Where Do I Start ?

[Debbie]

I have changed my 478 BOBO for a "new" one. Since installing this MOBO, most of the
time I will have to push the reset button after a restart or starting.

There will be no error messages displayed and most of the time the machine will not
POST untill the reset button has been pushed. After booting the machine is absolutly
steady and fast.

Any ideas about this "restarting" problem ?

[The PIT]

Need more details what is the motherboard what is the other hardware??

My first port of call would be removing everything bar memory and video card and see what happens.

Have you googled this for this motherboard have you been to manufactures website and checked for bios updates??

[Debbie]

Tis is a A-Open 478 MX4SGI-N MOBO. Their site is not all that helpfull and almost nothing
about this MOBO since it is now discontinued.

The video card is ATI A-I-W Radeon 9800 with video capturing SE (the reason I opted again for a 478).
Audigy SB.
1Gb RAM.
2 HDDs x 120 Gb, Maxtor.
Pioneer DVD reader.
Pioneer DVD writer.
Floppy drive.
Both on board audio and video are disabled.
Latest BIOS

[Evildead666]

What cpu, power supply please ?
and any cooling ?

[Debbie]

Sory, CPU Intel P4 3Ghz, FSB 800 - PSU EMERMAX 350W - Cooling 4 80x80 fans

[Evildead666]

It would seem to me to be some sort of power issue, be it the motherboard power section, or the PSU itself.
I suppose that the PSU was the PSU you had in your last PC, and was working fine.
Therefore I would put it down to the motherboard.
I think its the same CPU as before also ?

Try checking the voltages in the BIOS to see if everything is normal, and during windows also. idle and full load.
If there are any instabilities there, it should be visible.

edit : you might want to try a BIOS flash, to the latest available BIOS ?

[Debbie]

Thanks for the tips, guys. It must be a hardware prblem probably the MOBO since I have
the latest BIOS and I'm still using the same PSU. The only other thing could be is perhaps
the CPU since that is a recent buy from an eBay second hand seller. I'll have to check out
if the fault appears when I change to my old CPU which has been working fine.

[Claymonkey]

Have you tried unplugging anything you don't need for just a test? Try and get it down to just the CPU, MB, ram (two sticks? swap?), and one hard drive. and graphics of course. and if you have another cheapo graphics card give that a whirl. The point of this is to minimize it to the bare minimum to make sure it's not faulty hardware and minimize power draw. Any one of those parts could have gone bad since the last computer and touching them just wrong could have shorted them and made them bad. It rarely ever happens but it does happen. Also what kind of thermal paste did you use on the cpu? Did you apply it thick? Is it one of the silver metal ones? did it start hitting contacts? Some of them are conductive. If you did clean it with rubbing alcohol and qtips/paper towels (gentle!!!!)

Does that MB have a section in the bios that tells you what each kind of power type (5v, 12v) is drawing? If any of them deviate from what they should be or go up and down a lot.. yeah the PSU is going.