Intermittent power failure during boot

[jlowe]

Hello,

My newly built system is suffering from intermittent power failures during boot. (System specs to follow). Often the system powers up, the fans spin up, and the boot process begins - but within a few seconds the system goes completely dead. If I keep attempting to reboot, the system eventually manages to boot successfully and seems entirely stable once it has managed to boot into Windows.

The failure happens about 75% of the time (roughly 1 in 4 times it boots successfully). The motherboard error display runs through C1 - C3 - 25 - 26 - FF - and then the system goes dead. It always fails at the same point during the boot cycle. During a successful boot, it runs through the same sequence, but then continues on past that point.

I've tried two different power supplies (Antec SmartPower SL350, and the generic 350W PSU that came with my Aspire X-Turbo case), two different RAM modules, several BIOS versions, reseating all cards & power connectors, etc. I also tried disconnecting some of the system components (DVD-ROM, cooling system) in case the problem was excessive load on the PSU. The problem persisted through all of this. I am fairly sure it isn't heat-related; the system seems to be running at comfortable temperatures and seems stable if it can get through the initial boot.

System specs: Epox 8KDA3J, 512MB SimpleTech PC3500, Athlon 64 3200+, Maxtor 250GB hard drive, Samsung DVD-ROM, Kingwin Arctic Liquid cooling, SB Audigy 2 ZS, GeForce 4 MX420 (standing in till new graphics card arrives), Antec 350W PSU.

Epox support suggest that the problem is with the power supply (even though the problem appeared with both power supplies that I tried). Before I spend more money on yet another power supply, I'd greatly appreciate a second opinion from the folks on this forum and a suggestion for a good PSU.

Thanks!

 

[Mem]

reseating all cards & power connectors, etc. I also tried disconnecting some of the system components (DVD-ROM, cooling system) in case the problem was excessive load on the PSU. The problem persisted through all of this.

Interesting problem you`ve since I was thinking heat or PSU problem, I guess it`s possible your Antec 350w does not have enough for power for your Athlon 64 rig for cold boot ,however being a quality PSU should be enough IMHO ,you could try booting the motherboard out of the case to see if you get the same problem to rule out any chance of any minor shorting.

Only way to rule out PSU for sure is to get a higher powered quality PSU like Antec 430w etc....

Have you tried a different IDE cable for your HD?

 

[Ryoga]

Remove power/disconnect everything except the CPU, video card (use on-board instead of AGP if you can, or use a slower PCI or AGP card if that's available -- the GF4 MX 420 is pretty low edn so should be OK), and one stick of RAM. Remove your PCI cards and unplug your HDD, etc. That's as low power as your system can be. The most a high-end P4 can pull is 80 Watts -- an AMD64 is going to be less than that (probably far less). A stick of PC3200 will be no more than 10 to 20 W. The mobo itself will be no more than 20 W. Older video cards pull no more than 5-15 W.

If the system boots consistently, then the problem is either with something you removed or with the PSU. If the system doesn't boot consistently, then your CPU is probably overheating.