I need help with a power up problem.

[arcstrike]

Hi everyone, I a new here and need some help sorting out a couple of problems.

I have recently built a 633 celeron system for my kids, it worked fine the first couple of days but now it has this problem on start up. When the power is turned on it goes through the POST and then starts to detect hardware, it identifies the HDD and CD-rom then locks up. Any ideas?

The second problem is with an old P166 mmx board that does a similar thing, when it powers up it thinks it is a 100 not a 166 and then goes to the screen that says PCI listing, at this point it freezes. The jumpers appear to be set correctly for a 166 system.

The systems have done this on two seperate power grids so it is not (in my opnion) a voltage problem from the home power system.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[tjaymadison]

Regarding the first problem: There are occasions when a system can boot too fast, before the HD has time to spin all the way up to speed. If you have a "quick boot" feature in your BIOS setup, try disabling it. Are you overclocking?

As for #2, consult the mobo manual or mfr's web site to verify jumper settings. Mis-identification of CPU speed is usually a good indication that the setting needs to be changed. Also, try re-seating the processor in its socket.

[arcstrike]

tjay thanks for the assistnace and sorry for the time it took to reply, the computers are 2000 miles away and I have to get my 10 yr old son to do the work (probably a good thing really as he will end up with a lot more knowledge of how things work). The system has a "quick power up" function, when this is disabled the system just freezes totally. When the function is reset it starts normally, however the intermitent freezing on start up still happens. When this has happend the system is disconnected from the power and left idle for about 5 minutes, then it starts first time. Any further assistance would be appreciated.


Originally posted by tjaymadison:
Regarding the first problem: There are occasions when a system can boot too fast, before the HD has time to spin all the way up to speed. If you have a "quick boot" feature in your BIOS setup, try disabling it. Are you overclocking?

As for #2, consult the mobo manual or mfr's web site to verify jumper settings. Mis-identification of CPU speed is usually a good indication that the setting needs to be changed. Also, try re-seating the processor in its socket.

[johnnyg]

Originally posted by arcstrike:
Hi everyone, I a new here and need some help sorting out a couple of problems.

I have recently built a 633 celeron system for my kids, it worked fine the first couple of days but now it has this problem on start up. When the power is turned on it goes through the POST and then starts to detect hardware, it identifies the HDD and CD-rom then locks up. Any ideas?

The second problem is with an old P166 mmx board that does a similar thing, when it powers up it thinks it is a 100 not a 166 and then goes to the screen that says PCI listing, at this point it freezes. The jumpers appear to be set correctly for a 166 system.

The systems have done this on two seperate power grids so it is not (in my opnion) a voltage problem from the home power system.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I am assuming its passing the memory test,I would strip the mb down to just ram and video card everything else disconnected ide cables and power cords to devices, then reconnect hd first then cd rom, etc until it hangs.HTH John http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif



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Peace is in the mind,not the situation. "unless you're in a fire fight"

[Paleo Pete]

Q188867 (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q188/8/67.ASP) might help, start up problems can be caused by several things, and it's not easy to pinpoint it sometimes. Send him that link, and try to go over it by phone too, see what you can find out. I don't think it's a hardware peoblem, seems it would hang before it gets through the drive detection if it were related to hardware, the drive detection comes after CMOS and memory are checked, so I think it's more likely to be related to software.

Find out if anything has been installed or more importantly deleted. That may tell you a whole lot. Use the [F8] key or hold down [Ctrl] to get a boot menu, choose Command Prompt Only and run scanreg.
scanreg_/restore
using a space in place of the underscore ( _ ) used here will replace the registry with a previous backup. Pick one made before this started.

Stay tuned, maybe we'll get some more ideas, I know more can be tried but I can't think of anything else at the moment. KNowing if anything has been installed or deleted would help a lot.



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So many idiots, and only six bullets...
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[arcstrike]

Thanks for the help guys. The mobo is an all in one video/audio/lan with 128 mb ram. The hd is an old one of mine which has been reformated and clean instal of W98SE I don't know if a restore will locate any different registry settings but heck I will try anything once.....twice if no one complains... Once again thanks for the assitance I will advise the results in due course.