A neighbour asked me to see if I could find the problem with his new mobo. From the things he described I expected either 1) bad cooling, 2) inadequate PSU or 3) OS issues. But I'm not sure it's any of the three. The problem is the system locks shortly after loading windows. It locked once when I was there and it was in BIOS at the time. The setup has a foxconn M61PMV for mobo, X2 5200+ cpu. I checked the stats in BIOS. The voltages are all steady even though the PSU is some name I never heard of (Thame Star 450w, 20A on the 12v) so I'm not sure it's a weak PSU issue. The video card is only an 8400gs so it's not like that's going to put a big drain on the PSU and even if it did, why would it lock in BIOS? My limited testing is only the BIOS readings of voltages, nothing from windows itself, but the 5v line is solid at 5.02v and the 12v line is at 12.03v I doubt they'd be dropping that much when idling at the desktop. The temps don't seem bad either but then I don't have experience with AM2 so I'm not sure. It starts in BIOS at low 30's and then slowly, over about 5 minutes, climbs to 38c where it stays. Is that about right to idle for that chip? So it doesn't seem to be either temp or voltage related from my limited contact with the system. Also the memory is set to "auto" so it shouldn't be an issue of timings too tight.The OS is XP with a fresh install so hopefully that's not it. So..... any thoughts?
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Problem with foxconn M61PMV
- Thread starter eobard
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QuietIce
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1) 38°C is pretty high for stock idle even using the stock heat sink (low 30's would be about right) but anything under 55°C shouldn't cause a stock rig to lock.
2) Who knows about the PSU? You're on-site and looking at it but if the rails are all stable at idle I can't see where that would reboot from BIOS either.
3) If it locked in BIOS then it can't be the OS. There's something very wrong when a machine reboots from BIOS. Problem is, it could be almost anything. Have you checked how hot the chipsets and MOSFETs are while running? It would be very unusual but I guess it's possible.
My first question, especially if this is a new build, is the motherboard still in the case? If so, that's always my first move to trouble-shooting once I've gone through the basics as you did. There's no telling what might cause an intermittent ground on a newly built rig.
If it's still rebooting out of the case then it's R&R time - changing out one thing at a time and trying known good hardware instead. Anything can cause a problem like that if it's bad - board, CPU, RAM, video, and HDD can all make that happen (though it's doubtful an HDD would freeze it in BIOS). Personally, from your description it sounds more like a loose connection or random grounding or something of that nature ...
2) Who knows about the PSU? You're on-site and looking at it but if the rails are all stable at idle I can't see where that would reboot from BIOS either.
3) If it locked in BIOS then it can't be the OS. There's something very wrong when a machine reboots from BIOS. Problem is, it could be almost anything. Have you checked how hot the chipsets and MOSFETs are while running? It would be very unusual but I guess it's possible.
My first question, especially if this is a new build, is the motherboard still in the case? If so, that's always my first move to trouble-shooting once I've gone through the basics as you did. There's no telling what might cause an intermittent ground on a newly built rig.
If it's still rebooting out of the case then it's R&R time - changing out one thing at a time and trying known good hardware instead. Anything can cause a problem like that if it's bad - board, CPU, RAM, video, and HDD can all make that happen (though it's doubtful an HDD would freeze it in BIOS). Personally, from your description it sounds more like a loose connection or random grounding or something of that nature ...
- Thread Starter
- #3
New information. It was running fine for 2 days, then today when I looked at it it was locking up again. Once in BIOS it gave bizarre readings. -1c chip and mobo temps, 16+v on the 12v line and all other voltages (ALL OTHER VOLTAGES) were reading at exactly 4.08v. 5v line, 5v standby, memory, core, everything else was listing at 4.08v. At this time I'm not sure what to think other than it's a ****ed mobo.
The mobo has 24+4 PSU connectors, the PSU has 20+4 connectors, not sure if that's relavent.
The mobo has 24+4 PSU connectors, the PSU has 20+4 connectors, not sure if that's relavent.
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- Dec 27, 2008
Does your friend have the latest bios installed on the board? It could be a bios issue and it could be a memory issue. To check the memory, run memtest86+ for several passes. It's considered the standard for ram testing as it pretty much isolates the ram from other potential problems. You can download the program; its free. Install it on a bootable CD or floppy and restart the computer with the disk in the drive so the computer boots right into memtest86+. You might also move his ram into another stable computer and stress it with Prime95.
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Never had a "good" psu read over 12v on the 12v line. Only cheap crappy ones.
While PSU MIGHT be the issue (especially if he juat added something to the PC) it could be something much simpler. I do not know nViida bios for AM2, so cant be helpful there.. but there is an option one would not normally thing of under io on the amd chipsets that causes the exact same problem on the A79A-S should be able to think of it tomorrow
CAnt think of it now and my rig is sorta not accesible at the moment so...
While PSU MIGHT be the issue (especially if he juat added something to the PC) it could be something much simpler. I do not know nViida bios for AM2, so cant be helpful there.. but there is an option one would not normally thing of under io on the amd chipsets that causes the exact same problem on the A79A-S should be able to think of it tomorrow
CAnt think of it now and my rig is sorta not accesible at the moment so...
- Thread Starter
- #7
He took it back to the place he bought it (they also installed it) and they found the problem. They installed it with a mobo standoff pressing against the mobo in a section where the mobo didn't have a mounting hole!!!! Idiots. Why it sometimes ran though I'm not sure. But I'm guessing it was making intermittent contact due to fan vibration.
QuietIce
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With something that messed up it really is the first thing that I do - especially a new build (see post #2).
I once ran a bigger than normal cable under a board and everything was fine for about a week, then I started having problems. Turns out the cable was just fat enough that one of the solder points worked it's way through the insulation over that week ...
I once ran a bigger than normal cable under a board and everything was fine for about a week, then I started having problems. Turns out the cable was just fat enough that one of the solder points worked it's way through the insulation over that week ...
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