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Computer not POSTing

polycounter lvl 19
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Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
So, my new rig is giving me headaches now.

When I leave my PC off for an extended period (overnight for example) and I go to turn it on, it doesn't quite work. When you turn on a PC, normally everything revs up for about 1-2 seconds tops, then it revs down, and you get the POST beep. Mine isn't reving down though, or reaching POST. It just sits there reving the whole time. The HDD lights are going off for about 2-4 seconds, like it's loading, but nothing ever happens. I wait until the HDD lights stop working, then I flick the power switch off/on on the PSU. Once I flick that switch and hit the case's power button, it starts up just fine, not a single problem.

I've tried unplugging the DVD drives, the GFX card and resetting CMOS. Do you guys have any ideas? I'm running a 650w psu, so power is more than adequate. Also note that if I turn the PC off and turn it back on after a SHORT amount of time (say, 30minutes), it turns on just fine.

Thanks,

Replies

  • Neo_God
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    Neo_God polycounter lvl 18
    If anything, this sounds like a power supply problem, it just might be the power supply has some bugs. I would try returning your power supply, get a new one, and if it still does it. Then there's a chance it could be a problem with your mobo.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    try disconnecting the serial or ata for any cd/dvd and see if you still encounter that problem.
  • Robert Headley
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    Robert Headley polycounter lvl 18
    You could have a low CMOS battery.. You actually turn off the PSU? The Black rocker switch? That could be it, its just a guess, but It sounds reasonable enough, I had that problem for a while, but it eventually went away, once the CMOS battery charged up from frequent usage.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
  • EarthQuake
    Seems like the faster pcs get the more fucking problems i always have. You know like they say; Mo money, Mo problems.

    Thanks for another wonderfully useless post hawken.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    I agree with the power supply and battery options. I've seen computers have weird drive activity because the CMOS battery died. I've also been seeing a lot of power supplies breaking down lately (not just dying) and causing odd problems.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I'll try these tonight then. Where can you buy a battery for CMOS? Is it just a simple watch-type battery you can buy at Target or something?

    I'll be testing it out with my 450w PSU, which I know works. I don't think it's enough to power up the full rig though, so I'll have to remove some things.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    Maybe a power supply issue. Before turning on your computer, remove the power cord and put your thumb on the ground to drain the caps. If it works, your capacitors probably aren't draining right and you need to RMA your PS.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Okay I'm a tard when it comes to that - what is the ground on the power plug? The third (round) prong above the 2 rectangular ones?
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    If it's what I think he's refering to, then yes, the round one is the ground, but that is really just a case ground. I'm not sure how that would drain the caps, but hey, if it works wink.gif

    Yeah, the CMOS battery is usually a 2032 watch battery. If you have another computer/motherboard around, you could pop it out of that also (although you risk testing with a battery with an unknown condition).
    Start with the power supply though since you already have another one. I try to go cheapest solution first wink.gif And actually, even though your system is probably best with the 650, it SHOULD be able to boot with the 450. If not, then disconnect some cdrom drives temporarily, but make sure you disconnect the IDE cables also (otherwise you'll probably get boot errors).
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Are you sure a 450w would run the rig?

    - Conroe E6600
    - GeForce 7950GX2
    - 2x 250GB SATA2 Raid0
    - Creative Audigy 2
    - dvd burner
    - cdrw burner
    - 3.5 floppy

    I'll try both tonight, for sure.
    Thanks,
  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    I'd definitely go for a higher power supply. I made sure to get a 550w and I'm running a geforce 6800 ultra. How many power cords go into the dual 7950s?
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    It should run it... I wouldn't put money on it, but I'm confident enough to suggest trying it before buying anything wink.gif Again, this is only to test the computer, not as a full time replacement. It should run long enough to see if the problem goes away.

    If anything, you may have to remove the CDRom drives while testing just so they aren't there drawing power during the boot. To be honest though, I have yet to see a computer not boot on a 400W supply, even with higher end video. That doesn't mean that a computer hasn't needed more... 'I' just haven't seen one smile.gif
  • sledgy
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    sledgy polycounter lvl 18
    I would definitely go with process of elimination. Remove all your periphs (such a cool urban word) including your HDDs and anything that is not strictly required to make your board go "beep" and see it on the screen. From there replace the PS, then start reconnecting your "periphs" wink.gif
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    The current PSU I'm using is a Thermaltake Toughpower 650w.

    Ebagg - I think if you're running 2 7950gx2's, you need a 700w PSU, though I could be wrong. I'm only running 1, so a 650w should be more than adequate.

    I'll try all of this stuff tonight, and see if that helps. Unfortuneatly, I have to wait hours between each test (unless that "ground" touch-drain trick works).

    Thanks,
  • Robert Headley
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    Robert Headley polycounter lvl 18
    I have a powersupply Recommendation.. Anything by Fortron Source or Sparkle.. same company is an excellent PSU.

    A while back, a few months ago, I got a 420w PSU from thermaltake off of newegg, and it wouldn't boot, nothing I could do would make it boot, I RMAed it, and bought a slightly more expensive Fortron, which is what I had before. Those things rock.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Well sadly, I can't RMA any more. I no longer have the original boxing that it came with.

    I've had great experience with the local store brand from CompUSA. I bought 2 of their PSU's a few years ago, and they are still going strong.

    I tried a process of elimination last night with my pc. I removed all components and started it up. It was a no go, however. Tonight I'll be trying the CMOS battery, and then swapping out the PSU. If that doesn't solve the issue, I know the mobo is toasty.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    What motherboard do you have? You never mentioned that (I think you have in the past in another post, but I don't remember which one). I'm guessing ASUS
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Yeah, it's an ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe X16 (what a mouthfull).
    I'm running the newer 0204 bios (aug 8th, I believe).
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    As you may recall in other posts, I've really been seeing issues with ASUS motherboards lately. Not to go overboard with explaining again, but I've been reading and witnessing a lot of problems relating to the chipset fans failing and thus leading to the chipset dying. I'm hoping that isn't the case in your situation and I'm not saying it is. ASUS just hasn't been impressing me lately wink.gif

    You may want to do some quick searches with your motherboard and issues... see if anyone else has a similar problem. You should still definitely check the power supply and CMOS batt, but a quick google search costs you nothing wink.gif
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I haven't seen a lot of issues with my particular mobo. This version is fanless, actually. It's all heat-pipe cooled. Conroe doesn't generate a lot of heat, afterall.
    My mobo, cpu and case all stay pretty cool. I've got 2 120mm fans, and 3 92mm fans in the case.
    I think it's definetly a PSU issue. I'll be buying a new one tonight at CompUSA, see if that helps. (also a CMOS battery).
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    Ok... I didn't look up your motherboard, so I didn't realize it was one of the fanless versions smile.gif (Good) I went fanless on my recent upgrade also. ASUS isn't the only brand I've been seeing these issues with.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    [ QUOTE ]


    Thanks for another wonderfully useless post hawken.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    you love it
    0000ae2b2lu.gif
  • Robert Headley
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    Robert Headley polycounter lvl 18
    My PSU recommendation
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

    FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.0, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail
  • Geezus
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    Geezus mod
    One thing I don't think I saw anyone recommend was checking your memory. One of your sticks may be bad, or a port may be bad. Try switching your memory around and cleaning the memory. The most common POST issues are associated with bad memory.

    As far as your CMOS battery goes, meh...doubtful, but you could try reseting it OG-Style. Flip it upside down, turn the PC on for a few seconds, turn it off, put it back in correctly...viola a reset CMOS battery.

    BTW, the chances of a CMOS battery or Power Supply being the problem of a POST issue is very unlikely.

    Also, I know you've been playin around with your cards and drives, but try running on the bare minimum. Vcard (unless you have onboard, use that), one stick of memory, one HDD. Then slowly add pieces back in. If it's a combination of things, then it's your MoBo.

    Out of curiousity, do you get the correct beep sequence when the video card is taken out and the box is powered up? It should be "beeeeeeep beep beep beep"....or is it two "beep's"? Anyhow, in most cases, if you were to take out the video card and NOT get the beep sequence, then it tells you that you have a bad MoBo also.

    Hope this helps, post how all of this worked out. GOOD LUCK!
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Thanks for the info, geezus. I'll check the beep sequence when I power down next time, and remove the GPU.
    Robert, thanks for the recommendation, but that's only 450w - I need 600w minimum. I'm running 2 hd's in Raid, 2 DVD drives and a 7950gx2. I bought a new PSU and it still did the same thing anyways, so it's not that.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    Download the ultimate boot cd ( www.ultimatebootcd.com ), run the memtest86, cpu burn in, test your HDs, etc. if they all come up clean, your mobo is probably the culprit.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I took the video card out, and got the - beeeeeeeeep - beep - beep - beep

    Windows then continued to load completely normal.
    What could possibly be wrong with the new card? I mean, it runs perfectly fine when it's started up and running. It's just the initial start-up after a period of downtime, that it struggles.
  • Robert Headley
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    Robert Headley polycounter lvl 18
    yeah.. makes it sound like a videocard problem, do you have another you can try it with, its probably PCI, in which case, most people dont have multiple PCI boards laying around to test with.

    Somevideocards, especially the PCI kind require a 5v rail.
    Check that wink.gif
  • Vailias
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    Vailias polycounter lvl 18
    Vassago.
    Double check what sequence the vid card power hookup is to the PSU. Make sure its on one of the first connectors. I had this exact same issue a few months back with my geforce 6600 desktop system.
    I only had a 400W psu, and was running into this error of not getting it to boot the first time, then turning it off, and back on and it would boot. Sometimes it took 2 or three tries.

    What it turned out to be is that my vidcard was getting insufficent power because it was not on the first molex connector, I had inadvertently swapped it a few months before, and so it took a sort of "pre charge" to get the thing up and running. After I swapped the connector the apparent boot problems stopped.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    There are 2 PCI-e power connecters. How can I tell what "sequence" they are in??
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    Check for a BIOS update maybe.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I got the newest bios, 0305.
    Valias, the card is using PCI-E power connectors, not molex plugs. How can I tell what sequence they are in the PSU, though?
  • Vailias
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    Vailias polycounter lvl 18
    replied to your pm, sorry, I had lost this thread in the sea of others. I'm not 100% sure how the PCI-E power connectors are set up, I was using an agp card on older hardware. if there is only one connector at the end of any one pci-e cable then I'm really not sure. I was thinking of serial connected molex plugs.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Okay, I've fixed the problem, yay! smile.gif

    I bought the mobo in August, which had a BIOS date of 8/8/06 pre-installed. This is the bios that worked fine at first, then started poopin' out on me. I upated the 0204 bios to the beta 0301 bios, which also had no effect at all. Today I updated to the brand new beta 0501 bios, and all is well again smile.gif
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    [ QUOTE ]
    I'd definitely go for a higher power supply. I made sure to get a 550w and I'm running a geforce 6800 ultra. How many power cords go into the dual 7950s?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    im running dual 7900 GS cards in my machine, and 400W is fine, dont get any problems at all.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    [ QUOTE ]
    I'd definitely go for a higher power supply. I made sure to get a 550w and I'm running a geforce 6800 ultra. How many power cords go into the dual 7950s?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    im running dual 7900 GS cards in my machine, and 400W is fine, dont get any problems at all.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    As I suggested earlier. I'm really beginning to wonder about the power supply requirements everyone is always suggesting. Then again, some supply makers are better than others.

    Congrats on getting the rig going Vass. Good to hear the solution didn't really involve additional cash at all smile.gif (even though you did invest into a few more parts)
  • Robert Headley
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    I'm runnin an Athlon 64 system with 2 optical drives, 4 hdds, 6600gt, 3 led fans, two cathodes, and im runnin off a 400 watt PS
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