PC not booting, beep, fans start, hd starts, no vid, no boot

[mdcrab]

I am running a Soltek SL-75FRN2-L w/ AMD XP2700+, 2 sticks of 256K Buffalo SDRAM, G-Force 4 Ti4200-8x vid card, Windows XP Pro OS. When powered on all fans start, faint beep, hard drive starts to crank up. Then everything stops, screen never lights or comes out of sleep mode. Originally could power up a few times and after a few tries the screen would lite up and system booted.

So far I have tried swapping out vid card, testing PS w/ PS tester, removing and swapping SDRAM. Still no boot. PS is an Enermax EG365P-VE. I think it might be CPU, but it was not OC'd and temps were good last time I checked. Problem occurs if system is cold or running in semi-boot state. USB mouse lights. Running PC on a KVM, but does not seem to matter if switch is set for this PC or other.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

mdcrab

 

[mechBgon]

1) When you say "everything stops," do you mean that the fans turn off again and the drives power down? Or do you mean that they stay running, the drives stay running, but it gets no further into the POST process?

2) Do you have another good-quality power supply you can test with?

3) What has changed since the system worked normally, or did it ever work normally?

4) What speed is the RAM rated for, and what speed and voltage is it set to in the motherboard's BIOS?

 

[mdcrab]

1.) When everything stops, the fans & cold cathodes stay running, HD light is off and it gets no further into the POST process?
2.) Have a new "Austin" 450W PS that I took out of another case. The Enermax tested OK with PS tester, single beep, all leds green.
3.) System worked normally for a long time, then gradually it would not boot all the way on first try and gradually got worse.
4.) SDRAM is PC3200 Winbond CH-5

mdcrab

 

[mechBgon]

Power-supply testers are not a substitute for live-fire testing IMO. Intermittent-POST scenarios often end up being a PSU problem. If you can't resolve the problem, consider a new high-quality PSU like another Enermax, Antec, Fortron... the Austin is from the Deer/L&C family IIRC, I would be leery of using that for anything I cared about (sorry, I'm bad that way ).

Before doing that, see if you can get into the BIOS and set the memory to run at PC2700 speeds to sync to your CPU's FSB (this gives better performance than having the RAM out-of-sync with the CPU, despite the lower memory speed). Also set the memory voltage to at least 2.6 volts since it's DDR400 / PC3200.

Your motherboard might be failing too. It can happen. Anyway, good luck with the troubleshooting, and if you want some more brainstorms, here's a document that has some more ideas for you.

 

[mdcrab]

mechBgon,

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately I do not think I can reset BIOS as I have no video, but will rest them when I get system back up. May go ahead and get new PS. I didn't use the AustinPS as it has a single fan and appeared to be a cheap PS. I replaced it with a Thermaltake that was on sale at Newegg (in another system) It had good reviews plus it's quiet. Thanks again.

mdcrab

 

[mechBgon]

I don't have the manual for your Soltek (although I have more than 160 others :Q). Look in the manual and see if it has a "safe-mode" jumper that brings it down to 100MHz bus speed, if you want to get into the BIOS. If the PSU is beginning to get flaky, unplugging all power-draining items temporarily may help you get into the BIOS too, but at that point, why bother... it's a PSU problem in that case

 

[mdcrab]

Power-supply testers are not a substitute for live-fire testing IMO. Intermittent-POST scenarios often end up being a PSU problem. If you can't resolve the problem, consider a new high-quality PSU like another Enermax, Antec, Fortron... the Austin is from the Deer/L&C family IIRC, I would be leery of using that for anything I cared about (sorry, I'm bad that way ).

Before doing that, see if you can get into the BIOS and set the memory to run at PC2700 speeds to sync to your CPU's FSB (this gives better performance than having the RAM out-of-sync with the CPU, despite the lower memory speed). Also set the memory voltage to at least 2.6 volts since it's DDR400 / PC3200.

You were right on about PS testers.

New PS arrived today from Newegg. Ordered a SilverStone Tech. 400W Super Silent Power Supply w/ Active Power Factor Correction (PFC), Model, "SST-ST40F" -RETAIL. I know this isn't a name brand, but it had several good reviews, plus I wanted a quiet PS. The first time I powered it on the system booted right up. Has been working fine and it is super quiet. I now can hear my front 80 mm case fans, a Vantec Stealth and a Panaflo LA1. May have to get a fan controller.

Also I originally set my BIOS so the memory and CPU are on the same speed 166 MHz.

Thanks for your help mechBgon.

 

[mechBgon]

That's good news