Erik78
asked on
System locks after 15 seconds no matter what I boot from... HELP!
Hi! Just built a new system. Here are some specs:
Intel Celeron 1.8 GHz
Soyo P4VDA board
Western Digital 80 GB HDD
TDK VeloCD
nVidia GeForce 3 Ti200
Soundblaster Live MP3+
512MB PNY PC2100 DDR Memory
350W PSU
WinXP Pro
If I left out anything, please let me know! Now, on to my issue.
Whenever I try to boot the system, after about 15 seconds it hard locks. The media type has no bearing on this problem at all... floppy, CDROM, HDD... it's all the same. It does NOT display this symptom in BIOS. My inital thought was, naturally, heat. I've got one of those spiffy Thermaltake heatsink/coolers that runs at 6000 RPM. I checked my temp in BIOS, and the CPU sits steady at 50C with the ambient temp steady at 34C. I've tried pulling the board out of the system and getting everything back together to make sure it wasn't something with the case, but I get the same problem. The motherboard and processor were purchased new. All other components were pulled from a working system. So far, no one has been able to offer any help at all. I've been trying to solve this for 2 weeks. Someone *HAS* to know what's going on! All advice will be greatly appreciated, and if anyone needs more info, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks!
Intel Celeron 1.8 GHz
Soyo P4VDA board
Western Digital 80 GB HDD
TDK VeloCD
nVidia GeForce 3 Ti200
Soundblaster Live MP3+
512MB PNY PC2100 DDR Memory
350W PSU
WinXP Pro
If I left out anything, please let me know! Now, on to my issue.
Whenever I try to boot the system, after about 15 seconds it hard locks. The media type has no bearing on this problem at all... floppy, CDROM, HDD... it's all the same. It does NOT display this symptom in BIOS. My inital thought was, naturally, heat. I've got one of those spiffy Thermaltake heatsink/coolers that runs at 6000 RPM. I checked my temp in BIOS, and the CPU sits steady at 50C with the ambient temp steady at 34C. I've tried pulling the board out of the system and getting everything back together to make sure it wasn't something with the case, but I get the same problem. The motherboard and processor were purchased new. All other components were pulled from a working system. So far, no one has been able to offer any help at all. I've been trying to solve this for 2 weeks. Someone *HAS* to know what's going on! All advice will be greatly appreciated, and if anyone needs more info, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks!
SOLUTION
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ASKER
A little more info: I also checked the temp of the Northbridge chipset, and it's about 35C, so no troubles there. No part of the system "feels" hot. It seems to lock at *around* the same place with each type of media. It seems to be more of a time thing than an access issue. If I try to boot off of the XP CDROM, I get to the "Setup is inspecting..." screen. A floppy makes it to the "This driver is provided by Oak..." section. The HDD doesn't even make it it the XP splash screen usually, although *ONCE* it made it to a stop error. As far as basic troubleshooting, I've only got memory, processor and video hooked up. I can't strip it down any further and expect it to post, can I? Correct me if I'm wrong!
What still worries me is the Motherboard. Try to replace it with another one, or put it in another working PC.
This is from the Soyo tech support. Hope it might help:
http://www.soyousa.com/support/
My system intermittently locks up, very unstable
--------------------------
1. check the CPU temp. the CPU might be overheating.
2. check the CPU FAN if it is defective or see if the CPU fan is in contact with the CPU.
3. add heat paste on the CPU. (applicable only for K7 M/B)
4. do not overclock your CPU
5. check the specification of the memory module, maybe the M/B do not support it.
6. go to BIOS setup and load fail safe settings
7. check website for latest bios update
8. check website for FAQ's regarding instability issue
9. change the memory module or CPU
http://www.soyousa.com/support/
My system intermittently locks up, very unstable
--------------------------
1. check the CPU temp. the CPU might be overheating.
2. check the CPU FAN if it is defective or see if the CPU fan is in contact with the CPU.
3. add heat paste on the CPU. (applicable only for K7 M/B)
4. do not overclock your CPU
5. check the specification of the memory module, maybe the M/B do not support it.
6. go to BIOS setup and load fail safe settings
7. check website for latest bios update
8. check website for FAQ's regarding instability issue
9. change the memory module or CPU
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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another thing to check would be the PSU..
Since all the other stuff except MB and CPU were taken from a working PC, I would recommend you try the processor on another PC and then the Motherboard. It could be that some other part of your motherboard is frying, such as the Nortbridge (the one with a big heatsink or a fan, not to be confused with the processor). I would say the best solution would be to try the motherboard on another PC.
Does it always freeze after 15 seconds (Not counting BIOS)? Try to see when exactly it freezes, such as on accessing media, etc...