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(I'm posting this in the OS, Motherboard, Intel Processors, and Cases & Case Modding forums since I'm not sure what category this falls into.)
By "snowball effect", I mean no problem turning into a small problem turning into a potentially much bigger problem.
Short version: My system (seemingly) randomly turns off for ~3 seconds, then, by itself, powers itself back on. The times this seems to happen most are when I'm in the middle of loading Windows from one of my hard drives.
Long version: Here's the story so far: Gigabyte DS3-965P (or whatever its model number is), Intel E6400, X1950 Pro (not the problem), 2GB of OCZ RAM (not the problem), multiple hard drives, and an Antec P180B. A couple weeks ago, I had a working rig (not this one) that I had agreed to sell to my mother, the money from which I used to purchase the stuff for this new rig. In that rig were three hard drives: a 40GB ATA-133 (which I used for small programs and OS), and two other drives, a 120GB ATA-100 and a 250GB SATA-150, both of which I used for larger programs and all my media. These seem to be fine. My plan was to buy a new hard drive (an 80GB SATA-150, which I did purchase), completely copy over everything from my 40GB drive (which I would put back into my old rig for my mother to use), and continue where I had left off before. After a little consternation involved with realizing I didn't have the right power cable for my Radeon, I got all that sorted out, and powered on my new rig for the first time, my 40GB and 80GB drives completely connected. Windows loaded the drivers for my new hardware, I logged in, and I then proceeded to use an old Maxtor utility program I had to completely copy over everything from my 40GB to my 80GB. At the end, I got a message saying a couple files couldn't be moved over, including pagefile.sys (the big one that stores your virtual memory) and some random one in System Volume Information (some change.log file). No problem. I powered down Windows, took out my 40GB, and put in my 120GB, so I could have everything in order for me to use. Then, much to my surprise, when I logged in, I didn't even get to my desktop before Windows seemingly logged me out. Strange. I tried it again, with a different account, and the same thing happened. Hmmm... I then turned off the computer, took out my 40GB, and put in my 80GB. This time, I didn't even get to the log-in screen before Windows stopped loading, the system halted, then powered down, then turned back on around three seconds later. Also, when I tried to install my Dell OEM copy of MCE 2005 as a stopgap, the disc stopped loading halfway through the boot process, due to something about not being able to find a file (I don't know where the file would have been- on the CD or on a RAM drive the computer temporarily made for the install). The only disc I've been able to boot successfully with is my copy of BartPE, and I'm not sure what I can do there to help fix my problem. Safe mode does the same thing, rebooting halfway through loading. I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, since even though it spans multiple hard drives, I tried to copy the image of one to the other. One other thing I don't know with this issue is if the whole "shut down, wait 3 seconds, and start up again" thing is standard reset procedure for either the P180 or the 965P. There's a whole lot I don't know on this, as it's my first Intel rig, and it makes it that much worse since it was working before. You guys always seem to come through (and thanks for reading this far), so thank you in advance. Right now, though, I'm going to bed. I'll answer any questions you have in the morning.
By "snowball effect", I mean no problem turning into a small problem turning into a potentially much bigger problem.
Short version: My system (seemingly) randomly turns off for ~3 seconds, then, by itself, powers itself back on. The times this seems to happen most are when I'm in the middle of loading Windows from one of my hard drives.
Long version: Here's the story so far: Gigabyte DS3-965P (or whatever its model number is), Intel E6400, X1950 Pro (not the problem), 2GB of OCZ RAM (not the problem), multiple hard drives, and an Antec P180B. A couple weeks ago, I had a working rig (not this one) that I had agreed to sell to my mother, the money from which I used to purchase the stuff for this new rig. In that rig were three hard drives: a 40GB ATA-133 (which I used for small programs and OS), and two other drives, a 120GB ATA-100 and a 250GB SATA-150, both of which I used for larger programs and all my media. These seem to be fine. My plan was to buy a new hard drive (an 80GB SATA-150, which I did purchase), completely copy over everything from my 40GB drive (which I would put back into my old rig for my mother to use), and continue where I had left off before. After a little consternation involved with realizing I didn't have the right power cable for my Radeon, I got all that sorted out, and powered on my new rig for the first time, my 40GB and 80GB drives completely connected. Windows loaded the drivers for my new hardware, I logged in, and I then proceeded to use an old Maxtor utility program I had to completely copy over everything from my 40GB to my 80GB. At the end, I got a message saying a couple files couldn't be moved over, including pagefile.sys (the big one that stores your virtual memory) and some random one in System Volume Information (some change.log file). No problem. I powered down Windows, took out my 40GB, and put in my 120GB, so I could have everything in order for me to use. Then, much to my surprise, when I logged in, I didn't even get to my desktop before Windows seemingly logged me out. Strange. I tried it again, with a different account, and the same thing happened. Hmmm... I then turned off the computer, took out my 40GB, and put in my 80GB. This time, I didn't even get to the log-in screen before Windows stopped loading, the system halted, then powered down, then turned back on around three seconds later. Also, when I tried to install my Dell OEM copy of MCE 2005 as a stopgap, the disc stopped loading halfway through the boot process, due to something about not being able to find a file (I don't know where the file would have been- on the CD or on a RAM drive the computer temporarily made for the install). The only disc I've been able to boot successfully with is my copy of BartPE, and I'm not sure what I can do there to help fix my problem. Safe mode does the same thing, rebooting halfway through loading. I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, since even though it spans multiple hard drives, I tried to copy the image of one to the other. One other thing I don't know with this issue is if the whole "shut down, wait 3 seconds, and start up again" thing is standard reset procedure for either the P180 or the 965P. There's a whole lot I don't know on this, as it's my first Intel rig, and it makes it that much worse since it was working before. You guys always seem to come through (and thanks for reading this far), so thank you in advance. Right now, though, I'm going to bed. I'll answer any questions you have in the morning.
