Reboot Issue with an old EPoX board

[Jila]

Had this issue for a while now with the Mobo/CPU combo. I say that because everything else has been replaced as this motherboard and processor have seen different cases, power supplies, memory, HD, video cards, etc. Anyway the problem I have is simple, upon rebooting or shutting down the computer the, the computer will not boot back up. In order to reboot the machine you have to power it down and leave it powered down for anywhere from 20min to 2 hours before it will boot back up. If you try to boot it back up before its ready to boot, it will light the CD-ROM light on the master 1 IDE channel, and leave it lit. HD does not spin up, lights on the mobo come on, but no number/letter is displayed on the LCD on the motherboard, monitor stays in its power saving state. Unplug evertyhing you want, still wont boot. Let it sit for a while, usually about an hour. Turn it back on, and presto, boots right up quick and nice. This problem started when it was my fathers computer. I built him a new one for his birthday and inherited this one. Im using it for a spare/fun computer right now, and this annoyance drives me crazy sometimes. Ive done everything I can think of to fix it, Im just posting here to see if others can shed some light for me or give me an idea I didnt think of.

Current system specs:
EPoX 8KHA+
AMD Athlon 1700
Kingston ValueRAM 512MB DDR266 (PC2100) x 2
PNY Geforce FX5500 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card
LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD
SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM
Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Steel
3Com 905B Nic
Zalmon 400w PSU
WD 120GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

Items replaced or tried spare known good item.
All Cables
Power Supply
RAM
Hard Drive
Video Card
CD/DVD Drives

 

[yankee427]

Wow, just thought the problem I was having with the 8rda+ was with my epox motherboard. I have exactly the same problem as you are having. If something happens and it reboots or you do a hard shut down, you hit the power switch and it starts to turn on and then nothing. If you press the power button too soon before its ready to be turned on fully, you have to wait the good half hour all over again.

I have an amd athlon 1700 also, so maybe its just the CPU with that motherboard that is the problem, because I have also swapped out hard drives, power supplies, everything else and nothing changed.

 

[Peter]

You both may want to check the large electrolytic capacitors around the processor. Look for bulging tops and bottoms as well as leaks.
The boards have about the "right" age to suffer from the counterfeit electrolyte affair roundabout 2001.

 

[yankee427]

Peter, yeah that is one of the issues I was thinking also. At work I am a desktop technician and we recently replaced a lot of dell motherboards with that same problem. The capacitors were all bulged out and yellow crap coming out of them.

Guess will have to check for the bulges and get a new one if thats the problem.