• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

M2N32 SLI Deluxe - Shut itself down 5 seconds after turned on

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

zoro

Registered
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Hi everyone,

I would sincerely appreciate any help with my problem. I will try to describe the problem and steps I took to fix the computer as closely as I can. I hope that doesn't bore you. If there is anything I said that is inappropriate, please accept my apology.

I I built a system using the following components during the weekend after the Thanksgiving week (literally on December 1, 2007).

  • ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADX6400CZWOF
  • Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  • Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB ATX V2.2 500W Power Supply
  • Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
  • Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 (4-4-4-12 2.2Volts)
  • OCZ 2GB ( 2 X 1GB ) Platinum PC2-6400 800MHz 240-pin DDR2 Memory - OCZ2P800R22GK (CL 4-4-4-15, 1.9 - 2.0 Volts)
  • XFX PVT84GUDF3 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
  • Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
  • LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 20X DVD¡ÀR DVD Burner
  • Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader - Retail
  • Arctic Silver 5

I can only honestly said that I have witnessed the system working beautifully for about ONE hour. After I put the component togethers, installed Windows XP, I put the assembled computer back into the Antec 900 box and readied it to be shipped back to China (I currently live in China so I took my thanksgiving holidays in the US, bought the computer parts and built the system) as a check-in baggage when I go back to China on December 6.

Fighting the jetlag, I opened the box, took out the computer, SWITCH THE POWER SUPPLY UNIT TO THE MARKER THAT SAYS 230 VOLT (unlike in the US using 120V, China uses 220V), connected to monitor, turnred on the beautiful computer, all the fans and blue lights from the case, PSU and Zaleman HS were all working, but NOTHING on the screen.

My immediately reaction was something came loose during the flight. So I opened the computer case and found the 1934 connector was loose, but thought that was not the problem. I searched the internet and found suggestion that said I should clear the CMOS (RTC RAM). So I did that, no luck. I then began to take out the memory sticks and re-seated them and that didn't work. Then I left only two sticks of the Crucial Ballistics, still didn't work. So I tried to remove the retention bracket that locked the Zaleman HS to the retention module base (the black retangular rail surrounding the AM2 socket). This was very difficult to do. So I unscrewed the retention module base, and the Zaleman and CPU poped out very easiy. Then I removed the CPU from heatsink and re-seated back to the socket and reattached the heatsink. Turned on the computer, this time, the PC turned on for about 5 seconds and then everything shut down by itself.

So, now I am stuck with a PC that won't boot at all. I saw some post that it might be the motherboard and some post said that it might be the PSU. Since I don't have any spare part here, what can I do to further diagnose the problem?

Does anyone have any idea what other problems could be? I would be very grateful for any help.
 
I had similar problem once when my cpu wasn't being cooled correctly... did you clean the heatsink for the cpu and reinstall some heat sink compound?
 
I thought there were still abundant of arctic silver 5 I put on, because when I reinstall the heatsink, it just stick to the CPU....


I had similar problem once when my cpu wasn't being cooled correctly... did you clean the heatsink for the cpu and reinstall some heat sink compound?
 
If you still have some arctic silver 5 I would clean the heatsink with denatured alcohol and reapply the correct amount of AS5. That would rule that problem out. And go over everything again, from the video card to the power connections to make sure nothing was disloged during transport.
 
thanks for the above reply, will try that and report back..
 
By the way, the video card's fan is turning, wondering if that means it is getting enough power..
 
By the way, the video card's fan is turning, wondering if that means it is getting enough power..

It's still possible that it isn't, if your card requires a second power connector to the card, make sure that that is still in place.

When I got my 8800GT and forgot to put in the second power connector, it would turn on for about 10-15 seconds then make a terrible beeping noise, but not go past POST.

So it could be your problem, because even in my case it would turn the fan a little bit, but it wouldn't spool up as much as it did when I realized that I was being an idiot and installed the cord correctly.
 
Thanks for the reply. My video card does not require a secondary power source. I think it draws the power from the PCIE slot.
 
Now that I am thinking could the Zalman Heatsink be so heavy that it actually damage the board during the shipment?
 
What happens during the five seconds that the system powers up? Will it post? Can you enter bios or does it just black screen?
 
I think we both have the same problem...

I've been thinking it was my PSU being underpowered for the last 11 months I've had my computer, but all of I sudden I just decided to check if other people had similar problems...

I've saw a few post from Zoro (you), Paul, and one other person that had this same problem...

My PSU is a POS I got from Athenatech with a cheapo $50 mid-tower.... The PSU is 450W, but it has something like 27A on the 12V...

I am running the components in my Sig...


Randomly my computer will shut off while running (doesn't happen very often)...
Randomly my computer will not turn on properly (doesn't happen very often)...

When my computer doesn't turn on properly, it "starts" (chasis fans, gpu fans, cpu fans, HDD, PSU fans, and CD drives turn on) for about 3 seconds (could be 5 if you count fast) and then the whole thing just shuts off...

All my power lights are on.

I used to find that hitting the side of my case made it start working again... Always thinking that it was jiggling the PSU so it would work, but the past few times (including today), I noticed that hitting the outside of the case towards the center of the motherboard fixed the problem...

I think I'm going to send for an RMA soon (if I still can after 11+ months :D)... I'm also going to buy a new PSU (for new CPU and video card) though...
 
Surprised nobody else has posted this but what beep codes are you getting? As in when you start up how many beeps do you get if any?
 
There's no POST... and my speaker is connected...


Edit:

Lol I thought this was pretty funny... While typing an RMA claim to ASUS...

As I was typing "computer randomly shuts off" in Case# / Brief Description of Problem:... My computer shuts off and I lose the whole e-mail...
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

I am here to report that I have successfully resolved my computer problem. Thanks all for the help and tips

Here is what I did:

I just reseated the CPU and heatsink one more time and viola. It works.

Not sure why it didn't work before.

Or, maybe it was working all along the first time I turned on my computer after arriving in China. I just didn't wait long enough for the BIOS to finish checking. Oh well.. I am happy except that I do have a new problem:

After I shut down XP, the computer refuse to shut down. What I mean by this is that all the fans, and power remain on. I can tell XP is shut down already because the monitor said no signal. However, all other mechanical part just continue to run.... not sure why...

I think I will ask a Asus Tech Support...
 
Back