K_wor said:
I have just upgraded my system with the following spec:
Abit NI8-SLi GR S775 PCI-E mobo
Pentium 4 640 Socket 775 2mb 800FSB
Gainward GeForce 6800GS 512MB GDDR3 TVO
Corsair VS 1GB DDR2 240P
With exisiting hardware
Creative Live soundcard
Western Digital 80GB HDD
Pioneer DVD
When I try to boot, it goes through POST ok but then resets itself and
continues to do so unless power is turned off. I have cleared CMOS.
The only thing I can see that might effect it is the Mobo has a 24 pin
ATXPWR1 but my power unit has an older 20 pin type. The manual say this
is ok...?
Any ideas?
I would be surprised to find that a 20-pin connector is OK for a 24 pin
mainboard. But if the Abit manual says that it's OK, then there are a few
possibilities:
1) I believe your processor requires an extra 4-pin power connection to the
mainboard (aside from the 20/24 pin power connection). Is that connected?
2) If all power connections on the mainboard are confirmed to be GOOD
according to the Abit manual, it's possible that your power supply is too
weak. A power supply that is too weak can cause a system to reboot or hang
shortly after POST, which sounds exactly like what your system is doing. As
your system is SLI capable, you will need a MINIMUM of 450-500W power
supply, and that's assuming that the power supply is a good name-brand like
fortron/sparkle, enermax, seasonic or ocz. If you've got an off-brand power
supply 500W or less, it's probably lacking the required amps on at least one
voltage rail (by design, sadly). Or it could just be that the power supply
is failing. That is, a GOOD name-brand power supply of 600W or better
(overkill, usually) might still be too weak, if it was defective.
3) There is a known compatibility problem between certain P4 class Intel
processors and Windows XP service pack 2. This firmware bug can cause
system to constantly reboot right after POST. I doubt if this is what you
are seeing, as the real cause of the problem is improperly programmed BIOS.
It looks like your mainboard is fairly new, so it would be inexcusable if
your firmware was screwed up from the factory.
4) If your hard drive had Windows installed on it before you replacd a
mainboard WITHOUT formatting the hard drive, that could easily cause your
system to constantly reboot just as it is trying to start Windows. There
are ways to cheat and NOT format the hard drive when you replace a
mainboard, but you are still rolling the dice if you don't do a complete
format and reinstall of Windows at the same time that you replace a
mainboard.
Some things to check. My best guess . . . weak power supply. -Dave
