Reboot problems

[Logical_1]

My computer has gotten to the point where it will consistently reboot itself when trying to load any version of Windows. I have tried Windows XP Pro SP1 and Windows 2000 Server SP3 and the initial setup work (DOS mode) goes fine, but as soon as they try to switch to the GUI mode, the machine reboots. This just started happening within the last couple days from a machine working perfectly well with Win 2K Server SP3. The only update was to video drivers, and now the system exhibits this behaviour with any OS installed that uses a GUI mode. Linux won't even boot on the system using a Knoppix disk I had lying around to test with. The problem seems to be motherboard related and as such this is being replaced, but other suggestions are welcomed to see if I can avoid having to do that. Systems specs are as follows: (please no useless comments about the quality of any specific hardware being the problem as this same computer has functioned flawlessly for two years now)

MSI-6321 Pro AR motherboard w/ BIOS version 11/23/2001
2x 866Mhz Intel PIII Processors
Micron 512mb PC133 SDRAM (2x256MB DIMMs)
ATI All-in-Wonder 8500DV 64MB
Sound Blaster Audigy Value OEM
Adaptec 2940UW w/ BIOS version 2.20.00
Kingston 10/100 Network Card
InWin Q500A Full Tower with 300W power supply
NEC USB2 PCI Card
Seagate 18.2GB Cheetah (3rd Gen)
Seagate 9.1GB Baracuda (2nd Gen)
Maxtor 20GB 7200RPM
Western Digital 40GB 5400RPM
2x Western Digital 60GB 5400RPM
Samsung 16X/48X IDE DVD/CD Drive
Yamaha 16x10x40 SCSI CD-RW Drive
Mitsumi 1.44 Floppy

Any suggestions would be appreciated. The following things have already been tried:
1) New memory
2) Alternating memory
3) Removing all non-essential cards (sound, USB2, LAN)
4) Trying single processor with each of the two processors
5) Unplugging non-essential drives (60GB's 40GB)
6) Disabling onboard RAID Controller, Sound, and Modem slot
7) Disabling Firewire on the 8500DV (from ATI's site)

 

[Swilo]

Me and my friend had a similar problem where his comp and his roomy's comp would just reboot as soon as the background for the login screen popped up, before the login prompt or the mouse cursor ever showed up. With both 2k pro and XP.
We tried formatting the drive, and that didn't really help. We also tried flashing the BIOS and reseating the IDE cables, this didn't help.
Eventually we wound up just rebuilding the entire thing from scratch; reinserting the CPU/heatsink, memory, drives, fans, power supply, etc. This worked.

 

[Wargasm]

will ask at work ,no clue now

 

[Logical_1]

To clarify exactly when this is happening. The reboot occurs after the DOS looking (single line of | | | | | that fills in as drivers load) section of the Windows 2000 or XP boot sequence, when the OS shows the graphical part of the loading sequence (screen that says Windows 2000 or Windows XP and has the little bar at the bottom that shows load progress) about when the computer would normally initialize the keyboard and mouse for Windows (the part of loading where the lights on the keyboard blink once).

That is when the reboot is occuring. Nothing tried so far has even helped, and Safe mode does the same thing in either OS.

 

[Unregistered]

Try disabling ACPI in the BIOS, my mom's computer used to have that issue where Windows would get stuck in an endless reboot cycle because of the power settings. I think it has to do with the BIOS revision date. Then to compound the fun her CMOS battery died, so whenever comp would reboot, you'd haveta go into the BIOS and toggle it off again. If this is the case, you might also try flashing your BIOS to the latest version, then maybe reinstalling Windows so that it installs the proper ACPI dlls.

-- Magickian, because I'm too lazy to login

 

[Logical_1]

Magic, that's something I haven't tried yet, but why would it start showing up now after running good for 2 years?

 

[Swilo]

y2k2?
^.^

Possibly because something in your comp is about to smoke and isn't getting along with ACPI any more.

 

[Unregistered]

Try win9x, bet it'll work like a charm My name is HAL, the Windows NT nazi. No Windows for you!

You also mentioned replacing most everything, except the video card. Maybe your video drivers decided to flash your card with the most up to date uber beta BIOS that couldn't pass a QA team consisting of one individual, and now whenever anything besides mode 3 gets issued, it gets angry.

I'll still blame ACPI as the culprit for the time being though, maybe your CMOS checksum got erased in a freak occurance and that angered the "workaround" you used 2 years ago to get the machine to run (AKA you found out that if you disabled ACPI 2 years ago it'd work heh).

As far as linux boot disks not running, I don't trust them unless they're fresh. Many root/boot disks I've used in the past have either not worked, or decided to abuse my name and just say "Bad magick".

-- Magickian, because I'm too lazy to login

 

[Logical_1]

ACPi had always been enabled on the machine. The vid card was not replaced as it is a new card that functioned fine for a week with no issues and then updating the drivers has cascaded into this list of problems. The drivers didn't overwrite the VESA BIOS or any other portion of the cards memory (Win2K doesn't allow direct hardware access in most cases, remember?). This isn't a linux boot disk in the normal sense, but rather a full implementation of Linux with XWindows, etc that runs entirely from CD (www.knoppix.de), and even that wouldn't run on the comp like it has before when I've run it.

Ben

 

[Unregistered]

Ring 0

-- Magickian, because I'm too lazy to login

 

[Logical_1]

yep, that sounds about right.

 

[Unregistered]

some person at work mentioned something bout the power supply .
it sounds like when the gui get's activated and not get's enuff juice.

i mean you running alot of stuff in that puter and 300 Watt is rather light .
i would try a 400 Watt to tackle the problem


Wargy
to lazy to register

 

[Logical_1]

Hence the reason I removed all non-essential devices to test that theory.

 

[LT.Homer Simpson]

Have you tried resetting the bios back to default settings.

 

[Logical_1]

yep, tried that, but forgot to add that to the list of things tried. BIOS was last updated about 6 months or so ago to most current stable version.

 

[Wargasm]

i still bet that it is the power supply
and it makes sense in a way all ports get equal power .
it is not when u remove 3 pci cards number 4 get's all the power from the other 3 or so . It should supply however enuff power to all the cards when removed .

If that power supply bin running at full speed in my eyes being to light and bin running for 2 years (prolly 24/7) i would not be suprised it got a little corrupt and not distributing the power correct anymore . This also fits the theory that when the vidcards comes into the area (gui) where the vidcard prolly needs more juice and blam reboots .

Those radeons need quite some power . My whole theory wouldbe shot to hell if you added a simple 8 meg agp card and it works . Why did u not try with another vidcard yet ?

 

[Logical_1]

Don't have a spare vid card to try with right now. As far as it being the power supply, it is new as of about a year ago. And for the cards, they determine how much power they get when plugged and thus if they are not plugged in, the draw on the power supply is less. A slot only gets power when it has something to determine how much power it gets. And, it loads part of the GUI (second Win2K screen that has the GUI with the bar on it, or second WinXP screen that has the logo in the middle and the small scrolling block of blue bars at the bottom) before it reboots.

Ben

 

[Wargasm]

well we gonna find out hehehe

 

[Logical_1]

New board due in on Friday to replace the one I have with a slightly more updated one (no onboard audio, but onboard firewire).

Ben

 

[Logical_1]

Update 11/28/02

OK, I completely disassembled the entire system and rebuilt it for better airflow and also to check all connection and remove some dust. Besides the motherboard problems, I am also leaning toward some issues with the power supply as well (guess I can be wrong sometimes too, Wargy). The system restarts itself as it initializes devices for the OS. Some drives won't even spin up and I think that this is because they can't get enough power to start, so I'm looking at a 350 or 400W power supply to upgrade the 300W power supply I have since I have 6 hard drives, a floppy, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, and all slots on the board full.

Ben