Computer freezing on boot-up

[grrl]

System specs:
Asus A8N5X
Ultra ULT31844 X-Finity 500W
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 120Gb and 80GB drives
Athlon 64 2X 3800+
2 x 1 Gb Corsair XMS3200 Platinum RAM
XFX PV-T44F-RAMG GeForce 6500 PCIe16
Plextor and Benq drives
Adaptec SCSI card
Audigy 2 ZS with breakout box


My system recently started freezing occasionally on startup. The system ran flawlessly for over year, then suddenly started freezing upon boot-up - right after the ACPI entry in BIOS. I get no diagnostic beeps. Sometimes only one reboot is required, other times as many as 20. The problem is more likely after the computer has been run for a long time. However, it doesn't matter if the computer is off for a minute or a day before rebooting. Once the computer is running I have no problems of any sort.

I've done everything I've read I should do:

reset the CMOS
swapped the PSU
swapped HDs (I used a 3rd drive alone)
removed and reset all the expansion cards and the CPU
the RAM has been tested and both sticks have been used singly, but I haven't been able to swap them with different sticks

It has still frozen with both optical drives, the SCSI card and sound card removed and no flash drives attached.

Since the RAM passed the tests, I'm assuming the problem is either the mobo or CPU, but if that is the case, why does it run without crashing? And is there any easy way to test either part? I did a visual check of the mobo and found no blown components or bloated caps.

 

[kTriNity]

1.Try Running your anti-virus program and check for some viruses.
2. Check to see if you have spy wares too.
3. When was the last time you clean installed Windows.
4. It might be programs that's been running in the background that draining all of your memory
5. Are you running your HD in RAID?
6. It could be you're PSU failing.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: kTriNity
1.Try Running your anti-virus program and check for some viruses.
2. Check to see if you have spy wares too.
3. When was the last time you clean installed Windows.
4. It might be programs that's been running in the background that draining all of your memory
5. Are you running your HD in RAID?
6. It could be you're PSU failing.

#1-3 the problem remained after a reinstall of Win 2K and an upgrade to XP. I've also scanned both systems at least once.

4 - I don't believe anything runs in the background until Windows starts up - the system always freezes at the BIOS screen.

5 - No, the second drive is the IDE2 primary.

6 - I've used two different PSUs. The main one is 500w and only 2 years old, plus I have no problems once I'm in Windows.

 

[boomerang]

Check for leaking or bulging capacitors. IMO, it's the motherboard.

You've pretty much narrowed it down to that. There is every possibility that you will never determine the true problem with the mobo.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Check for leaking or bulging capacitors. IMO, it's the motherboard.

You've pretty much narrowed it down to that. There is every possibility that you will never determine the true problem with the mobo.

I've checked and all the caps are fine. My suspicion too is it's the mobo. It looks like I may have to upgrade sooner than I planned. :disgust: