Cold boot problems

[mame]

I'm having problems only on a cold boot and the following happens: fans and LEDs come on for about 3 seconds then shuts down again, sometimes this loops twice. The PC will then POST but with all default settings in the bios so losing my overclock. I then manually set everything and its fine and can be retstarted as many times as i want (has never failed at this point). Once in windows its 100% stable and I've had no problems at all. My spec is :

Gigabyte p35-ds3l - revision a2 with f4 bios
e2180 @ 3.2ghz (320x10)
4 gig geil ultra (2x2) running at 400mhz 4-4-4-12. 2.1v
samsung spinpoint 500gig 16mb cache (boot) + maxtor 250gig 8mb cache
1x dvd-rw
xpertvision 8800gt 512mb sonic
antec 480w truepower

So far i have tried: slackening memory timings, reducing overclock to 3gz and memory to 750mhz. Using just 2gig ram, Swapping to the other 6pin pci-e connector off the PSU to the graphics card, increasing FSB voltage, GMCH voltage, PCI-E voltage.

When i first started thinking about this problem i was suspicious of the PSU being enough to power the graphics card but I have completed quite a few games on this setup and never had one single problem. I'm reluctant to replace the PSU if that turns out not to be the problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[mame]

Did you adjust any settings before this started happening at all?

No. Everything seemed to be fine for a few weeks. The problem appeared and then got worse. I might try clearing the CMOS before i next cold boot

 

[mame]

well updated from the F4 bios to the latest F8a bios and no change. At least i know i can take the e8*00 cpu's now

 

[mame]

Yes, all the same. Still stable once in windows. 3dmark06 seems to have gained ~200 points. Will see how it runs over the next few days.