weird problem with with booting

[Geofrancis]

i have a j&w minix 780g-sp128mb motherboard with a 65w 9150e x4 4gb ddr2 and a hd4850

now the wierd thing it does is every now and again (especially when you force it off without shutting it down) when you push the power button it powers on and the graphics card fan runs at full power but it wont post and just sits there. but if you pull the power plug out and leave it for 20 mins it will come back on again like nothing is wrong. i have ran every stability test and it passes them all. prime95+furmark, 3dmark some gaming.

i have tried changing the power supply
changing the 2x2gb sticks for the 1x2gb stick
single 512mb stick,
updating the bios
removing the graphics card and running from the onboard graphics.
reseating the cpu
even removing the motherboard from the case incase something was shorting.

im all out of ideas anyone else got one?

 

[brandonwh64]

This maybe some type of issue with the board. I seen this with gigabyte boards of 775 and AM2 were it would boot but not post and after a couple of forced reboots it would post or if left off for a while it will boot. Really don't think there is a way to fix it or none that I had seen.

 

[Geofrancis]

i thought that might be the case :S the only other thing i haven't tested is another cpu but i dont have one to test.

 

[tokyoduong]

Check to see if memory has problems with your motherboard. Sometimes a bios update will work. Sometimes just clearing CMOS will work. I know I used to have a lot of problems with OCZ RAM on my AMD platforms years ago.
Also check your voltage. Some RAM needs higher voltage than others to run at the same freq, and that will give you lots of booting/operating problems.
I also run into RAM rated at certain speeds and does not reliably run at that speed so a mem test is in order if you feel it's headed in that direction.

 

[Geofrancis]

i have already tried 3 different types of ram in it 800mhz @ 667 and 533mhz, 512mb and 1gb 533mhz sticks
upped all the voltages by 0.1v
manually set ram timings as loose as i could
1t and 2t command rate

 

[tokyoduong]

i have already tried 3 different types of ram in it 800mhz @ 667 and 533mhz, 512mb and 1gb 533mhz sticks
upped all the voltages by 0.1v
manually set ram timings as loose as i could
1t and 2t command rate

hmm...it could be a power supply issue. I know I had my PSU go out twice when upgrading. Don't know why, but it was working fine then it just goes when I change parts.
Also check to see if your RAM is running in single or double channel.
Your description of inconsistency sounds like something could be loose or have dirt in there to keep it from working reliably. Your small components on your motherboard may be too old and not working correctly. Check your connections and see if any of the solder or resistors/capacitors on the board is cracked or damaged.
Judging from the parts you are using, this comp is extremely old. Every time I try to upgrade a computer 5 years or older, something stops working. I find it best just to leave old comps alone as long as it works.

 

[[502]]

What happen if you shutting it down normally? Will it boot normally too?

 

[Geofrancis]

Yes 95% of the time it will start as long as it was a clean shutdown but if something happens and you need to force it off or if you press the reset button it will just spin the graphics fan at 100% and the 2 lights on the back of the hd4850 stay on untill yo switch it off at the mains for 20mins then it will boot.


The computer is only 4 years old and has done it since it was built but i could live with it because it was on 24/7.
I checked the board no capacitors are swollen the are all the sold type and it does it with every power supply I tried on it.

 

[[502]]

You could try updating the bios. It could be a bug in the bios preventing it to boot normally when you force-shutting down the system. Iirc, I've came across issues with some 7xx mobo with buggy bios but I can't seem to remember any specific info about it.

 

[von kain]

have you change the battery on the motherboard?

 

[Conflict0s]

This sounds like a familiar problem I had with my 5870. Not 100% but check to see if the graphics drivers are up to date (sounds odd but check it). You could also check if there is a BIOS update for your graphics card.

The reason why I suggest this is because of the fan speeds being so high, it usually means there is a software compatibility issue, in this case based around the graphics card.

 

[cdawall]

Sounds like the motherboard chipset is dieing. Had this happen on a couple of mini ITX boards I have owned.

 

[Mussels]

it could be something overheating that you wouldnt expect. i've had issues where ram only overheated of 10+ hours of use, yet cooled down in 15 minutes, making troubleshooting really hard. dont rely on software temperature readings for this kind of thing, check with your fingers whats hot and whats not.