Abit BH6 hangs all over the place. Help!

[kamb1ng]

I have an Abit BH6 1.0 and I've had it for 5 years. I just recently
upgraded (about a few months ago) to P3-650 Slot 1. I have 256 MB of
RAM (2 128-MB sticks). The BIOS is flashed the the SS version
(latest). Computer is running XP SP1 and it's been great until a few
days ago.

My computer hangs in windows after only booting up for about 5
minutes. It just stops, no errors, no nothing. I have to hit the
restart button. Now when I turn it on, sometimes it doesn't boot at
all (no memory count, no display, nothing), and sometimes it will get
into the memory count and then hangs. If I try some more, it will hang
at the windows boot process. Basically it just hangs anywhere it
wants. As always, no error message is given.

I have been running my P3 at 728 MHz (overclocked to 112 MHz) since I
got it without any problems, and I brought it down to 650 after the
problems, but problem still remains.

At first I suspected it was my HD, but then I used a different HD and
problem still presists.

CPU fans run normally and sometimes when it hangs I can open/close my cdrom drive, but sometimes I can't because it already hangs too early.

What could it be? Do I need a whole new MB? Is it the CMOS battery? Is
it the BIOS chip? Is it the CPU? RAM?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Mustanggt]

BH6 Thats brings back memorys, I dont know what your problem is but even if board ran flawless its time to upgrade that old board, great board in its day but that day is Long past, good luck

 

[klc314]

I suppose it could be coincidence, but it seems likely the CPU change must have had something to do with your problem. Have you tried switching back the the old CPU to see if the problem goes away? Or perhaps it's totally an OS problem, can you do a repair of XP to see if that fixes things? My first guess would be a heat problem, possibly the CPU overheating. You could try removing the heat sink/fan, cleaning and re-applying the heat sink compound. I'm typing this from a BH6, still in use and solid as a rock.

 

[ChefJoe]

I have an Abit BE6-II 2.0 from this era that had to go to RMA for the faulty capacitor problem. Check for any swollen or oozing capacitors because my computer would randomly reset and often have dificulty booting (blank... acted like I hadn't pressed power on) when the capacitors were leaking.

Leaky or swollen/bulging ends indicates it's time for them to be replaced.

 

[bcterps]

Have you tried a different power supply? Are all the rails on your current power supply within spec?

 

[KF]

>You could try removing the heat sink/fan, cleaning and re-applying the heat sink compound.
I think this is a good bet. I understand that P3s automatically shut themselves down when over heated. (I'm not an Intel guy.)

I don't see this mentioned on the forums, except by me: old stuff develops contact problems. Take apart any plugable item and replug it a couple of times. That often is enough to "wipe" the contacts. If you will notice, every contact is designed with a sliding entry. This is essential because corrosion is normal in an oxygen containing atmosphere. Every metallic surface is coated with corrosion. The sliding contact scrapes the insulating oxides away enough to make good electrical contact. With age, corrosion will creep into the formerly good contact.

Include the ATX power to the mobo. The CPU has a Zero Insertion Force socket, so what you do is open and close the handle several times to wipe the contacts.

I've got a very old video card that has socketed video memory. The thing cuts out when I use it. If I pull the chips out of the socket and put them back, it works.

 

[PhlashFoto]

my friend had similar problems on his BE6 board, i pulled it out, and found 2 blown caps... and a nest of some flunky stuff where the caps were... makes me want RMA the board and my own spare BE6 that is sitting in the box now

 

[FullRoast]

If you really love the BH6 and don't want to change, I have one that has been sitting on the shelf for the last 3 years that I'll send you for shipping cost. It is been used but in excellent condition (they are great boards).

 

[thatsright]

Ahhhhh the BH6 that takes me back......actually right to the next room where my now decomissioned BH6 system awaits a new Install of W2K. I had no problems with this board per se, during the last 4.5 years. Only in the last year or so my old system gave me a Shi*load of problems which I think was due to either a failing PowerSupply problem or the 7 year old video card. I'll admit, that board is great and even better when I upgraded from a Celeron 300A to a P3 750Mhz, but really the writing was on the wall and it was really time to upgrade after having soooo many problems recently with it.

Last June I upgraded to a ABIT IC7 and a P4c 3Ghz. The diffrence is light years ahead of what the BH6 was.

 

[gsethi]

damn 5 years...thats a long long time ..... i upgrade within 5 months nowadays..

anyway, i think that your board has given up...normal life time of components is not that long.....normal CPU lifetime is estimated to be ~10 years if you run it at stock speed. i would think the same about motherboards....but if you overclock, they life is drastically reduced to like 3-4 years..

i say its time for an upgrade