Boot problems after power outage

[ScorcherDarkly]

I have a X2 3800+ system that decides not to boot after a power outage. The first time it did it was a few weeks ago. The power was out for a few minutes, so it wasn't a surge or a flicker. Afterwards the system hung at the BIOS screen. I poked around inside, reseated the RAM and the video card, blew off the dust, tried it again and it worked. Yay. This morning we had another outage, this one longer than an hour, and the computer is back to its old ways. Seeing a pattern, obviously there's something wrong. What I don't know is what it is. I built the system myself in 2006, so part failure seems plausible. Anyone have any ideas what I can try to fix it? Parts list below. Many thanks.

Athlon X2 3800+
Biostar TForce6100-939 mobo
CORSAIR 2 x 1GB 184-Pin DDR 400 SDRAM
Thermaltake 430W PSU
WD Caviar SE WD1200JS 120GB HDD

 

[Blain]

The first time it did it was a few weeks ago. The power was out for a few minutes, so it wasn't a surge or a flicker.
This morning we had another outage, this one longer than an hour, and the computer is back to its old ways. Seeing a pattern, obviously there's something wrong. What I don't know is what it is.

The power can and does "surge" when it comes back on.
My money is on your old TT power supply. ^_^
Check your MB capacitors for bulging or leaking, in case the PS let some dirty power run through.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

PSU was my guess as well. I've got another that I can hook up to try it out, I'll let ya know what comes of it.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

A new PSU didn't work. No visible damage to the mobo. No change after reseating the ram. Any more thoughts?

 

[HiME]

I'd say reset the BIOS.

 

[Blain]

Can you hear the system booting up, but just don't see anything on the screen?

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with it, but I got it to work. After switching the PSU and resetting the BIOS, I started getting the beep code for undetected video, so I pulled the video card and used the onboard graphics. Booted right up. I switched the old PSU back in to see if the video card was the source of the original problem, and the computer would boot, but about the time windows got fully loaded it would reset itself back to the BIOS screen and get stuck in a cycle, never letting me get all the way into windows. I'm planning to try the graphics card in a different computer tonight to see if the card is fried or if the pcie slot on the mobo is busted. Not sure what's going on with the old PSU. :|

Any further insights you may have are appreciated.

 

[Paperdoc]

I have a different AMD chip in an ASUS mobo - don't know if my experience is pertinent to your situation. Occasionally some disruption (e.g. a power failure) will cause a shutdown and the machine simply will not start up at all when I push the front button. But I have found that if I turn off the switch on the back of the PSU (or pull the plug from the wall) and leave it no-power for about 5 minutes then reconnect, everything works just fine again. I hypothesize that somehow the mobo BIOS chip loop that run constantly to watch for a power button push gets locked up in a loop and fails to recognize the push. Complete power-down and cold re-start seems to reset it.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

LOL, delayed double post.

 

[HiME]

Try identify and see if it is a software or hardware layer issue by running a Linux live OS, then move on from there.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I tested the graphics card in another computer, and its dead. Using onboard graphics now, appears to be working fine. Installed a brand new PSU. New set of problems.

When it boots, the comp hangs at the BIOS screen for 5-10 minutes before giving me a normal looking start-up screen listing the processor, memory, hard drives, etc. But, it also says "Floppy Drives Fail (40)", and gives options of going into system config (F8), choosing boot drive after POST screen (F9), entering the BIOS (DEL) or continuing (F1). I checked out the bios, nothing looked strange. Pressing F8 and F9 apparently don't make it do anything, as the screen just sits there. Continuing appears to work, as the boot process continues as it should normally. XP starts to boot, the screen goes dark, and the computer resets back to the bios screen. Square 1. I can't get it out of the cycle.

If I can't get this damn thing to work I'm going to use the parts as skeet to blow off steam.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I've tested PSU, graphics card and RAM, and haven't gotten any changes. That leaves processor, mobo and hard drive. Does anyone have testing methods that could help isolate the problem any further? To reiterate, my current problem is the machine hangs at the bios screen for many minutes, then reboots itself while it's loading windows. I have a brand new hard drive meant for a new build I'm piecing together, would it be worth it to install that and do a fresh install of windows to see if that does anything?

 

[HiME]

Can you try reset the BIOS and turn on the settings for performing full diagnose testing on bootup? On top of that, try take out the hard drive as it is not needed at this moment.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I'm going to be troubleshooting again tomorrow afternoon, I'll give it a shot and see what I get. Thanks for all the help!