AK31 Revision 3.1 Two power cycles required!

[fatboy]

I turn on the computer, fans etc all start up and I can see the LED's on my CDROM's flash. The HDD light stays on (a concern).
The system never posts - simple silence and no video signal (ok, reminds me to check that the internal speaker is plugged in correctly).

Hold the power button for 5 seconds (to turn off), wait 2 and apply power again and everything boots as normal. Note that "Reset" will not help, only a second cold power cycle.

I occasionally have a similar problem when I try to "reboot" from Windows XP as well.

This is becoming a pain........ anyone have any suggestions?

Specs:

[email protected] overclocked from 1400MHZ. 133MHZ Bus
1.5GB Ram (ok I got 3 sticks when they were $55 each last year)
2x120GB Drives
GeForce3 Ti200 Video card

 

[juliendogg]

mine did that if the o/c was pushed a bit to far, i assumed in my system that it was due to the psu, the higher voltage/speed i put out to the processor, the lower my 5v rail goes. too low and i get random reboots as well as the problem you've described. i just backed off my o/c a bit, no more problems

 

[BBigJ]

Weird. I've heard a lot of people with a similar problem, but yours is different in two ways,
1) Most people have the problem when their fsb is in the 140's
2) The reset button always works to get a boot..

Don't know what to tell you, sorry.

 

[fatboy]

Thanks for the advice.

It actually booted up ok this morning. It almost seems that the CPU needs to warm up a bit before it starts correctly. Although that doesn't explain why the "Windows/Restart" sometimes fails as well - but this may be a different issue.

I'll try a couple of things:-

1. See it things work ok at default clock speed
(I guess this one is a no brainer - I'd almost forgotten that
I'd overclocked it!)
2. Try giving a bit more voltage.
I have done the voltage mod and have a Galaciator II cooler.

I'll have to remember to change the BIOS settings each evening and keep records of what happens with the boot in the morning. It will take a few days to get some data.........

 

[fuzzba11]

It's definitely due to the CPU, you're rather lucky that it started up again, because the no POST situation you described normally means a dead processor! Definitely check it at stock speeds

 

[TheFrag]

I'd clear the CMOS if you havent already

 

[nihili]

Ok, I've been having a similar problem and just figured it out.

Whenever the computer was truned off for a substantial period, it wouldn't reboot. Generally some combination of reset, reboot, unplugging etc. would eventually get it to work, and once booted it was stable and I could reboot it with no problem. Since I leave my computer on 24/7 this hasn't been a huge issue for me, but I've noticed that it's gotten worse over time. Finally it just stopped rebooting altogether.

I use a PAL8045 heatsink with the standoffs that go through the motherboard. On careful inspection I noticed that one of the nylon washers had damaged the board. It had broken some sort of electrical thingamajig labelled "L63" - a tiny tiny piece. The piece was supposed to bridge two contacts on the board, but the washer had knocked one contact loose.

I have verified that this was in fact the problem by temporarily reattaching the piece with conductive ink. THe board now boots on the first try with no problems. If I were good at soldering, I'd simply resolder the piece and be on my merry way. Instead I've ordered a new board and will gently use this one while I wait.

Hope that helps,

nihili

 

[fatboy]

I appreciate everyone's help here.

The problem seems to have gone away for the moment! This is going to be a real pain to diagnose.........

I expect that there may be some problem with the contacts on the board. Interestingly, I replaced my modem around a week ago and the process of doing this may have have "temporarily" fixed the problem (i.e. a slight flexing of the board).

 

[LiquidSquirt]

NIHILI.................I did the same thing with mine and I resoldered the little chip back on and it worked fine.
Then after about a weeek I decided to change my block to another that I just finished making and I forgot to put the supporting plate on the back of the MB and I tightened the Block down using the four holes............After about 2 weeks it started doing the same thing again. So i took off the block and pulled out the mobo and looked at it under a jewelers scope aand discovered that I apparently cracked the PCB and the socket by applying too much pressure with the block, and the MB bent until it just cracked both the PCB around the socket and the socket itself.
I had to buy another board to replace it and its been working like a charm ever since then.

SIDENOTE: Ive just ordered an AK37 board to replace my old AK31. Seems like an awsome board for the price. I just hope the AK37 is as reliable as my AK31 has been, as I wont be upgrading for another year or so.