Need help- Sis's PC keeps rebooting

Noni · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:11

Hi there,

Spec-

ASUS P4S8X
P4 2.4GHZ 478
1x512mb PC2700
60GB IDE HD
FSP 350W PSU
ATI 9800 PRO with Artic Silencer

Ok, all was working fine, I had the CPU overclocked at 2.54ghz. The comp booting at stayed at a black screen, out of nowhere. I went back into bios and set all to default then it booted, but when I try to login i get a BSOD. I checked all connections and all seemed fine. It came out of nowhere.

Anyhelp?
___________

Captain Kirk · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:22

Try resetting the bios with the jumper back to defaults. if not, power supply looks like a weak link

Noni · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:33

Its been working fine for months with that PSU.

Reset CMOS (turned pc off then I used the jumper thingy). Now when it turns on it hangs, and i get a message saying in bios that the comp is hanging due to improper cpu speed. but ive set it to default!!!

Usher · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:35

some boards need the battery removing as well as the jumper thingy , just a thought

Noni · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:47

Yeah but I actually set it to default speeds myself too. I also reset CMOS before and this did not happen.

Do I have to pull the plug out and switch off the socket when i reset cmos?

Captain Kirk · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:49

Yes you do.

Usher · 11 Apr 2006 at 13:51

don't know what bios you have mine is AMI
you have to remove the battery, then move jumper from one set of pins to another , wait 10 secs then replace jumper & battery & should then be set to factory defaults

BONES__69 · 11 Apr 2006 at 16:48

You don't have too isolate the PC when resetting the CMOS, however NEVER reset CMOS whilst the PC is powered up as this can damage many motherboards.

You can either :

A) Place the RESET jumper across the RESET CMOS pins for a few seconds (10-15 to be sure) then place jumper back

OR

B) Remove CMOS battery from motherboard for a few seconds (15-20 seconds to be sure) and then place battery back.

Both of these methods will achieve the same goal, ie starve the BIOS chip of power for long enough so that any settings changed in the BIOS are lost and the BIOS chip reverts back to it's factory defaults.

Shorting out the + & - under the CMOS battery does EXACTLY the same thing as placing the jumper on the CMOS reset pins on the motherboard.

Noni · 11 Apr 2006 at 19:52

Ok I reset CMOS properly and same thing. The system will just hang on multiple restarts but I got into the BIOS after a while and it said I had an improper CPU frequency again. I set it to the lowest setting that was there and it still did not boot up.

Is the PC dead? Its a 3year+ old machine.

Thanks guys

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 09:43

Usher · 12 Apr 2006 at 10:52

sounds to me like the CMOS is not resetting regardless of what you do

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 10:58

Well it definatly resetting IMO.

I turned off PC, turned off the switch at socket and then took the battery out for around 15 seconds and took out the jumper and placed it on the other slot too. I then returned the power and realised that the jumper was at the wrong place, so i set it about putting it back in the correct position.

I then tryed to reboot and did it multiple times, no use, nothing happend just a black screen and the HD light stayed on.

I finally got into bios and selected LOAD DEFAULT settings and still, i got a message saying I have an improper CPU frequency! I SET IT TO MINIMUM! THE SLOWEST!

Argh.

Mercutio · 12 Apr 2006 at 11:33

Noni said:
Well it definatly resetting IMO.

I turned off PC, turned off the switch at socket and then took the battery out for around 15 seconds and took out the jumper and placed it on the other slot too. I then returned the power and realised that the jumper was at the wrong place, so i set it about putting it back in the correct position.

I then tryed to reboot and did it multiple times, no use, nothing happend just a black screen and the HD light stayed on.

I finally got into bios and selected LOAD DEFAULT settings and still, i got a message saying I have an improper CPU frequency! I SET IT TO MINIMUM! THE SLOWEST!

Argh.

Check for any bulging caps on the mainboard - if you've tried all the setting based issues, have a look. I work for (censored) and the machines from the manufacturer that sounds a bit like bell have lots of these issues at the moment.

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 11:48

Just checked, didnt see any bulging caps. Thanks for the advice.

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 12:07

Argh still got the same message.

Mercutio · 12 Apr 2006 at 12:50

Noni said:
Well it definatly resetting IMO.

I turned off PC, turned off the switch at socket and then took the battery out for around 15 seconds and took out the jumper and placed it on the other slot too. I then returned the power and realised that the jumper was at the wrong place, so i set it about putting it back in the correct position.

I then tryed to reboot and did it multiple times, no use, nothing happend just a black screen and the HD light stayed on.

I finally got into bios and selected LOAD DEFAULT settings and still, i got a message saying I have an improper CPU frequency! I SET IT TO MINIMUM! THE SLOWEST!

Argh.

Ok alternative as playing with the bios seems to make no difference could be a faulty bios battery. If you dont set the CPU as it should be as the machine will complain if its wrong either way (up or down on its true speed). Try again with the right CPU config.

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 12:56

What do you mean as it should be?

I have set it to the default settings? That means almost all things are on auto.

BIOS battery? I should replace it? That should sort it out?

Mercutio · 12 Apr 2006 at 13:00

Noni said:
What do you mean as it should be?

I have set it to the default settings? That means almost all things are on auto.

BIOS battery? I should replace it? That should sort it out?

Does it boot at any point or still on the BSOD? Have u tried a re-install? Unfortunately im at work at the moment so not really time to ask all the right questions so ill duck out and let someone else have a go. Good luck

Noni · 12 Apr 2006 at 13:21

It only boots after I pull the plug out and put it back in, then it goes into bios and tells me about the wrong cpu frequency, when I select exit it then just stays black (hangs). If I restart, it hangs. I have to pull the plug out and try again to get back into bios.

Im really lost now. Its an old pc but i would like to get it working.

m3csl2004 · 12 Apr 2006 at 13:48

reseat the cpu to get it to boot than flash the bios - prehaps to a newer version?