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Geek Culture / pretty sure I have a sick mobo, comments before I spend?

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Posted: 26th Dec 2004 18:36
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PC2 has stopped booting, it gets as far as the xp screen coming up, checks the drives and then reboots the `puter, it gets stuck in an endless reboot/check drives/reboot loop and I keep seeing a message right after the system test saying "Nvram updated ok", I tried changing the PSU, pulled all the drives but the HD and removed most of the PCI cards (and changed the video card) only thing I don`t have is a spare HD with an OS on it (I have two but they are blank), any suggestions?, I suspect the Mobo is terminaly ill since I noticed a week ago it had dropped back to running at 1200mhz and had to be reset in the bios and it`s dropped back 1200mhz again, the clock is erratic too, sometimes right and sometimes years out (upsets XP something chronic when it wants to update), I changed the battery but the fault remained, so majority vote, is it the mobo or the HD? (the HD is s.m.a.r.t and claims it`s ok)

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PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
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Ian T
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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 00:43
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Sounds like bad RAM to me, but it could be the mobo as well. Why haven't you tried to access your BIOS before booting to Windows?

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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 01:07
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I have, I just forgot to mention it ,I have set the cpu back to 2000mhz and checked the settings are ok, I also tried resetting to failsafe settings, either way it won`t play, just reboots, POST ram test says the rams all right (I always leave that enabled) system beeps are normal ,and the rams only a few months old anyway, I could try swapping em out and see if that makes any difference or put the old ones back in, I could also try my win98 rescue disk, format XP off the machine then install 98 to test, I will try a few more bits and go get another MOBO after the bank holiday if it won`t play.

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PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
PC2: AMD 2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra, 16 bit SB.
Mini ATX cases suck.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 01:09
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have you tried a new battery for the mobo?
couldnt hurt.


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Ian T
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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 01:39
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Certainly try swapping the RAM sticks. I'd be surprised if it wasn't them or the motherboard but it's easy to test whether it's the RAM or not. And the battery like Cattle mentioned, never had it cause a problem but I'm not terribly experienced with PCs .

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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 22:20
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amazing result!, the problem was the interface cable to the floppy drive, when I was testing I unplugged the cable from the drive but not from the MOBO, I later removed the cable while swapping primary and secondary eide cables over, system booted, swapped em back over to check that was the problem, system booted, wtf?, added back the floppy cable, system won`t boot, how the hell does a cable get to be faulty?, anyway, I removed the floppy as well as the cable (don`t use it anyway) and stuck the blanking plate back in, room for an extra HD now....hmmmm!...problem solved.

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PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
PC2: AMD 2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra, 16 bit SB.
Mini ATX cases suck.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 23:40
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sweet! so it was the battery, right?


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Mnemonix
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Posted: 27th Dec 2004 23:48
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Y-A-Y

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Posted: 28th Dec 2004 00:56
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do you ever read posts CR? , it was the floppy drive interface cable, I had tried a new battery a few weeks back when the clock was playing up, made no difference, it will be interesting to see if the clock keeps the correct time from now on (the cable is interesting, it has only the one floppy drive connector and a black plastic dongle on the end with resistors or something in it, I guess thats the problem, from what I read in my service book the dongle acts like a dummy load for the floppy drive that isn`t there and to prevent signals bouncing back from the end of the cable, guess it went wrong or had a bad connection or something.

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PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
PC2: AMD 2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra, 16 bit SB.
Mini ATX cases suck.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 28th Dec 2004 03:30
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Quote: "do you ever read posts CR? , it was the floppy drive interface cable"


duh, yeah, I was kidding (aka Sarcasm) - silly boy


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Posted: 28th Dec 2004 05:00
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groan two bites of christmas pudding and everyones a comedian , desist or I will get some aliens to visit you with some scary medical equipment, you do know what happens to cattle alone in the fields don`t you?

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PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
PC2: AMD 2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra, 16 bit SB.
Mini ATX cases suck.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 28th Dec 2004 10:34
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eeek!


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JoelJ
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Posted: 28th Dec 2004 10:37
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i like cows


I wanna ride a cow
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