Clearing CMOS nearly every time

frost-t · 4 Apr 2007 at 16:36

I have a Shuttle SB83G5 and have been having major issues with it for the last month now.

Nearly everytime it runs the machine will freeze and will not respond in any way so I reset it but, when I do this there is no picture even though it can be heard rebooting.

Sometimes if left for a day or two it will start fine but after a short while it will go through the whole process again.

The only way that seems to fix the problem everytime is clearing the CMOS using the button at the rear but as you can imagine this is a pain in the ass so need to get this resolved.

I did think it could be the CMOS battery because I was getting messages like "the CPU has changed" but even though I've replaced the battery the issue remains.

I have a fear that I may have shorted something or the CPU has a problem but if this was the case surley the machine would not function at all, right?

Please help otherwise I'll have to fork out for a new machine

Thanks

Tute · 4 Apr 2007 at 22:28

Can you get far enough to run Memtest on it?

I'd recommend trying that first to rule out a duff stick.

frost-t · 4 Apr 2007 at 22:49

Tute said:
Can you get far enough to run Memtest on it?

I'd recommend trying that first to rule out a duff stick.

Once I clear the CMOS again I should have no problem running the test. Is there any paticular memtest tool I should use? Havent used any memtest tools in a while.

Tute · 4 Apr 2007 at 22:57

frost-t said:
Once I clear the CMOS again I should have no problem running the test. Is there any paticular memtest tool I should use? Havent used any memtest tools in a while.

http://www.memtest.org/

You're going to need to boot straight into Memtest, by using a CD/FD.

frost-t · 4 Apr 2007 at 23:18

Tute said:
http://www.memtest.org/

You're going to need to boot straight into Memtest, by using a CD/FD.

Will run it overnite tonite or tomorrow and we'll let you know the results. Thanks bud.

frost-t · 5 Apr 2007 at 15:50

frost-t said:
Will run it overnite tonite or tomorrow and we'll let you know the results. Thanks bud.

It's gone from bad to worse

Cant even get a boot screen now. Have used GFX card and onboard GFX but still no screen and this on top of clearing the CMOS each time.

Need some real help on this one cos I'm stumpped. :confused:

Tute · 5 Apr 2007 at 20:41

Do you have another rig you can try stuff on?

frost-t · 5 Apr 2007 at 21:12

Tute said:
Do you have another rig you can try stuff on?

No but I have been swapping hardware to troubleshoot.

I replaced the RAM but still no boot screen so I'm now moving on to the pci-e gfx card but I dont have a spare and because I got no boot screen I cant switch to the onboard graphics.

The machine is still booting (HDD noise and CD boot) just no signal to screen.

Tute · 5 Apr 2007 at 21:16

If you're not getting any POST screen then it's down really to CPU/RAM/motherboard/PSU.

You're either going to have to swap in bits you know work fine, or swap bits out into another rig to test.

frost-t · 5 Apr 2007 at 21:35

Tute said:
If you're not getting any POST screen then it's down really to CPU/RAM/motherboard/PSU.

You're either going to have to swap in bits you know work fine, or swap bits out into another rig to test.

Well lucky for me my brother-in-law has a near enough set-up as mine so I'm gonna swap parts and test each one.

Do you know if it's possible to buy Suttle motherboards from somewhere? Just in case it's gonna be that.

Tute · 5 Apr 2007 at 21:42

frost-t said:
Well lucky for me my brother-in-law has a near enough set-up as mine so I'm gonna swap parts and test each one.

Do you know if it's possible to buy Suttle motherboards from somewhere? Just in case it's gonna be that.

Possibly.

I can't really say where as it would surely be classed as a competitor but I know other people on the forums have got spares for their shuttles.

Not sure about prices though, hopefully someone who has replaced a Shuttle mainboard can shed more light, as i'm not a Shuttle user myself.

frost-t · 5 Apr 2007 at 23:38

Tute said:
Possibly.

I can't really say where as it would surely be classed as a competitor but I know other people on the forums have got spares for their shuttles.

Not sure about prices though, hopefully someone who has replaced a Shuttle mainboard can shed more light, as i'm not a Shuttle user myself.

Ok buddy thanks.

I have carried out tests on the RAM, CPU, PSU and GFX in another Shuttle of the same model as mine and all work fine which can only lead me to the MB.

I wouldn't think that the HDD would cause any problems like this so it looks like I need to ask around for a MB and were to get one.

Any ideas on who might know around here? I wonder if the ocuk store can get hold of em?

Tute · 6 Apr 2007 at 18:15

I doubt it although it's got to be worth a try.

Fire off a webnote and see what they say.