Weird AN8 Ultra

manic_man · 15 Jan 2006 at 16:48

Hi all

I have had my Abit An8 Ultra running perfectly for over 6 months now. Recently however it doesnt boot. Its only been since i upgraded the ram from 2 x 512mb GEIl value sticks to 2 x 1GB GEIL value sticks. I am not pushing anything or overclocking at all. Voltages all seem fine.

Essentially the system doesnt boot and no matter how many times you reset it, it still wont start up. The only way to get it working is reset the CMOS, then its fine again. I just don't know how long this'll last till it does it again though

If anyone has prior experience of something like this id love to hear any resolutions or diagnos's.

Thanks

boosfuk · 15 Jan 2006 at 19:43

Did you change the mem settings when upgrading? You will probably need to move down to a command rate of 2T (instead of 1T) with 2GB - this might not get set automatically if you are using SPD. You should probably also flash the BIOS to the latest level as many memory problems have been fixed since the board came out.

Also check out the abit forums at http://forum.abit-usa.com for lots of similar issues (also some connected with if you have USB devices attached).

manic_man · 15 Jan 2006 at 19:47

hi, thanks for the reply.

Im using the latest BIOS, memory is set to SPD. I usually decrease the timings slightly but i thought id leave this lot at cas 3. Supposedly it should run at 1T fine but its at 2T at the moment and was the last time it stopped booting (its done it three times now in 5 days.)

That last time it did it the BIOS screens were totally messed up and then it locked up in windows and wouldnt restart. I would swear it was a graphics card issue except ive tried it in two other machines and its flawless (as it is now) and its perfect in all 3D applications when its running...

I have no idea really as to what the problem could be, other than running it till it happens again and then seeing if i can diagnose it i dont know what else to do...

twiceborn · 15 Jan 2006 at 23:27

When I had GeIL Value RAM (admittedly 2x512 not 2x1GB) I had a similar problem, but it turned out to be an overheating problem. Took me ages to figure out - I had to leave the computer for a few minutes before it'd boot. Wasn't anything to do with the BIOS, just the time it took to reset CMOS gave sticks time to cool off, LOL.

Maybe this is a stupid suggestion (just going by what happened to me. I think my sticks were slightly dodgy), but maybe try some active cooling on the RAM? Sorted my problem out, so you never know!

manic_man · 15 Jan 2006 at 23:49

worth a thought, thanks.

Next time it happens (lets face it, it wont just go away

) ill see if cooling the ram down gets it going again. Though i doubt it as it stopped working last night at about 2:30 (came in slightly drunk from the pub and it wouldnt load so i went to bed) and then it wouldnt work again this morning at about 10:30, so that should have been enough time.

Still its another possiblity.

Been running since about 2 this afternoon absolutely flawlessly, betcha it'll do it again tommorrow morning, its really odd.

Do cold computer systems put more strain on the PSU? if so could that be an issue?

twiceborn · 16 Jan 2006 at 01:29

Yeah, that's well more time than it'd need to cool off - mine never took more than about 10 minutes, lol.

Could be the PSU as you say. What are you running? Does resetting CMOS always let you boot up, or do you sometimes have to wait awhile anyway? If you turn off the power to the PSU when you reset, then that may have something to do with it.

I recently had a similar problem (geez, I seem to have had every problem at some point...) where after powering down I couldn't power up again. This time it was a faulty +5VSB line. It wasn't holding at 5V: I had to press the power switch, wait 5-10 minutes while it slowly crept up from around 3.5V to around 4.5V (measured with a multimeter), at which point pressing the button again turned the pc on. It was totally stable otherwise though - just that standby line stopped it cold-booting. Had to get a new PSU. D'oh.

manic_man · 16 Jan 2006 at 01:59

PSU *seems* stable. All rails bar the 12V are exactly on spec, 12V is at around 11.9V. I have to reset the CMOS to get things going again.

I have an Akasa PaxPower 400W, which should be more than enough for my middling A64 system.

Until i reset the CMOS i can wait as long as i like, switching it on and off, as soon as i reset, away it goes and seems fine until i leave it then go back to it...

As i said i would swear its a graphics card problem as i have had corrupted BIOS images before now (well in fact just before the first time it wouldnt boot!!) BUT I have tried it in a mates PC where it was flawless and once my PC's going it's also flawless..

I think im just going to have to wait for something to break on this one, which is very annoying! Luckily everything is still in warranty as the setup is only 6 months old.

Thanks for the help