what. the. fvck. - HELP!!!!!!

[wfbberzerker]

im trying to reformat my computer after putting in a new motherboard, and when i load the windows xp setup, after its finished loading the drivers, the computer shuts down. it doesn't just turn off, its as if the computer performs a shutdown. i've already rma'ed the mobo once, and the new one still does this. what the hell is going on?

here's the stats:

-ecs km400-m2 motherboard
-512 mb pc2100 ram
-athlon t-bird 1.33ghz
-maxtor diamondmax 40gb hard drive
-onboard video & sound
-sparkle 300w PSU

 

[imported_Kensai]

PSU?

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: Kensai
PSU?

oh right, its a sparkle 300w.

 

[blure007]

could this be a heat issue?

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: blure007
could this be a heat issue?

i dont think thats the problem, when i check the temp in the bios, its at about 31c. also, i can leave it on in the bios and it wont shut down, but as soon as i load the windows setup, it shuts down after loading everything. even if i reset it before it shuts down and check the bios temp, its not abnormal.

also, i changed a few options in the bios, and then tried it again, only this time it froze after it finished loading the drivers, instead of shutting down.

someone please help! i really dont know what to do here.

 

[wfbberzerker]

bump!

 

[AMDCrazy]

Corrupted Windows disk/scratched? Hard drive going bad? Everything seated tightly?

 

[Fern]

Prolly wouldn't hurt to run memtest overnight to rule out ram problems.

Didn't leave any extra brass standoff's under the mobo when you installed it, did you?

 

[imported_camix]

Sounds like bad RAM. Could also be a device that Windows isn't liking. Try different RAM or one RAM module at a time, if you have more than one DIM. Test to see if it's a particular DIM causing your problems. If it's not the RAM try unplugging all your PCI devices and see if it's a device causing the problem. I've also had a bad hard drive do this to me so try another HD last. Good luck, hopefully it's just a bad DIM!

 

[wfbberzerker]

bump!
still no dice... it either freezes after windows xp setup loads, or it performs a shutdown. when it finishes loading the drivers at the winxp setup, the keyboard leds flash once, the light on my usb mouse turns off then on, then the screen turns off and on, and the screen changes to the first menu. then i hear the sound of my cd-rom drives turning off, then the computer turns off. its the same thing i see when i perform a shutdown from windows.

 

[w00t]

my guess is ram. it goes to load up windows and ram is bad so it shutsdown.

edit: try using some diff ram or using 1 stick at a time.

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: w00t
my guess is ram. it goes to load up windows and ram is bad so it shutsdown.

edit: try using some diff ram or using 1 stick at a time.

well, i've tried 3 diff sticks of ram, but i'm gonna run memtest 86 for a couple hours tomorrow and see what it comes up with.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Incompatable hardware somewhere.....

 

[wpshooter]

Have you tried resetting CMOS on motherboard ???

 

[Ike0069]

I think at this point you should try a different HDD. If you don't have another, I would buy the cheapest one I could find and try it.
Obviously it will suck if that doesn't work, but I have no other ideas at this point.

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: wpshooter
Have you tried resetting CMOS on motherboard ???

Beat me to it. Etiher reset CMOS on the mobo via the jumper, or load failsafe defaults from the BIOS.

~new

 

[OdiN]

The problem is probably that this is an ECS mainboard. ECS takes a dump on a piece of silicon and then sells it as a mainboard. The strange thing is that people actually buy them.

What brand of RAM? If it's a no-name then I would suspect that as well.

Also...that's an older Maxtor hard drive which could easily have bad sectors all over it and cause those problems.

 

[Ike0069]

I'm curious. Are you certain that you did not receive the same board back from the RMA? It's definitely not unheard of to recieve the same exact piece of hardware back from an RMA when it was supposed to be replaced.

 

[Nocturnal]

Take everything out and place the motherboard on a piece of cardboard. Put the memory, CPU, video card, hard drive and cd-rom back in lying on a flat surface. Attempt to do the install of your OS. If things continue to fail I'd check out the components and my first guess would be your PSU.

 

[OdiN]

Sparkle PSU's are excellent. I doubt it's that. I'm still saying RAM/HD/ECS Crap.

 

[wfbberzerker]

well, here's basically what happened from the beginning.
this used to be my computer, and i frequently had problems with the computer which i assume were caused by the fact that some of the voltages were off by .2v or more. so, i replaced my generic psu which came with my case with the sparkle 300w. unfortunately, the voltages remained the same (so it's my assumption that it was a mobo going bad - an epox 8k7a). however, around this time, i built a new computer, so i gave this one to my mother, and since she really used the computer only for web browsing, so things like the video card didn't draw as much power. as such, she barely had any problems with lockups. however, lately, she started having the same problems, so i decided to replace the motherboard.
*note: during this entire time, the power would frequently fudge up the ram, which i had to have replaced. however, i tried a brand new stick (never used in the computer) when i was troubleshooting this time around, so i'm pretty sure it's not ram.

so, i bought the new mobo, hooked everything up, and started having the problems i described in my above posts.

to Ike0069: no, i can't be certain that i wasn't sent the same motherboard (i ordered from newegg).

do you all think i should say screw the ecs board and go with a different one?

 

[OdiN]

I would try troubleshooting the RAM first.

BTW... a .2V variance is within acceptable specifications.

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I would try troubleshooting the RAM first.

BTW... a .2V variance is within acceptable specifications.

actually, just checking my old thread that i posted in, it was the 5v rail that was at 4.45v. i dont know how much of a difference that makes.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker

Originally posted by: OdiN
I would try troubleshooting the RAM first.

BTW... a .2V variance is within acceptable specifications.

actually, just checking my old thread that i posted in, it was the 5v rail that was at 4.45v. i dont know how much of a difference that makes.

Hmm...okay 4.45 is .55V off which is a decent amount and I would be concerned with that. Do you have a PSU tester? If not try this:

Jump the green wire and a black wire on the atx power connector with something like a paperclip and turn on the power supply without it plugged into anything. Test the 5V, etc. like that. Plug one device in at a time (with the PSU off of course) and test after you plug each thing in. If it's fine until you plug it into the motherboard then that would be your answer.

I have had an ECS board screw with the voltages before when it was plugged in.

If another device causes major fluctuations, try running without that device.

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker

Originally posted by: OdiN
I would try troubleshooting the RAM first.

BTW... a .2V variance is within acceptable specifications.

actually, just checking my old thread that i posted in, it was the 5v rail that was at 4.45v. i dont know how much of a difference that makes.

Hmm...okay 4.45 is .55V off which is a decent amount and I would be concerned with that. Do you have a PSU tester? If not try this:

Jump the green wire and a black wire on the atx power connector with something like a paperclip and turn on the power supply without it plugged into anything. Test the 5V, etc. like that. Plug one device in at a time (with the PSU off of course) and test after you plug each thing in. If it's fine until you plug it into the motherboard then that would be your answer.

I have had an ECS board screw with the voltages before when it was plugged in.

If another device causes major fluctuations, try running without that device.

well what im saying is that i had the voltage problems with my old motherboard, and this is the reason i replaced the mobo. the voltages are fine now, its the problem i mentioned earlier (the shutting down) that i'm having now. the reason i mention the voltages is because i'm wondering if it could have caused another component to get fubared, although the only components i'm still using are the hard drive, cd-rom, and ram - which i'm pretty sure i cleared from being the culprit.