Not a philosophical question, distinctly component related. I've started getting some odd errors with my PC over the past few months: * Cold boot with USB joystick plugged in causes POST loop * Putting system to sleep results in POST loop on waking, requires a hard restart to get working again * Leaving the system on for a long period of time (>24 hours ish) results in a POST loop on the _next_ restart which can only be resolved by unplugging the PC from the mains. * Leaving the system on for a longish period of times (> 12 hours) results in my boot SSD drive not being picked up on the _next_ restart, requiring more mains unplugging. I'm guessing it's either the motherboard or the PSU which is on it's way to being toast as it looks to be power related. But which one? I'm using the whole thing as an excuse to upgrade to Sandy Bridge anyway, but I would like to reuse as many parts as possible for the new build and the CPU & RAM to update my antiquated Athlon 3500+ based server so I need to know what's broken. Off the top of my head the current setup is GA-EP35-UD3R mobo 500W PSU (brand/model escape me) E8400 @ stock speeds 4Gb PC6400 RAM HD4890 GPU 120Gb Corsair SSD boot drive 640 Gb data drive, some flavour of WD. Any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated.
I would lean slightly towards it being the motherboard. You could try putting the PSU into the server and seeing if anything strange happens - probably not a good idea though. If the server's PSU is ~450W you could try using that one and testing the joystick and sleep error conditions. I probably wouldn't want to stress the poor thing out with a 12 hour test though. On the whole it's probably safer to buy a cheap C-IT PSU that could run the Sandy Bridge setup you're considering (I know they're bargain basement, but we've got quite a few at work and they've all been fine). Even if you don't use it on the final Sandy system it's always handy to have a spare power supply lying around.
If it's usb related it might be the south bridge chip on the way out. Misbehaving USB's is usually one of the first signs.
Bulldogjeff makes a good point. Are problems 2-4 still present if you've got no joystick plugged in (or possibly no USB at all)? If unplugging all USB fixes the problem then a new USB card would be quite a cheap fix.
Thanks for the feedback chaps, that is a good point re: the spare PSU, I might well do that. The problems are still there without the joystick plugged in but I have a USB mouse which I'll need to switch out for a test, I'll try it tonight. Again I have had some minor grief with that too requiring me to switch USB ports periodically to get it to work. To add insult to injury I just had to rebuild the OS as I got an unrecoverable BSOD PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED over the weekend - which can apparently be related to the disk subsystem - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff559142(v=vs.85).aspx. Might be totally unrelated ofc but given I've been having problems with the boot SSD not being recognised.... ?
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening," for whom someone "proposes a toast" to congratulate and for whom a third person "toasts" in agreement. The ritual forms the basis of the literary and performance genre, of which Mark Twain's "To the Babies" is a well-known example.[1] The toast as described here is rooted in Western culture, but certain cultures outside that sphere have their own traditions in which consuming a drink is connected with ideas of celebration and honor. While the physical and verbal ritual of the toast may be elaborate and formal, merely raising one's glass towards someone or something and then drinking is essentially a toast as well, the message being one of goodwill towards the person or thing indicated.
Just thinking outside the box........ when you kill the power to the computer do you leave it plugged in and turned on or do you leave it off at the socket. If you completely turn it off have you considered replacing the BIOS battery? Long shot but I have known computers loop as the battery cannot maintain enough power to keep the settings active on the BIOS. For a couple of quid may be worth a shot? Used to happen to my Dads old AMD system.
No, it remains on at the socket, interesting idea though. It was completely turning it off that solved the looping. Update re: USB testing, I left it in sleep mode overnight with no USB devices plugged in at all and it woke up fine this morning - something it had not been doing for the past six months or so. I've plugged in the USB mouse again and sent it back to sleep for the day while I'm at work for a double blind test - I had to completely reinstall Windows at the weekend because of my BSOD so I want to rule that out too. FWIW the PSU is a Seasonic S12II-500W
Sounds like it might be a good idea to get a new PSU for the next build anyway, even if it's actually a dodgy mobo causing the problems now.
Yes I might well do that. I was doing some calculations last night and with the components I have it appears as though if I'm going to overclock (and who wouldn't with a 2500k) I'm right on the raggedy edge of power with a 500W PSU.
OK now I'm confused. It woke quite happily with the USB mouse plugged in this time having been left all day. Rebooted and again, completely fine. Both scenarios which would have caused me problems previously. Could reinstalling Windows really have an effect on the system's ability to POST successfully or to recognise my SSD on boot? The only difference I have now between how it was when it was crashing and the current setup is I haven't re-enabled AHCI mode in the BIOS - I could only install in IDE mode as it wouldn't boot from the DVD unless set to IDE mode. The next thing to test I guess...
So, re-enabling AHCI caused the SSD recoginition failure on boot again. I don't know whether that is the source of my weird POST problems as well though as I haven't enabled the AHCI drivers in Windows so I just get the 0x7b STOP when I attempt to boot. Those cannot be related to the SSD though - I was having the POST loop issues before the SSD was even a hole in my wallet. What are the implications of leaving AHCI off? Anything much? I'm tempted to leave it as it is for now...
