Faulty Asus P5B!? Or is it something else?

spinstorm · 21 Jan 2007 at 03:41

I bought an Asus P5B before Christmas (not from OcUK) but I believe it is faulty I would appreciate any advice on if that is the case here!

It resets the PC randomly, with a beep to the bios then restarts windows and it seems to do this totally randomly.

Sometimes it will happen once and be fine, othertimes it will restart and keep crashing for several times before it starts windows successfully.

The other thing I have noticed is that when I first power it on I hear a Shrill scraping type noise coming from the PC - I do not know if its the Mobo as I can't pinpoint it but after a few seconds it seems to go away.

Last night my PC apparently made this noise for a long time (while I was out) before resetting and getting stuck on the bios bootup screen so when I came in it was making a beep was constant - I pressed the power button and it started fine after that.

Also my Core 2 processor seems to be around 45-50 degrees when idle, which from my understanding is not normal for a non-overclocked standard core 2? Someone suggested that may also be down to the mobo?

I put an Akasa AK-961 on the mobo (or should I say the PC shop did!) as the ref. intel cooler was bringing up standard temps of at least 55! when doing nothing!

So is the problem my mobo? or something else? If it should be the mobo I would prefer to swap it for a slightly better model - I don't need SLi but I do want the most feature intensive board I can get for the least increase in cost from Asus, so recommendations would be appreciated. I would also add that I just ordered a Artic Cooler Pro 7 - as I saw one on my brothers custom built Scan PC and it seemed to me to blow air out directly towards the fans at the back of the case so be better at cooling that what I have now!

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

eg_esi · 21 Jan 2007 at 16:00

hi,there isnt anything on the board to make a scraping noise,unless the cpu cooler is not fitted correctly.does it have the northbridge optional fan fitted to it?what are youtr temps when the system crashes?

spinstorm · 21 Jan 2007 at 16:12

I have no idea what the temps were as it crashed totally unexpectedly.

As far as I can see there is no northbridge optional fan on the mobo.

To be honest the noise sounds almost electrical to me - possible badly fitted power connectors? or PSU? as they basically changed the entire case over to a new one that was cooler so everything was moved!?

spinstorm · 23 Jan 2007 at 00:08

Anyone got any ideas? I would like some expert advice as to what the problem is! Thanks

bfar · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:45

spinstorm said:
Anyone got any ideas? I would like some expert advice as to what the problem is! Thanks

Could be the CPU heatsink/fan not mounted properly, as stated above - worth checking, as that could damage your cpu.

The latest bios for the mobo might help too.

Shaolin Chicken · 26 Jan 2007 at 15:28

Hi spinstorm
What you have to do is try and narrow down the list of where the problem may lie. It is a process of elimination.

What I would do is put the problem of the noise to one side for the moment and concentrate on getting your computer stable in windows.

First make sure you are not overclocking any components then try checking your memory with memtest . In the bios make sure the memory is set to auto for the time being. If you don't know how to run memtest. Post again in the forum.

Once you know that there is no problem with the ram, you could try disconnecting all components except ram, video card, hard drive and keyboard and mouse to put less strain on the power supply. Then boot into windows and test for stability using 3d mark or orthos. This will test the power supply.

Let me know how you got on after the above tests.

Leporello · 26 Jan 2007 at 22:41

My thoughts...

The screeching noise could have four passible causes...

1. As others suggest the CPU fan. The random crashes could be caused by overheating. Do you have any temperature measuring software? If not you could install the freeware monitoring software Speedfan. Google it and you'll find it in a jiffy.

2. The fan on your graphics card. Again this could cause overheating and random crashes.

3. The fan on your power supply. Another overheating possibility. can you borrow another PSU to see if this solves the problem.

4. Less likely, do you have an NB fan? I had an Abit IC7-G where the NB fan regularly failed but this caused no stability problems, in fact I simply unplugged the damn thing in the end and noticed no difference in temps or stability.

Frankly I would not use Orthos or any other software which stresses your system whilst you have this problem. This makes no more sense than running an engine at full throttle to see if it breaks. The are more obvious things to look for before you risk further damage

You say the noise sounded electrical. You might look very carefully at the male and female contacts on the connections between the PSU and the motherboard. If you've done a lot of tinkering with your system the female side of one of your power connectors may have "belled" i.e., opened out a little causing an intermittent connection and arcing. Check your connectors for scorch marks. This has happened to me in the past causing exactly the same symptoms as those you report, minus the noise. These connectors are the first thing I'd look at in troubleshooting the issue.

Good luck.