been "clicked" into place,leave the side off the case,if its at your dads house make sure your using a surge protector or that the AC is stable

Restarts are normal as you probably know during XP installs so maybe the mobo isnt restarting correctly or going into hybernation so check the power saving menu in bios and disable them all

If I think of anything else I'll post

 

I've been thinking, 3 power supplies, 2 sets of RAM, 2 hard drives, I don't think it is any of those. It is progressively getting worse, my money is on the MB or CPU (really, it's my money!). Guess it is time to RMA the motherboard.

 

OK, new motherboard later I'm still fighting it. I'm missing something. The time between resets is longer, but it still turns itself off without notice, and does not go through the standard scan disk when I turn it back on. Nothing feels hot to the touch.

I'm thinking of posting the BIOS screens if I can find someone willing to go over it with me.

Here is the computer as I have it at the moment.

ECS EliteGroup GeForce6100SM-M (using built in video, PCI-E, will use built in network)

Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6 Gig CPU

2 X 1 Gig sticks RAM, PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz

300 Gig ATA133 IDE Maxtor HD

Sony Dual Core DVD RW

I have tried 2 OS's, one is used so I don't connect the computer to the network, XP Pro and XP Pro X64. I would prefer to use the XP Pro x64, but I have a XP Home in reserve.

Something I'm doing I'm not happy with, I'm using the same IDE cable for the hard drive and the DVD drive. Master / Slave jumpers are strapped correctly. I'm also using a removable hard drive bay, which I have used in over 10 computers with no problem. This motherboard has one IDE connector and 2 SATA connectors.

I really don't want to take this to a shop, that would especially suck.

Any suggestions? Should I start posting BIOS screens? This would be time consuming since I will use a digital camera, but I'm seriously at the end of my noggin.

 

maybe try one of the Live linux cds? just throwing ideas out there even though it sounds like a hardware problem...

 

Additional info, I've had the setup running for several hours in BIOS, on the PC Health menu. The CPU isn't changing temperature a whit, although the system temp is up around 10 degrees (from 25C to 35C). The CPU heatsink still feels cool to the touch.

Something that occurs, when I disassembled it I could see the thermal grease was well distributed, but how do I know whether the CPU is being cooled properly or not. My criteria so far is the CPU heat sink isn't heating up even a little, which it would do if the CPU was getting warm, even if it wasn't making good contact.

I'm going to let it burn in for 24 or so hours on the BIOS page, then move onto the next step.

I might try getting a SATA drive to see if that could be it, the IDE drive in this computer is basically an afterthough, something thrown in to drive the optical drive.

 

Its not really gonna get warm in bios,I would remove the CPU fan from the heatsink but leave it connected see if the heatsink gets warm and just put a tiny spot of thermal grease on the heatspreader the size of a large grain of rice to see how far it spreads,should spread to about a half inch circle if contact is good.

If the motherboard has a chipset HSF you might want to check its seated correctly,another basic thing check is that no brass standoffs are stuck behind the motherboard

I know your an experienced builder I'm just popping these out just incase

 

What is a HSF? High Speed Fan? The heat sink I have has a massive custom fan that runs pretty slow, and a massive copper heat sink that makes a large area of contact with the CPU. I like the new architecture, mechanically wise. I've always thought the older athlon/duron/semipron foot print was basically too small for efficient heat transfer.

I thought about the brass standoffs, I installed them by hand, and the motherboard has a large grounding area around the mounting holes, so I'm pretty sure that's not it. I also put rubber bumpers below all the IDE / FD / power supply connectors to help prevent excessive flexing of the mother board when I connectorize it.

I understand what you are saying about the CPU not being loaded under BIOS. This chip has a feature that shuts it down to a slow mode when it isn't in use. I'm still leaning toward IDE not being compatible as the main drive interface somehow. So far it has run for over 5 hours. The other think I noticed early on, is that trying to format the drive (again, and again, and again) it would reset on the old mother board. MaxBlast 5 has 2 modes, full and safe. I have no clue what that means, but I used the safe mode this time around to flatline the drive.

 

hsf=heatsink fan

 

Is it booting properly from the CD? Try swapping around master and slave on the CD and HD.

 

Hmmmm....

Easy enough, will try it after the burn in. Shouldn't matter, but what the heck.

I also did something I should have done earlier, I posted a trouble ticket at the ECS website.

I'll keep ya'll posted. Soooo, any takers on looking at the BIOS with me?