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Strange Boot Issue

T

Toilet Duck

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
190
First off, the specs I guess:
DFI nf4 Ultra-D
A64 3700+ SD
Connect3d x800xl
XP Professional + SP2, now fully updated.
Zone Alarm / Avast AV / Spybot S&D / AdAware

Most of that information probably isn't necessary. Here's the problem: Whenever I shut down this new computer for a while (say, 1-2 hours) and then boot, Windows XP will crash 80+% of the time before reaching the login screen. It will then boot to the "Select Boot Type" or whatever screen. However, the countdown for making a boot selection is either freezing at 26 or whenever I press a key, not sure which. To make things stranger, I can only select "Start Windows Normally"... arrow keys don't appear to be working. Might be a USB keyboard thing, there.. yet the Enter key works. Heh.

The strange part is, after that 1 "hiccup" per boot, everything runs flawlessly. No errors/crashes/bugs or anything. I can turn off the computer and immediately turn it back on with no problems. Reset works fine as well. The problem only occurs in the comp is powered down for a long period of time.

The only thing I can think of is that my processor is running suprisingly cool.. cool enough that half of the time the fan isn't even running if I'm looking at BIOS (or, rather, is getting so little power that you'd have to tap it to make it start spinning). It's not broken, though.. since it spins at full speed right when I boot/is keeping the proc <=40ish while gaming. Maybe Windows is stopping itself because it thinks the fan on proc isn't operational? Nah, that seems strange. Oh, wait.. there is one other thing. This mobo came with NV Firewall/Ntune/etc... but I have the NV Firewall and Windows Firewall currently disabled.. so that shouldn't be causing conflicts.... hrmm..

Anywho, suggestions will be appreciated.
 
Sounds like there's a part somewhere that has issues when cold, but once it heats up it's fine. That's not an uncommon problem with electronics, the characteristics of devices change when they warm up, and that can "fix" intermittent issues.

The problem is finding where the problem is. I'd start by pulling everything you can (leave the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, hard drive, and a different video card, if you have one). See if it keeps happening. If so, try swapping one of the parts that's left, if possible. If not, add things back in 1 at a time and see when it starts again. Unfortunately, you have to wait 1-2 hours between tries.

That's the best I can think of. You might look and feel around for loose components on the mobo or a loose connection somewhere (also very common).
 
Blarg, I guess it's worth tinkering around with.

Although, I can honestly say I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be annoyed that a comp was running too cold...
 
Wow, you just described my problem EXACTLY. I am experiencing the very same issue, although my hardware is quite different.

I'm running:

ASUS A7N8X (latest 1009 BIOS that my rev 1.04 board allows)
AMD AthlonXP 3200+
1GB DDR333 PC2700 RAM (3 sticks, a 512MB and two 256MB, all Crucial Value RAM)
ATI Radeon 9800XT (official Catalyst 5.6 drivers)
WD 120GB 7200rpm hard drive (master)
WD 40GB 7200rpm hard drive (slave)
Audigy 2 ZS

I've tried all sorts of things to fix it. I originally thought maybe it was a hard drive dying. I unplugged the slave altogether and the problem persisted. I switched the power connectors to both hard drives (the ones from the power supply) thinking maybe they were faulty. No luck. Replaced the ATA cable. No luck. Ran Memtest86, RAM checked out OK.

I even replaced tyhe 3volt CR2032 battery on the motherboard, but that didn't help either. BIOS updates didn't help and I'm currently running the latest BIOS my A7N8X (being pre-rev2.0) can support.

I'm stumped...I just don't have a clue what the problem is or where to go. I'm not entirely sure how much trouble it'd be to test the master hard drive...since that's the one with Windows XP (SP2 by the way) on it.

So...uh...you're not the only one. Seeing as how it cropped up after my system had been working fine with no hardware changes or major software changes for 5-6 months, I'm really thinking something internally has failed or is about to fail...I'm getting worried.
 
Well, I think I managed to fix the problem.

I uninstalled Nvidia's nTune/Network Access Manager that came with the mobo, and then went to the DFI site and downloaded the latest chipset drivers (something like 653 instead of 637). After installing those/removing the utilities, I had my first successful one-try boot since the problems began.

I'll post again later if it keeps working/fails.. and if it keeps working, I'll try installing the latest version of those utilities from the DFI site to see if it was just pooped chipset drivers. Then again, this room is also a little warmer now (remodeling so attic was just opened up) so if heat (or lack thereof) was the issue, it isn't anymore.
 
Toilet Duck said:
I'll post again later if it keeps working/fails..
Click to expand...

Cool. I've already installed the latest chipset drivers from nVidia (the ones on the ASUS site are dated sometime in 2003...) and I don't have those utilities installed in the first place. Maybe I'll try the older chipset drivers just for kicks.
 
Well, this makes 2 "cold" boots in a row that this thing's successfuly completed. On top of that, it seems to be booting a little faster.. or maybe that's just a placebo stemming from my excitement.

Either way... it seems to be doing all right now. I'll re-install nTune at least by the end of the day... will edit this post instead of continuously bumping this not-so-significant issue ;)

But, sorry to hear you're still having problems Scudo. The only things I can of are the three sticks of RAM (which really shouldn't be a problem), or the HD "drivers". I had to go download some Data Lifeguard thing off of the WD site to get my 300gb to appear.. but if yours are already running that shouldn't be a problem... meh.

Hmm.. come to think of it, I mighta ran Tweak XP 4, too. I can't recall what settings I messed with, though..
 
Hmm...well thanks for trying to help. I've been meaning to upgrade to just two sticks of PC3200 ram in dual channel...but since I'm not sure whether I'll be making the jump to DDR2 when I do the eventual upgrade, I've been putting off investing in any more ram.

I just finished doing a format of both hard drives, so if the problem persists at least I'll be able to rule out most software issues.
 
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