cold boot problem

[f300rc]

Hi,

Spec:
AthlonXP 1600+ (temps are fine)
MSI K7T Pro2 RU (with latest bios)
256Mb PC2100 CAS2.5 (Crucial)
Creative 3D Blaster Geforce3 Ti200
Maxtor 40Gb (the newer one)
SBLive! 5.1
LiteOn 24x 10x 40x
Modem
Advance ATX-300 PSU (300w)


After it's been off for a while (like an hour), and in the morning the comp won't boot. First, fans start etc but the monitor stays in low power mode. After rebooting again it gets a bit further then stops, and everytime it restarts it gets a bit further, eventually after about 10 restarts booting WindowsXP Pro. When it's finally booted it works fine. It restarts fine everytime time. If it's only been off say 15mins it only takes one or two restarts to boot properly.

I?ve tried another 300w PSU (Advance ADV-300PTF) and the problem still occurs. The 5v and 12v are fine with both PSUs.

The computer was running fine for about a week with no problems before this happened.

Thanks

 

[DaiShan]

I don't have any clue but I will bump you how many fans are we talking about running? are they on molex or fan headers? did you change anything during the week that it worked? try a system rollback to when it was working?

 

[ConFuseMe]

I have a similar problem. After a cold boot it just freezes in dos mode while it's trying to boot into windows. If I let it just stay froze like that for 10-15 minutes then reboot it will make it into windows fine.
I don't know if you have the EXACT same problem, but mine is actually a via chipset issue. It started happening to me exactly when I updated my via 4in1 drivers to the latest version.
Did you by chance recently update to the latest Via 4in1 drivers?

 

[indianduddawg47]

did this always happen? did this happen before or after the bios flash?

 

[f300rc]

There's only two fans, the cpu and system and they're plugged into the fan headers.

I've tried another different 300w PSU (which in another system runs a KG7, T'bird 1.4, 256mb ddr, geforce2 pro, sblive, 2 network cards and 5 system fans with absolutely no problem) and it still doesn't cold boot, so i think i've ruled out the PSU really.

It's had the same 4in1's on since it was built.

It freezes before it gets to the loading windows part, in the post screens. After a few resets when it finally gets to the loading windows part it always works fine so i doubt doing anything with windows will help. If i stick a DOS boot disk in it still freezes at the post screens, but after reseting it a few times DOS boots fine.

The problem happened before i flashed the bios- i flashed it to try get rid of the problem.

I've tried to start the system without the HDD and CD-RW, a PCI gfx card, and different memory and it still doesn't work.

 

[RustyNale]

How new is the mobo? It almost sounds like a cracked trace on the mobo that once it starts to warm up, expands and closes the gap, making a connection. Hmmm, another thought, try reseating the cpu and ram. Make sure there isn't anything on the contacts. Take the cpu off and reinstall it several times-carefully. Pull your power connector to the mobo and closely check the contacts to see if there is any discoloring, anything that would look out of the ordinary.

 

[AreEss64]

If you turn it off and turn it right back on after it doesn't boot, does it boot? Have you tried flashing the BIOS back a version or two? I know the KT7-RAID WZ BIOS would do that.