hardware reboot failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jon Cortelyou
  • Start date Start date
J

Jon Cortelyou

Hi,

Recently my computer refuses to reboot properly. During a reboot, it will
reset but upon starting back up it never fully powers back up. The monitor
never gets a signal from the display adapter but I do hear brief CD-ROM and
HD spin up but nothing beyond that point.

All type of reboots behave the same way as described above:
* Pressing the HW reset button
* Resetting the box via the BIOS configuration screening
* Rebooting via Windows XP.

The machine will not boot after this point unless I switch the power supply
off in back and then power the system back on via the power switch on the
case.

The box shuts down to 'off' and powers back 'on' without a problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem and hopefully found a solution?
My motherboard is a Asus A7V8X with the most recently firmware installed.

Thanks,
Jon
 
Jon said:
Hi,

Recently my computer refuses to reboot properly. During a reboot, it will
reset but upon starting back up it never fully powers back up. The monitor
never gets a signal from the display adapter but I do hear brief CD-ROM and
HD spin up but nothing beyond that point.

All type of reboots behave the same way as described above:
* Pressing the HW reset button
* Resetting the box via the BIOS configuration screening
* Rebooting via Windows XP.

The machine will not boot after this point unless I switch the power supply
off in back and then power the system back on via the power switch on the
case.

The box shuts down to 'off' and powers back 'on' without a problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem and hopefully found a solution?
My motherboard is a Asus A7V8X with the most recently firmware installed.

Thanks,
Jon
Click to expand...

test your cases power switch, change the reset with the power switch at
the MB header
press the reset and see if boots. I know it sounds stupid but i have
recently seen a similar problem, where the on/off switch was faulty,
system powered up for a second or 2 then died.

good luck
Gordon
 
"Jon said:
Hi,

Recently my computer refuses to reboot properly. During a reboot, it will
reset but upon starting back up it never fully powers back up. The monitor
never gets a signal from the display adapter but I do hear brief CD-ROM and
HD spin up but nothing beyond that point.

All type of reboots behave the same way as described above:
* Pressing the HW reset button
* Resetting the box via the BIOS configuration screening
* Rebooting via Windows XP.

The machine will not boot after this point unless I switch the power supply
off in back and then power the system back on via the power switch on the
case.

The box shuts down to 'off' and powers back 'on' without a problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem and hopefully found a solution?
My motherboard is a Asus A7V8X with the most recently firmware installed.

Thanks,
Jon
Click to expand...

Do you have a spare PSU handy ? Try swapping out the PSU and
try another one. My theory is, your +5VSB is weak or the motherboard
is overloading it, and that is preventing a reboot.

To try to diagnose this, take the side off the computer case and
watch the green LED on the motherboard. Try to do a reboot and
see if the intensity of the LED changes during the operation.
It could be that the +5VSB (standby supply) is dropping out during
the power cycle, and without +5VSB, the power supply cannot stay
powered on.

HTH,
Paul
 
Jon said:
Hi,

Recently my computer refuses to reboot properly. During a reboot, it will
reset but upon starting back up it never fully powers back up. The
monitor never gets a signal from the display adapter but I do hear brief
CD-ROM and HD spin up but nothing beyond that point.

All type of reboots behave the same way as described above:
* Pressing the HW reset button
* Resetting the box via the BIOS configuration screening
* Rebooting via Windows XP.

The machine will not boot after this point unless I switch the power
supply off in back and then power the system back on via the power switch
on the case.

The box shuts down to 'off' and powers back 'on' without a problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem and hopefully found a solution?
My motherboard is a Asus A7V8X with the most recently firmware installed.

Thanks,
Jon
Click to expand...


Power on problems can be caused by a faulty PSU or faulty motherboard. I
would first try an borrow another PSU to see if that cures the problem, as
has already been suggested.

Secondly get a torch and open your case (power off first). Inspect the
motherboard and pay particular attention to the area around the capacitors.
You are looking for discoloured or leaking electrolyte (see the link and
picture) :-

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195

My previous computer had an Abit motherboard and a common failure was a line
of capacitors near the CPU socket would blow or leak electrolyte. It is the
switch on (after being unplugged from the electric supply) that stresses
the capacitors most.
HTH
 
Jon said:
Hi,

Recently my computer refuses to reboot properly. During a reboot, it will
reset but upon starting back up it never fully powers back up. The
monitor never gets a signal from the display adapter but I do hear brief
CD-ROM and HD spin up but nothing beyond that point.

All type of reboots behave the same way as described above:
* Pressing the HW reset button
* Resetting the box via the BIOS configuration screening
* Rebooting via Windows XP.

The machine will not boot after this point unless I switch the power
supply off in back and then power the system back on via the power switch
on the case.

The box shuts down to 'off' and powers back 'on' without a problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem and hopefully found a solution?
My motherboard is a Asus A7V8X with the most recently firmware installed.

Thanks,
Jon
Click to expand...

And I was starting to think that I was all alone in this world...I have the
same board and exactly the same problem just at the moment. I seem to
recall that I have had this problem once before and that a BIOS update
fixed it, oddly enough this started again as soon as I installed the most
recent BIOS(1014), can't rule out coincidence though. I don't think it'll
be my power supply as I changed my original 300W Sparkle to a Thermaltake
420W a few weeks before.

The last BIOS 1013 was working OK on this front, I had a small problem with
my ethernet port not working under W2k (tried reinstalling drivers), so
tried the new BIOS. I've used the Asus-update software a few times and it
has been OK, but this time it went rather pear shaped..errors on verify and
wouldn't reinstall previous BIOS either, it also trashed the BIOS boot
block...not too impressed (think I'll stick to the good old fashioned boot
floppy). Thankfully a replacement chip was cheap, but I'm now a little wary
about flashing it back to 1013 ..I fear the Asus-update software may have
scarred me for life:o). Never had a problem with a bad flash before and
need to verify where the problem is, perhaps the flashing software doesn't
like mildy overclocked mobile XPs or something.

I've not been too bothered with it really, a minor nuisance since I have to
boot into Windows once in a while. However, now I know that someone else
has the same problem I'll put some effort into looking for a solution. I'll
keep this thread marked for now.

Karl
 
Hi Paul,

I rebooted my box and kept my eye on the motherboard LED, no change in
brightness at all. Motherboard Monitor reports that my +5V is 4.89V. The
PSU itself seems to stay powered on during entire reboot process. The PSU
fans remain spinning.

Thanks,
Jon
 
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