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**schmosef** · 1 September 2004, 18:13

Whenever I've experienced what you are describing it was always power supply related. However, you've just made a lot of changes so it's hard to rule any of those out too.

Do you have another power supply to test with?

**Helevitia** · 1 September 2004, 18:18

Everytime I've ran into that issue was due to BIOS. Have you upgraded the BIOS?

Dave

**Wombat** · 1 September 2004, 18:40

What if you try a warm reset?

**schmosef** · 1 September 2004, 18:42

An interesting point Helevitia.

BIOS is definitely a factor on warm booting but I was assuming cold booting.

**Beezer** · 1 September 2004, 19:20

Problem has only occurred on Cold Boots -- of course I think I've only done a warm reset about 10 times during this project. I was not really suspecting the Bios because my kid used that board and version of Bios for about 3 years without that problem occurring. However, I do know that there are at least a couple newer versions of Bios available.
Unfortunately I do not have another power supply to try, so I would have to go out and buy one in hopes it would solve the problem. I can probably find a power supply pretty cheap, but I was trying to do this upgrade for them with as little cash spent as possible. So far I've only put $9 into it (case fan).
I guess I should try the bios upgrade, but to be honest bios upgrades kinda scare me for some reason. I've done it once a long time ago and had no problems, but it just seems too easy to mess things up big time.
I actually had this thing boxed up and ready to ship back to them (they live in Idaho) thinking they could live with the issue... but my conscience tells me I have to fix this.

**Beezer** · 2 September 2004, 06:50

Well, I cycled through about 10 (warm) resets without a problem... so I guess it's off to Fry's at lunch today to buy a new power supply.

**Wombat** · 2 September 2004, 08:47

Another thing to try would be delaying the boot until after HD spinup.

But yeah, the PSU sounds a little weak.

**Beezer** · 2 September 2004, 18:19

Well, unfortunately it wasn't the power supply. I put in a brand new 350 watt unit and still got a failure.

Next thing I noticed was the HighPoint Controller drivers never got loaded so I found the floppy disk that had them and loaded them. I don't really think this helped, but we'll see.

So... next I guess I'll go with the bios update. Does anyone think the CMOS battery needs replacing?

Also, I see in the CMOS setup an option to Enable/Disable "Quick Power On Self Test". Should I try disabling this? Wombat: is this what you meant about delay boot until after HD spin up? There's also a setting labelled "Delay IDE Intial" ... do I enter a couple seconds here?

I also noticed the AGP Aperture Size was set to 256. I'm using a GF3 Ti200 64MB card. Do you think this setting being too high is a potential problem?

**Beezer** · 2 September 2004, 18:21

Also, now twice I've gotten a "double beep" and then an automatic power down. What's up with that?

**Ribbit** · 2 September 2004, 18:38

Originally posted by Beezer
So... next I guess I'll go with the bios update. Does anyone think the CMOS battery needs replacing?

Also, I see in the CMOS setup an option to Enable/Disable "Quick Power On Self Test". Should I try disabling this? Wombat: is this what you meant about delay boot until after HD spin up? There's also a setting labelled "Delay IDE Intial" ... do I enter a couple seconds here?

I also noticed the AGP Aperture Size was set to 256. I'm using a GF3 Ti200 64MB card. Do you think this setting being too high is a potential problem?

If the machine is keeping its CMOS settings and the clock isn't acting funky (losing/gaining lots of time when switched off), the battery is probably fine.

"Quick Power On Self Test" skips some tests at startup. I'd turn it on - it'll make the boot go a bit slower, and who knows, perhaps a test will catch something.

"Delay IDE Initial" is very likely what Wombat was talking about - throw in a couple of seconds and see if it helps.

I very much doubt AGP aperture is an issue here. FWIW, I like to set it to twice my video card memory.

To diagnose the double-beep/power-down, you'll have to find a BIOS reference (what BIOS is it? Phoenix? Award?) and/or a POST diagnostic card.

**Beezer** · 4 September 2004, 09:26

Well, I think I'm pretty much "hosed". I posted the symptoms at the Abit Forums, and everyone was pretty certain it was "capacitor failures" on the board. Even though I see no signs of bulging or leaking capacitors. They say it's pretty typical of the Abit BE6 boards.

Now I need a replacement board that will work with the 850MHz slot 1 PIII that I have. Any suggestions?

**Wombat** · 4 September 2004, 10:23

Why a replacement board? Why not just replace the capacitors? It used to be a common thing around here.

**schmosef** · 4 September 2004, 11:07

If it's only happening about 1 in 10 times you try to power up, maybe your in-laws can live with it. Otherwise, it's going to be hard to find a replacement board. Their requirements are obviously modest, maybe an ultra cheap Dell or Gateway is a better bet.

**Wombat** · 4 September 2004, 12:31

Originally posted by schmosef
If it's only happening about 1 in 10 times you try to power up, maybe your in-laws can live with it.

Not if it's the caps. They're going to continue degrading, and the computer will be useless in weeks or months, and the caps may explode when they go.

I didn't find the parts numbers on a MURC search, but here's an article: http://hardware.ausgamers.com/?agn=review&id=251211

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