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Sometimes it works, then it won't boot.

A

AtlantaBob

Golden Member
Have a Athlon 1800XP+ in a case with a crappy PSU and an ECS motherboard (sorry, I don't know the model at the moment--wish I did!). I'm having to try and fix this from a distance, so any thoughts that you have will help:

The computer will sometimes have trouble cold booting. Nothing will be displayed on the screen, and the computer will give eight evenly spaced beeps. Anyone know what this error code indicates? After pressing the restart button a few times, the computer will boot normally into windows, with no visible problems.

It's not the video card, because the video is integrated onto the Mobo.

So, my guess is one of two things: power supply failing, or a bad memory connection.
(The thing is, no errors on the HDD that might be indicative of a bad PS).

All of this is running a Maxtor HDD and a DVD-ROM drive, with 300ish MB of RAM (PC133, I think). Any oter suggestions?

EDIT: UPDATED See Below
 
Are the caps blown? They should be perfectly flat, or even slightly concave, but not even ONE LITTLE BIT convex.

Remove ATA devices and PCI cards, and see what happens.

On boot, find out what company's BIOS they use (Phoenix, FI), and find beep codes.

Try running it at lower FSB, and see what happens.
 
Yeah, all good points. I'm going to have to look at that next time that I'm over there.
Thanks for the suggestions.

I came across one page that had AMI Bios boot codes. Looked like 8 was the key for bad video memory. Seems like that might be a possibility under these circumstances -- doesn't display anything, doesn't continue booting (e.g. no HDD activity from what I recall). Anyone know if ECS uses AMI?

 
No, no offense taken. It was cheap at the time, which was what was needed, but I've long wanted to fix those problems--especially the cheap PSU. However, it's hard to justify a new system just for Word and email. But with Dell's deals...
 
Yeah, if it's not gaming or doing anything else heavy, a cheap Dell will be fantastic. Fix it up w/ decent free AV (like Avast!), and be on your way. It really helps now that the Celeron D sucks so much less than the Northwoods. Maybe pop a RAM upgrade in so get to 512MB--even office stuff can use that now.
 
Ok, I came back and was able to look at the system today.

The thing started up fine first time I tried it. Went bad after trying to restart after a Mem-Test scan.

No blown caps.

All ATA devices taken out of it, and only 128 MB of Known-Good Kingston ValueRAM in it. Still get 8 beeps. It's an AMI Bios--which PCHell.com says is a video display problem.

Also, added in a PCI Video card (again, known good) and I still get the 8 beeps.

Reset the BIOS via jumper. Again 8 beeps.
 
Get another PSU. You won't need much. Also did you disable the onboard memory when you installed the PCI Video card?
 
I had doubted the PSU earlier, but now I'm wondering if it's not the MoBo... I suppose I'll have to dig to see if there's a good PSU around here.

I disabled what I could of the onboard memory when I installed the PCI card -- the BIOS won't let me allocate anything less than 8 MB to onboard. And there's no option to turn onboard completely off. (There might be a jumper somewhere? Don't have the manual, though).

Just booted up -- it worked for once -- and got a Novell NetReady prompt -- looked like it was trying to boot from a Lan. Never really seen that before. Anyway, that was with no ATA devices at all.

Other interesting thing. When I reset the bios, I got a memory amount error--makes sense, I did change the memory size. But also a CMOS battery low error. That couldn't have anything to do with it, right? It would just not keep any BIOS settings, and loose the date everytime it was rebooted.

Anyway, when I rebooted again, the warning dissapeared.

This is just odd.
 
Run a search in the manufacturers webpage to find the manual. That will at least help in pointing you in the right direction (Especially with on board). You can probably find the ECS model number somewhere on the motherboard. ECS "should" have a pdf manual on their website. Changing the CMOS battery is a cinch and is really cheap just match the battery at the store and swap it in. Can you give more detailed specs on what is all in this comp? OS, etc. does the mobo have an AGP slot?
 
CSCpianoman,

Sorry, been out of town. Don't have access to the computer at the moment, so I still can't get you the model number.

However, other specs:

Mobo is unknown ECS product, the Chip it an AMD Athlon 1800XP+ (can't remember the revision model, Palomino, etc. but it's whatever the hotter running chip was). RAM has been 384 MB of mixed 168-pin PC100 and PC133, running at PC100 speeds. I've swaped both sticks on RAM in and out, and tried another known good RAM stick.

It's running a PATA Maxtor HDD and a no-name DVD drive--both of which have been unplugged. Graphics were onboard at the beginning of this testing, now it's an old Number Nine PCI video card (Voodoo 3 3000, perhaps, if memory serves right.) That has worked in the machine before. Other PCI slot was fileld by a Microsoft wireless card, it's also been removed for troubleshooting. OS is WinXP Pro, SP2.

Oh, and yes, the Mobo does have an AGP slot. Only other slot is for a modem-riser/daghterboard.

Keyboard is PS2 and good. Mouse is USB.

Can't think of anything else--possible that the Mobo just decided to die one day?

 
Yeah, now I just have to find a *&@# replacement socket A Mobo--and RAM to go in it. Unless someone knows of a Socket A that takes 168 pin RAM?
 
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