cold (temperature) boot of XP gives blue screen. What is the most likely cause?

[Fat Tone]

When the machine is first switched on, just as XP gets to the desktop, it will give a BSOD (different error messages). I hit reset, reboot and then get the 'windows has recovered from a serious error' message. Then all is fine. This machine will run PCBench np, and 3dmark2k1se all night without a hiccup.

I'm guessing RAM is the likely culprit. Any suggestions please? This is a high profile machine that I need to fix asap.

TIA

Tony.

Machine spec: M810LMR (onboard audio, modem, lan used, gfx not), Duron 1.1G, 256 MB PC133, 40Gig GXP, Liteon 401248, GF2MX440. Win XP Pro, all latest updates.

[Greebe]

Replace the MB

[Fat Tone]

Please lets not turn this into a 'pc-chips is shite' thread. Think ECS.

[SteveC]

If you think it's the RAM, then that's the cheapest thing to swap out to try.

I'd replace the board too, and think ECS? I've seen bad things with those too....

[Dr Mordrid]

Be specific: which ECS ones were "bad". As far as the K7S5A and K7S6A goes they are anything but.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fat Tone]

Please guys, don't let this thread go where so many have gone before. I nearly didn't even mention the mobo type as I knew this would happen.

I'm interested in what people's experiences are to see what's most likely in these circumstances. If people say 'mobo' regardless of brand then fair-enough, I just know pc-chips/ecs gets people shouting.

peace.

T.

[Wombat]

Please guys, don't let this thread go where so many have gone before. I nearly didn't even mention the mobo type as I knew this would happen.

That doesn't make much sense. You knew it was a shoddy brand, so you didn't mention it? The problem is likely either a cold solder joint, or some bad capacitance somwhere. What happens if the machine is left running for a while, then immediately shut down and cold-booted?

[rugger]

Originally posted by Tony Andrews
Please guys, don't let this thread go where so many have gone before. I nearly didn't even mention the mobo type as I knew this would happen.

I'm interested in what people's experiences are to see what's most likely in these circumstances. If people say 'mobo' regardless of brand then fair-enough, I just know pc-chips/ecs gets people shouting.

peace.

T.

Shut up and replace the motherboard DAMNIT already :P BE TOLD!!

You say, don't turn this thread into a PCchips flamefest, but what did you honestly expect.

I just can't understand people. They buy crap hardware, then expect other people to sort out their problems. (I know hardware rating is pretty subjective, but PCchips are known ONLY for their crappiness)

There is a good reason people turn any thread mentioning PCchips motherboards turns into a PCchips abusing free-for-all. They are terrible boards even when applied against the lowest standards, and many people (including you) have been burned by them.

Get a decent motherboard first, and you might have a snowballs chance in hell of getting a stable system. Apart from your motherboard, you seem to have fairly decent components, so I can't see any of those being the problem.

[Fat Tone]

Rob

I said that because I would like unbiased opinions. My own personal experience with PC-Chips has been very good. Recently I've seen better & better opinions of pc-chips/ecs. Sure there are some with problems. I've done a lot of searching for these symptoms (wrt to the mobo) and not yet found a single simillar fault.
I respect the opinions of a lot of folks on this board (yourself included), but many seem polarised re pc-chips.

I'm prepared to be corrected, and if this turns out to be the mobo then so be it. Swapping that is my last resort though as I can find alternatives for everything else, and it will be another 10 days before I can get to the suppliers or do the postal thing..

As regards repeated cold-boots: admittedly on a limited statistic, it only seems to happen when it hasn't been on for a long time.

Regards

Tony.

[rugger]

Ah, sorry about being so harsh Tony

It just seems whenever someone has a weird hardware problem, they are using some crap motherboard or some other easily identifiable hardware device that would be better off in a toxic waste dump.

[Fat Tone]

np rugger, it's only what I expected

I guess by tomorrow night either I'll be eating my hat, or you will be eating yours.

T.

[rugger]

What sauce do you want with your hat....

BTW, you may also want to check your power supply, but I doubt its the problem.

Anyway, at the very least, by having a decent and reliable motherboard, you will have:

* A faster computer.
* A more stable computer.
* A computer that can ACTUALLY be troubleshooted without driving people insane.

[Nuno]

Power Supply. I´ve seen a similar problem that was fixed by changing the power supply. It was a "pcpartner" motherboard + p166MMX, and the cheap mobo was also the suspect nº 1.

[Fat Tone]

Originally posted by rugger
[B]What sauce do you want with your hat....

why HP Sauce of course, its a great British Sauce

I'll have a spare PSU to hand when testing tomorrow, but it was not causing any problems in my main system where it was for the last 3 months. I swapped it over because the one that came with the case is 375Watts - way overkill for this.

T.

[Wombat]

The other thing to do is try warming the system with a hair dryer before you start it. A cold solder joint would be mechanical, but cap problems would be electrical, and unaffected by the heat.