rebooting

[icandoit]

OK here is one that I have been wrestling with for a while, I put together an Athalon 1.2ghz system with 128 megs of pc100 memory (still dont trust pc133) anyhow everything works fine except that when I turn it on it will boot up and get to my desktop in Win 98 but before it puts up my icons it will reboot itself. Now the tricky part is it may do it three times in a row and then boot all the way, or it may be twice or maybe just once and on the rare occasion it has booted up normally the first time but that is rarely. I have installed a different hard drive with a fresh install of windows and it does that same thing (It seemed to me that if it had to be a problem with windows because it clears all hardware setup before rebooting, and will bootup just fine everytime with a floppy disk). Now I have always been more of a Hardware specialist then a windows specialist so this really has me stumped, and by the way it may be my imagination but it seems that if I move my mouse around when the desktop first comes up it seems to boot up more often on the first time( but not everytime). So what do you think, any help would be much appreciated, icandoit (ya right)

[bassvax]

Ok I'm curious about this:

(still dont trust pc133) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/confused.gif

You don't mention the motherboard you are using, but I know from experience that there are some memory-finicky boards out there (mine is one of them Asus A7V133) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Just a stab here, but it could be the memory stick causing the problem. The only other things I can think of are:

Glitchy power supply or bad windows installation disc.

When you say that it boots fine with the start up disk does that mean that you are only going into DOS with it? If so, I read some where about DOS using only a portion of the RAM (640K) and the possible bad modules being elsewhere on the stick. Try a diff stick of RAM and be sure to set it accordingly in the BIOS.

I haven't been able to find anything just yet on Google. (http://www.google.com)

Give us a holler back...someone may have had this experience and can offer some better advice.

------------------
Flush 'N' Forget
FE Stokes WWTP (http://www2.apex.net/users/hwuswtp)

[danleff]

Hi;

Agree with Bassvax. What motherboard do you have? Many are finicky about memory and power supplies. What wattage power supply do you have?

To give an example, I have had good luck with Crucial memory and Asus boards. Crucial has good deals on memory and a memory config. utility that gives you selections of what memory to use. Your motherboard manual should give you some ideas about memory that the board has been tested with, as well as recommended power supplies.

Also, those Athlon processors can be hogs with power supply issues, as can some motherboards. Do you have a power supply that is approved for the Athlon for wattage and brand name? For example, not all 300 watt power supplies are the same. You can go to amd.com and look at the recommended power supplies for your procesor.
http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config

I would also double check a few things.

Did you mount the motherboard on plastic stand-offs only?

Try reseating the ram, video card AND processor. Assure that all are seated correctly. Ram and video cards may need some careful deliberate pressure to make sure that they are seated well. I had a system that seemed to work part of the time, then hang. Although it did not seem possible, the video card was not quite seated properly.

Do you get any error beeps on post, or attempted post?

Do you have a good heatsink and fan? Does the fan seem to be running properly? Is it rated for your Athlon processor?

[icandoit]

ok the mb is a AZ11 from FIC using the KT133 chipset. I have checked all connections and they are good (reseated all to make sure). I am running a 300 watt power supply approved for Atholon along with cpu fan approved also. I am able to boot to dos floppy no problem. I am trying to flush bad experiences with pc133 memory out of my head, (while building systems and trying pc133 when it first came out- too many problems, possible compatibility problems with the current mb's I was using), but anyhow back to the system today- after booting into the system and then rebooting it myself now it chooses to not setup my cd rom and cdrw. What is next oh and by the way no there are no error beeps, Thanks for your input, icandoit (ya right).....

[danleff]

Hi;

After re-reading your post, I notice that you state that you have an AZ11 motherboard and an Athlon 1.2? Is this an AZ11, or AZ11E? Revision?

What video card is in the system?

The AZ11 is only rated for up to an Athlon 1.1 by FIC and AMD.

Does all the memory installed show on the memory check, and does the full processor type and speed show on boot? FIC notes problems with some brands of memory in their systems.

Have you tried the troubleshooting guide at the FIC website?
http://www.fica.com/techsupport/TroubleShooting.stm


Also, try the AZ11 Faq page at;
http://www.fic.com.tw/techsupport/motherboards/socketa/AZ11.htm

This page notes some issues with heat and Athlon processors with this board. I guess it's possible that you may have a related problem. Did you use thermal compound on the heatsink?

[icandoit]

Ok the mb is AZ11E I have a TNT Nvideo 32mg video card, And now have some more information. My brother has a athalon 900 system (dont know what mb or chipset) but he is running pc133 memory, and he has the exact same problem - boots to the desktop and just before putting on the icons it reboots up to several times before booting all the way.