Strange boot problem

[jon_m_d]

I am servicing a 486DX4 that is exhibiting a strange boot error - if you cold boot after the machine has been powered down for 5 - 10 minutes, it boots fine. After a successful boot, you can warm boot from Windows 95(Start Menu>Shut Down>Restart) and it reboots fine, or you can shut down Windows (Start Menu>Shut Down>Shut Down)and hit the Reset button at the "It is now safe to..." screen, and it reboots fine. However, after the machine is running, if you shut down to "power off" and cold boot again, it POSTs (Award BIOS), one beep, then a long pause after the memory test, then a "hard disk failure 80" error message. At this point, if you go to a floppy it will boot, but from DOS you cannot access the hard drive.

So far I have:
1. Checked the BIOS settings & restored defaults
2. Re-seated the Controller (EIDE) card
3. Connected the hard drive to the secondary IDE bus
4. Tried a different hard drive
5. Tried a different power connector to the hard drive
6. Tried a different IDE cable

My current suspects are the power supply or the controller card, but I would appreciate any suggestions from anyone who has experienced anything similiar.

Thanks,

J.D.
"Anything that can go wrong will do so in front of the client!"

[Jumby]

Have you checked the fan on the processor?

[jon_m_d]

Jumby -

As far as the processor fan, it is running...a little noisy, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks,

J.D.

[ComputerMan]

this may sound stupid but I had a similar problem several years ago and I specifically remember replacing the mobo battery and it fixed everything. I cant remember what the errors were but I know I had to shut my system down for about 20 minutes to get ti to boot again. If you have an amp meter, check the battery.

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Who? Me?

computerMan

[Paleo Pete]

I think power supply or flaky controller card too. Try different known working ones and see if it makes a difference. The hard disk failure message makes me think it could also be a hard drive getting old and wearing out. Try it in anouther working computer and see if it acts the same or works well. Oops, on re-read I see you also tried another drive on this machine, that would pretty much rule out hard drive problems, so concentrate on power supply and controller card. I think most likely controller.

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[Randy_tx]

Controller card or cpu fan the two most likely suspects on this one. My bet: Controller card. Its pretty hard to overheat a 486.

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Wore out my Ctrl/Alt/Del keys with Win ME

[jon_m_d]

Different controller card, problem solved!
Thanks, Everybody.

"Now it boots fine...do you smell smoke?"