Spontaneous Reboots?

[Guest]

I just got done building a new machine (using some old parts as well) and I've been having lots of trouble with it. Sometimes it doesn't want to boot (I'll hit the power button and the lights will come on but it never beeps and the video never comes up), and sometimes it will spontaneously reboot in the midst of operation (much to my frustration). I've built quite a few systems before and I've never really run into this. I'm running an Athlon 900 (200Mhz FSB) on a Soyo SY-K7ADA MB with 256MB Corsair DDR RAM. I just put in a new WD ATA-100 30GB (7200 rpm) drive which has been cleanly Fdisk'ed, formatted, and installed upon. I'm running win98SE, have an old floppy, 42x CD, and Phillips CD-RW. I also have an Nvidia Geforce2 GTS (from Creative Labs) running with the Nvidia Detonator3 drivers, a Creative SB Live! sound card, and a POS (acronymns for everyone is my motto!) GFC2204 NIC. I just put the whole thing into a brand new case (I thought it could be caused by the board shorting on something) with a 250W power supply. Sometimes it runs marvelously and other times it just craps out. I've never seen the heat on the processor get above 125 F, though. I was thinking maybe I needed a heftier power supply, but I'm reluctant to keep upgrading pieces without some input other than my own often misguided head. I'm really not sure what's causing all my issues, if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear 'em!

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a bad power supply.
I'd also try plugging it into a UPS. If the power supply is marginal (as it might be with 250W) small line fluctuations might be enough to tip it.

Also, try removing that SBLive card and upgrading the bios. Some VIA MB have trouble that is exacerbated by the SBLive card. It's ussually data corruption though, not reboots.


<i>Cognite Tute</i>
(Think for Yourself)<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ergeorge on 06/05/01 11:03 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jlbigguy]

Power supply. You have a lot of equipment to power with only 250 watts.

Remove all non-essentials, such as the CD, CDRW, NIC, and sound card. Then see if the system boots and is stable.

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[Guest]

For 1 u need a 300watt Power Supply...

--call it what you wish, with this machine I can make mercury flow in 3 directions at once--

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

Power Supply is an Issue for sure....but 1 think that all of you overlooked was that his CPU temp is 125 degrees F....Isn't that a bit high?? I really dont know Fernheit(sp?) as people usually express those readings in Celcious...

I had to look at a problem with a system that had a similar problem, it would just reboot on its own for no reason.....It ended up being a faulty power supply....but none the less.....could be something else also...
-MeTaL RoCkEr

Burn MF, BURN!!!

 

[jlbigguy]

125F is about 51C. He says it never goes above 51c, so temperature is not the problem. Could be cooler, but not hot enough to cause any problems.

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[lamer_gamer]

I think power supply, too (the symptoms you describe are classic for this). Everything I've read says you need to have <i>at least</i> 300w. The components you're running are quite power hungry. I'd even get more than a 300w PSU.

My brain has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lamer_gamer on 06/05/01 01:15 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[macodi]

I'd bet that the 250W PS is the problem. Your dryer probably pulls less current than all the hardware you listed above

----------------------------------------
shrimp stew, shrimp sandwich, shrimp and potatoes

 

[Guest]

I have never seen it exceed 125 F (sorry my Celsius conversion is terrible so I don't try). I have seen it do a spontaneous reboot at less than 105 F, which seems pretty low to me. My Athlon tends to run in the 110 - 120 range most of the time.
It also doesn't want to boot from time to time, which I don't think is a temperature issue. Usually if I then unplug the power supply and replug it and then try again it will get up and running alright. I was thinking it's most likely a Power Supply issue, but I had tried 2 different supplies (albeit they were the same wattage) and in the past I had a very similair system (Athlon 900, SY-K7ATA, 256MB PC100 RAM, CD, CD-RW, WD 13.2 GB HD, IBM 3.2 GB HD, Floppy drive, Geforce2 GTS, GFC2204 NIC, SB Live!) which ran just fine on the same power supply (250W).

 

[FUGGER]

yet another posterchild for "Buy Intel"

Your AMD is crap and now your paying the price of AMD ownership. GL in getting rid of that POS.

 

[Guest]

zrabbit.. strip your system to a bare minimum, and see if its stable. Try one dimm only, and use conservative bios settings. If its not stable then, you probably have a mb or memory issue.. try flashing your bios, or return your hardware.

However, I suspect it will be stable, and your psu is at fault. The fact that it doesnt boot from time to time strengthens my suspiscion. Cant you borrow a 300+W from someone ?


---- Owner of the only Dell computer with a AMD chip

 

[Guest]

>yet another posterchild for "Buy Intel"
>
>Your AMD is crap and now your paying the price of AMD
>ownership. GL in getting rid of that POS.

zrabbit, please post the resolution of your problem so we can see if fugger is right, or just talking out his a$$ as usual.

How's that list of AMD incompatible software coming Fugger. Out of those hundreds of problems you've encountered, the 10 I asked for shouldn't be to hard to come up with.



<i>Cognite Tute</i>
(Think for Yourself)

 

[Guest]

I love my AMDs, and I have never had any problems specifically with them (K6-2 500, Athlon 900, Duron 800). I am planning to pick up a 400W PS this afternoon and get everything going with that. I'll definately let you know what happens!

 

[Guest]

Having purchased and installed a new 400W power supply I am happy to report that I have not had any trouble since then with the system not booting or spontaneously rebooting (I know I shouldn't talk yet, but it seems promising so far). Thanks for all the input folks!

 

[jlbigguy]

Right on target again, Fugger.

Does AMD manufacture power supplies as well?

[sarcasm]Good advice Fugger, as usual.[/sarcasm]

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[Guest]

Glad to hear it!


<i>Cognite Tute</i>
(Think for Yourself)

 

[Guest]

I got the same problem. Nice to see the post (well, a little later: I burned a PS already). So, ¿It got completely fixed with the 400w PS?

If yes, Ill get one immediatly. Ill tryed with 300w, but still got some problems (windogs will not wake up when asleep...).

By the way: when it doesnt wants to power-on, I just turn off the PS switch, press the case power switch a pair of times, and put on the PS. Better than unpluging the mobo power, I think .