MSI K8N rebooting!! Help

[FFactory0x]

My brother just called me and before the game tonight he shut down his computer. He jusrt restarted it and it wont boot. It gets to a screen saying windows wasnt shut down properly blah blah blah. Start normally, start in safe mode, etc. What ever he chooses the computer reboots and does the same thing.
He said the lights are all changing colors but the top left led is red. Whats this mean. He is using a good 400-450 antec ps.

 

[mechBgon]

What's his firewall + antivirus situation, and can you provide more spec?

 

[FFactory0x]

hmm im not sure on that one.

specs a64 3200+
9700pro
mushkin pc3200 value 2x512mb

winxp pro

 

[FFactory0x]

ok i ran memtest 1 pass no errors. The sata hitachi however reboots when windows is loading. Any other time it doesnt restart weather it be a test or running winxp install again. Only after i choose to eiter boot into safe mode or what ever. BTW i go into bios and temps are around 52-55c with stock cooler. WTF!!!! Is the drive bad?

 

[GN]

BTW i go into bios and temps are around 52-55c with stock cooler. WTF!!!! Is the drive bad?

Whats the BIOS version? I had 1.2 when I was setting up my new rig, and I was getting the same temp readings. I upgraded to BIOS 1.4, and my temps dropped 15c. It rarely goes over 40 now.

 

[amdguy]

u mean the lights on the diagnostic LED bracket?

You have to refer to the manual to interpret what the error message means.

is the RAM certified for the board? A64 can be very picky about ram.

How about the cooling? did he botch up the driver install?

I have the K8N board too, its great but if u mess up one part of the equation, it will be hell!

U MUST install the driver in this order

SP2 --> Nvidia Chipset driver --> Vid card ---> soundcard

 

[Hajime]

My money is on a Windows-specific problem.

Slap a junk drive in there, install Windows on it. If it works fine, he fragged his Windows installation

 

[cubanx]

Corrupted Windows OS probaly.

I had the same problem three weeks ago after I installed or removed something(Driver I think) in windows XP and rebooted later. After that it would just shutdown & reboot everytime the XP splashscreen showed up. I had to do a fresh install of windows over itself. Repairing a previous windows install did not work for me but might for your brother.

I could not enter safe mode "with networking" but safe mode "without networking" worked so I could back up my local settings in the windows directory atleast.

 

[FFactory0x]

Originally posted by: amdguy
u mean the lights on the diagnostic LED bracket?

You have to refer to the manual to interpret what the error message means.

is the RAM certified for the board? A64 can be very picky about ram.

How about the cooling? did he botch up the driver install?

I have the K8N board too, its great but if u mess up one part of the equation, it will be hell!

U MUST install the driver in this order

SP2 --> Nvidia Chipset driver --> Vid card ---> soundcard

The leds are solid green meaning something else is wrong i guessing

 

[FFactory0x]

Originally posted by: amdguy
u mean the lights on the diagnostic LED bracket?

You have to refer to the manual to interpret what the error message means.

is the RAM certified for the board? A64 can be very picky about ram.

How about the cooling? did he botch up the driver install?

I have the K8N board too, its great but if u mess up one part of the equation, it will be hell!

U MUST install the driver in this order

SP2 --> Nvidia Chipset driver --> Vid card ---> soundcard

It has been running fine for 2 months

 

[FFactory0x]

Yea. Nothing works. It reboots at windows splash screen. BTW cubanx, thats exactly what happenes except i cant even do safe mode with networking. Now i tried a repair bu it asks me to insert a disk. What disc is it talking about???? Am i doing it correctly. I hit f2 for automated.

Lastley i loaded a sata drive and it said it was examinig my 160gb hardrvie for like 7-10 min with nothing happening. Is this normal

 

[Hajime]

Remove the old hd, put in a new one, try reinstalling Windows then if Windows won't let you get past examining the old hd.

My money is that you fragged your Windows install completely.

 

[FFactory0x]

Well it was fine and he shut down the computer then this. Yea i feel its fragged