found the problem.
I am using an alpha pal8045 with a panaflo fan. The panaflo does not have rpm sensing and the dragon+ shuts down when this occurs to protect the cpu!
I had tried re-seating everything and even swapped the video card. I was rechecking the jumper settings when I stumbled on this in the manual. Remember "If all else fails, read the manual"
Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, the soyo beep page did not mention this case. I'll email them to add it.
;D ;D ;D