week in coma, weekend performer system

[guruxx420]

Hi Can someone please help? Why does my system go in Coma?
My systems is (was) a gigabyte ga-6bxc rev 1.7 mobo. intel celeron 433 mhz.,64mb apacer ram (the sticker is apacer but the chips on the stick say hyundai) ,aopen pa50 video card, a sound card and 3dfx vodoo2 card.

This system worked fine for about four years and then one day just did not start. I tried to start it many a times during the week but it just wouldnt start, so I gave up on it.

Last weekend I tried to start it again and upon failing I opened the case . I turned it on. The cpu and psu fans worked and so did the lights for power, cd and floppy on the front panel of the case but nothing else, no beeps, no boot, no picture. Just the fans and the lights. I tired to switch it off by pushing the on/off button but it wouldnt turn off. After some trial and error I managed to stop the fans in the system by pressing in the on/off button for about 3-4 seconds. It never required so long a press before to switch off. I unplugged the computer and pulled all the parts out ( the psu, ram, video cards, sound card, cd rom and hard disk)and not having any time to put it together, I left those part out until the weekend (26Jan).
I started the system again with only the cpu,ram,video card+monitor and to my amazment it started, did the memory test and booted. I then turned it off using the on/off button. This time it turned off with just one push instead of 3-4 sec press. I then added the floppy drive and stuck in a window 95 startup floppy disk, started the computer and it worked all the way to A:\ . I turned it off again added the keyboard started it and it worked again . I carefully went through the Bios and disabled the Power Management and Advance Power Management thinking that these two were controlling the power on/off button. I turned it off and then on again and it worked. I turned it off again and put in voodoo card and the sound card, and the cd rom. Started it and it worked again.

Then I turned it off and UNPLUGGED the computer. After about half an hour I plugged in and again the same problem. Fans and lights only nothing else and again its takes the 3-4 sec button press to turn the fans off. I have unjumped and jumped the System After AC Back Jumper several times but to no avail. I have also cleared the CMOS by removing the battery a couple of times without any results. The computer components ram, cpu, video cards work on other computers. The PSU was tested by an electrician and was found to be working.

I contacted Gigabyte and they played silly bugers with me by telling me to upgrade the Bios when I cant even start my computer.

Can someone please give me a fairdinkum solution?

Cheers!

Below specs. cut/paste from gigabyte site.

GA-6BXC
Intel 440BX AGPset


PROCESSOR

Intel® Pentium® II / III and Celeron™ Processer
Slot1 for future Processor support
66/75*/83*/100/112*/133* MHz System Bus
AUTO Detect CPU Voltage
Clock multiplier 3.0/3.5......./9.5

CHIPSET
Intel 82440 BX AGPset
Intel® 440BX AGPset
iTE 8671 I/Oset (1Mb/S)

DRAM
8MB to 768MB DRAM size
3 x 3.3V DIMM Sockets
Supports 8/16/32/64/128/256 MB SDRAM DIMM Module
Supports ECC Type DIMM Module (72bits)

SLOT
1 x AGP Slot Supports 66/133 MHz speeds
4 x PCI Slot Supports 33MHz & PCI 2.2 compliant
3 x ISA Slot

I/O
2 x Ultra DMA 33 Bus Master IDE ports on board
1 x FDD, 2 x COM, 1 x LPT, PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse on board
2 x USB ports on board
IrDA TX / RX Header ready


POWER
ATX Power connector
Power-on by K/B, PS/2 Mouse, LAN, RTC, Modem & Switch
Power-off by Windows® 98 Shut down & Switch
AC Recovery ON/OFF control
Stop CPU Fan when entering suspend mode
3 Level ACPI LED Support


FORM FACTOR
ATX, 4 layer PCB (30.7*18cm)

BIOS
2Mbit Flash RAM
AWARD BIOS with Enhanced ACPI Feature for PC98 / Win98 Compliance, Green, PnP, DMI, INT13 (>8.4GB) & Anti-Virus functions
IDE#1~#4, SCSI, LS120, ZIP & CD-ROM bootable
Auto-detect & report system health status


OTHER FEATURES
Includes Wake-On-LAN Header (WOL)
Includes SB-LINK™ connector
Poly fuse for keyboard overcurrent protection

DRIVER
Intel® Ultra DMA/33 Bus Master IDE Driver
Intel® PIIX4e Patch Utility for Windows® 95

[YODA74]

When you say you took everything out did you take everything out of the Case to do this test??? including the mobo and did the test outside of the case? When was the last time you changed the battery?

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

As Yoda indicates, a dead battery is probably the biggest problem on a 4 year old system. The second thing I would suspect is loose cables which were tightened in your investigation. A short is a possibility, but I think the battery is where you need to direct your attention first.

Budfred

[mjc]

If your battery is dead and the CMOS values are lost after being powered off for a while then your drive settings will be lost. Then you could end up with a no boot situation.

[guruxx420]

Yes, I took the motherboard out of the case to test if the board was grounding but that doesnt seem to be the case.

I now have a new battery but how do I install it? I am afraid of losing the Cmos.... Will I lose the Cmos if I change the battery? Is the Cmos any good considering that the computer doesnt start or Post.

Can someone please explain what " System After Ac Back" is?
What is the difference between "Power-Soft On" and "Power Full On"?

Thanks

[YODA74]

Changing the battery is pretty simple enter the BIOS setup and write down or print all your current settings. These will be useful later. If your battery is already dead you can skip this step, since your current settings are nothing more than system defaults at this stage, Next Insert the new battery into the socket from where you removed the old one; fasten the clip. From there, power on the machine, enter the BIOS setup, then reset the time and date. Next, re-enter your other settings, which you previously recorded.

seems you cannot start or post this will pertain to your situation

If you were for some reason unable to save your previous settings (say, for instance, your battery was already dead), then enter the system defaults. Save the changes and reboot. If your computer is now functioning normally (as it should be) re-enter the system setup and try setting your BIOS to optimal or performance settings; save and reboot. If your system is stable with the optimal settings, leave it this way; this option is usually faster than system defaults.

[guruxx420]

Thanks
I ll change the battery and revert tomorrow.

Can you please explain to me what "system after ac back" is?
what is "power soft on " and what is Power full on?

best regards

[Dangerous]

Heya Guru,

Firstly, in answer to your questions:

System after AC back is probably some power loss resume mode - Iie: what the computer does once the power comes back (stay off or switch on)

Soft-on: Switching the machine on via the button on your PC case (you'll have an intelligent PSU which acts differently (when the switched is pressed) depending on your SOFTware (BIOS) settings)

Power full on: Means what it says, all components are powered on (No power management, not in suspend mode... etc)

Secondly, you say you have already removed the battery, so replacing it should be no real worry - if you had already removed it without restoring your settings, don't worry too much, as Yoda says, just load the defaults.

This sounds to me like the APM settings are screwing things up - you said you took a load of devices out and it worked, then disabled APM and it booted correctly. When you unplugged the power cable you lost your BIOS settings... your CMOS battery is dead.

Solution:
1) Replace battery
2) Unplug all uneccersary devices
3) Boot system, enter BIOS
4) Disable power management (and any other changes you like)
5) Plug devices back in
6) Rinse thouroughly

If you can't get a battery, then leave the power cable in forever (don't get electrocuted)

Dave

(PS: Of course, it could be 3D pinball that's causing the problem?)

:D

[Dangerous]

Oh - you might also want to update your BIOS to try and resolve the power managment problemo?

D

[guruxx420]

thanks a lot.

will get back tomorrow with results.

got to go, its almost midnight.

good night and thanks again.

[Matt]

Having to hold down the power button for 3 to 4 seconds is pretty normal durring a failed boot. Happens all the time when one of my PCs haults on an error. Once you get past the post (and the delay is not enabled in the bios) it just takes one quick press of the button to cut the power.

[guruxx420]

hi

I replaced the old battery(Sony v3 cr2032) with a new one(Toshiba v3 cr2032).
Still no change. No post, no picture.
what do i do now?

cheers

[Dangerous]

Gruxxy,

Have you done what you did before to get it working?

Remember that your problem is probably related to your power management settings.

1 - Disconnect ALL unnecessary devices from your system
2 - Power up the system, go into BIOS, disable ALL power management
3 - Reconnect devices, try to boot

Assuming that works, you will want to test that new battery... so disconnect the power cord for a while and then try to boot again - hopefully it should have stored your settings.

After all this, I really think you should get the latest version of your BIOS from Gigabyte... they have a guide on how to update it, so it shouldn't be too hard. I have checked and your m/board is listed...
http://tw.giga-byte.com/support/support.htm

Let us know, and have fun.

D

[guruxx420]

what is 3 Level ACPI LED Support ?
would this have anything to do with sleeping system?

Before I had taken all the components (ram, cpu, psu, video cards, sound card, floppy, cdrom, hdisk and all cables)off the mother board for a week.

How would this affect the motherboard?

thanks

[guruxx420]

Hi

My system did the post and booted to A:\. I dont know what made it post because there are too many variables involved.
I took every component off the mainboard, the cpu, psu, video cards, ram, sound cards and the floppy drive, the battery and the three jumpers and set the dip swithces to off. Did a bit of vaccum on every componet and a bit more to the psu. Cleansed the cards and the ram with a piece of cotton dipped in nail polish remover.
After three hours put every things back in its place and powered on.
I've done the warm and cold boots several times without any problem.
I went into bios and had to set the time and date, disable power management and advanced power management. Changed setting to Full on instead of Soft power on. I also enabled the PNP. I also wondered if I should fiddle with On board FDC controller, but not knowing what it was decided to let be "enabled"

All seems hunky dory for the time being except that I have not unplugged the system as yet fearing that such an act will upset my system and bugger up everything again.

thanks

[Budfred]

The cleaning may have helped a lot, but I wouldn't do the nail polish remover again. Not only is it primarily acetone, which may do damage to components, but it also usually has some sort of lanolin or other oil in it to make it less destructive of nails.

Budfred

[mjc]

If you use something like that to clean with, then the final step should be with alcohol (isopropyl), that will remove the oils. The oils will actually attract and hold dust.

[guruxx420]

Mates my next issue is to upgrade the bios to a more recent version before I unplug the system.

Is it possible to save or backup my present Bios to fall back to in case I muckup upgrading?

whats the difference between Cmos and Bios?
And whats the difference between Flashing a Bios and upgrading a Bios?

Thanks ...

[Budfred]

You upgrade the BIOS by flashing it. They are essentially the same thing.

The BIOS is the current and more correct term. CMOS is really not correct anymore, but it is still commonly used and is essentially interchangeable with BIOS, check here for more detail:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/index-i.htm

You can also get a lot more info about flashing there.

I am not sure that you can back up the BIOS, but I think you can. The link may provide guidance on that too.

Once you download your BIOS upgrade and load it to a floppy, you will have to reboot to use it.

Good luck,
Budfred

[guruxx420]

Thanks again. I have upgraded the bios to 6bxc.F3. Can I upgrade to
F4c (beta)? Whats the difference again between Beta and a normal version? I went through Pcguide\Bios a couple of times but I am afraid I missed the Beta explanation. Could you please explain?
I would like to upgarde to the Jan. 22, 2002 version as listed below.

Thanks a million

GA-6BXC

File Name BIOS Version (Date) Version Description

6bxc_f4c.zip F4c (Beta) (Jan. 22, 2002) 1. The system cannot
auto turn off under
Windows XP
2. Support Celeron 533A
to 700 CPU(FC-PGA).
(PCB revision : 2.0A
or above)
3. Support 75GB HDD
4. Added IR device under
Win98 win2000.
5. remove "MMX" string
at celeron CPU.

6bxc_f3.zip F3 (Jul.11, 2000) 1 Support Celeron 533A
to 700 CPU(FC-PGA).
(PCB revision : 2.0A or
above)
2. Fixed 533A CPU show 533

[Budfred]

Beta usually means that it is a test version and they are looking for feedback from users to find and eliminate the bugs. Given that you are talking about the BIOS, I personally wouldn't want to use a beta, but if you are into gambling, feel free.

Budfred

[Budfred]

Sorry, posted double by accident.....

Budfred

[guruxx420]

hello!
My computer has been running okay for the fourth consecutive day.
However its has started to make a click click click sound while looking for the A drive/floppy drive during the boot.

Can you please advise what could be causing this sound?

Thanks

[david eaton]

The clicking during boot suggests that the boot order is set to floppy first. Have a look in the bios, and set it to boot from the hard disc first. That should stop the noise, and speed up the boot process as well.

David

[Budfred]

The clicking may have always been there and you may just be noticing it more since you are worried about how the system is working. In any case, it is probably not a problem. I leave my floppy as first boot just to make it easier if I need to use a boot disk. I am usually messing around with other things while my computer boots up anyway.

[guruxx420]

Hi

The sound is not a normal sound and I have never heard it before.
I am attaching a sound file so you can hear what it sound like.
The beep sound comes after about 16 odd seconds and thereafter you hear the clicking sound.
Hope the sound file is audible

Thanks

[guruxx420]

Hi

The sound is not a normal sound and I have never heard it before.
I am attaching a sound file so you can hear what it sound like.
The beep sound comes after about 16 odd seconds and thereafter you hear the clicking sound.
Hope the sound file is audible

Thanks

[guruxx420]

Hi

The sound is not a normal sound and I have never heard it before.
I am attaching a sound file so you can hear what it sound like.
The beep sound comes after about 16 odd seconds and thereafter you hear the clicking sound.
Hope the sound file is audible

Thanks

PS. sorry could not upload the sound file. Its not valid. Now why can't I upload a small sound file? It'll only help to resolve the problem quicker. Anyway...Thanks a lot PCguide and the helpful people...

[Dangerous]

Gruxx,

Do you hear this sound all the time? Or does it only happen during boot etc?

Please explain a little further :)

Thanks

[guruxx420]

Hi

It happens only during boot. The sound (click click) starts soon after the floppy drive becomes active and it keeps on clicking till I get the Windows98 on the screen.It then disappears and doesnt happen untill I shut down and start again.

Thanks