System wont post half the time

[bdf24]

I know some of you have seen me post about this in the General Hardware forum. But I thought it was my PSU giving me troubles and bought a 431w Enermax. It did not fix the problem.

What's happening is about half the time I go to restart my system it will restart but then it wont post. Then I have to turn it on and off for any where between 2 to 30 times to get it to post. Or leave it sit for about a half an hour and then it will normally start up.

Like I said I bought a new psu, Tried a different cpu, I know it is the motherboard or the bios. A while back I had two PSU's running together and my son (1 years old) was shutting the system on and off. Well when I went to turn it back on it would not even power up. I had to take one of the psu's out and found some of the the four prong PSU connecters were Burnt, and brown, one even melted together! Ever since then I have gotten it to work but had problems. I get lockups during bios updates sometimes, Bios checksum errors, and no posts. Or sometimes when I restart I'll lose my AGP card. Then I have to shut it off and back on to get it to go again.

Do you think a new bios chip would fix it or do you think I need a new motherboard?

By the way it is FUC@%$# imposible to get a hold of anyone at Abit corp! And it's really pissing me off!

 

[DaveB]

Geez, there's no way you could possibly need a 431W PS for that system!

If the PS molex connectors were burnt, you had some serious power spikes going throughout your system, and that includes the motherboard. So, I'd say it's highly likely your mobo has been damaged. I think you certainly needed a new PS (not 431W!), but if I were you I would go for a new motherboard at this point. I don't see why only the BIOS chip would have been affected.

Don't expect any support from Abit. With the possible exception of Asus, they have the worst support you can get. I won't buy any Abit or Asus products because of their lack of any concern for their customers. Just putting out numerous BIOS upgrades isn't support. Plus, if the Abit and Asus board were so well designed and manufactured, they wouldn't need that many BIOS upgrades in the first place.

 

[bdf24]

You really think a 431w PSU is too much for a system with 2 Hard drives, 2 CDRW's, 3 80mm case fans, PIII Alpha cooler w/2 60mm fans and an 86w peltier? Not to mention the V5 AGP which is a power hog on its own. As well as a USB Intelli Mouse, As well as two USB game pads.

And even if it is, I dont call it overkill. I call it expandable!

 

[Valafar]

It's not really overkill. If the system doesn't need the power, then the PSU won't give it. It's not like hooking up 3 1.5V batteried for a total of 4.5V to 1 1.5V light bulb. The PSU only gives enough power as needed, so ther isn't much chance of "over-powering" your system. It's kinda like a regulator on your car's alternator.

 

[bdf24]

I think I may have fixed it.
A while back I had my system lock up in the middle of a bios update!
Well I took the bios chip off the board cause I thought I would have to hot flash it. I ended up putting the chip back in and taking the system over to my parents house to get a new bios update of the internet and try to reflash the chip. Well it took me about 20 different times of flashing before I could get one to work.

Well I just tore apart the whole system again and inspected everything really close. When I noticed one side of the bios chip sticking up higher then the other side. I pushed it tight and plugged everything in and it hasnt had a problem yet.

I'll have to wait and see awhile. I have had it go a day or so without doing it. But I think that is what the problems was the chip wasnt seated tight enough. Thats why some of the bios updates I would try lately would fail. Also I noticed if I would push on the board it would post. When I was pushing on the board it was causing the pins of the bios chip to make a better connection (i hope).

I let you guys know how it turns out.