[deuce]

Hi, I'm having trouble booting my desktop.

I drove home for the holidays and brought my desktop with because my sister has two hard drives that need data recovery due to corrupted FAT tables, and I need to fix a windows issue that I don't otherwise have time with...

Anyway, this build is recent--from late September. I still have the box that the case came in, so I packed it up in that Friday. Then I drove to my fiance's parent's house for two nights, and drove to my parent's house today. In-between my house and my parents house my desktop was in my car and obviously was subjected to cold weather. However, I think the most extreme temperature would have been no lower than 0F. (The high/lows have been about 18/5F) This should rule out any problems due to low temperatures, as the power supply is rated for storage down to -20F and the mother board is either -20 or -40.


The problem is I can't get it to POST. 2 or 3 seconds after I turn it on it shuts off for about 2 seconds and restarts, and continues this process indefinitely. I have everything disconnected except the motherboard, cpu, ram and video card and it does the same thing.


These are the relevant specs:

PS: Zalman ZM500-HP (500W)

M/B: ASUS P5KC

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6750 OC @3.5Ghz

Video card: Gigabyte 8600GT Fanless (GV-NX86T256D)

4GB DDR2 800 GSkill


73GB Raptor
2x 1 TB Seagate
Samsung SATA DVDRW




I have no idea what could have changed from point A to B. The only thing that makes sense is if the cold could have damaged the motherboard or the PSU, but it did not get cold enough. (not to mention that there should have been some insulation keeping the temp a little above ambient) Seeing as how it was packed in the box for the case, with the original styrofoam, I don't think that was an issue.


Any ideas?

[Litehawk]

That almost sounds like my problem I have with my ASUS in a topic in this board right here >_>

[deuce]

Do you have a link?

[Litehawk]

...its right below yours...

[Flags]

deuce: Bringing a cold metal object into a warm environment will cause condensation.
Take the side off the PC and see if there is any moisture inside. Use a heater to completely dry it out.
While you're in there check that all cards and sticks are secure in their slots, and all connections are tight.
You also might try using chkdsk /r and fixboot in recovery console.

[bs953]

Did you remove the mobo? or just pack case and all? Also the other thing asus doesn't like is one grounded out? two possibly the monitor, your mobo may not be happy with that. I didn't notice you said anything about packing you monitor along with it? Try another monitor, try F8 at start up and launch in vga mode, also sometimes just simply getting it to boot to disk will correct wierd crap like this. For example pop in your xp cd (you have one right?) get it to boot to that and then just hard shut down. Not nice but has worked for me in the past with Asus.

[focussys]

Sounds like the reset button is stuck on or its line is shorted to ground under the motherboard.

[deuce]

ringing a cold metal object into a warm environment will cause condensation.

I waited a few hours before even unpacking it; also, it was in my car which was at room temperature for 5 hours while driving, so the only time it had been subjected to the elements any time before opening it was the 5 minutes it spent while the engine was off and I unpacked my car.

Anyway, the metal case was not cold to the touch when I turned it on.

Take the side off the PC and see if there is any moisture inside.

I don't see any moisture in there. It has had 18 hours to dry out and is still doing the same thing.

While you're in there check that all cards and sticks are secure in their slots, and all connections are tight.

I haven't tried this yet, but I will shortly. In any case, the whole point of bring it in the box and securing it in my car was so that it sustained minimal jarring. We'll see, though.

Did you remove the mobo?

I didn't remove the m/b. I unhooked the connections at my house, pulled out the original plastic and styrofoam, wrapped it up like the case was when I received it in Sept, and dropped it into the box.

I didn't notice you said anything about packing you monitor along with it?

I didn't bring a monitor with me, as there are plenty here. I have only tried it with one, a Viewsonic 17" flat tube, but I am seeing the same thing happen if I have no monitor connected. For the record, the only thing I brought with me was the tower and everything in it as I had it installed previously.



I'll be back in a minute to finish replying ...

[deuce]

Try another monitor, try F8 at start up and launch in vga mode, also sometimes just simply getting it to boot to disk will correct wierd crap like this.

Well, it won't stay on long enough to do anything. Also, video doesn't make it to the monitor before restarting. If the monitor is on, the standby LED doesn't do anything after turning on the computer, and there is no other sign of activity. This being said; trying F8, starting in VGA and booting with a windows install disc are not things I can try at the moment. It literally is only on for 5 seconds.

Sounds like the reset button is stuck on or its line is shorted to ground under the motherboard.

I'll try disconnecting the reset and re-seating it, but I don't see how it could have moved or shifted.

Thanks for all of the replies. Keep it coming!

[bs953]

I can go with the reset button deal....try another video card? maybe in the pci slot? or use onboard video if you have it. Also you can hit the power button and at the same time hit and hold the F8 button or the DEL button sometimes that will get you around the restart too fast to think deal.

[deuce]

I pulled out the battery and reset the CMOS, and that seems to have done it. I remembered that ASUS gets really funny with over clocking and has a ton of fail safe features to prevent frying components. Whatever may have caused this to start, resetting the CMOS wiped out the OC settings and it seems to have worked.


I am a little worried, though. When I was unplugging things I forgot that the CPU fan is controlled by an external controller--because no matter what the motherboard sets the CPU fan to max automatically, which is really loud--and I had unplugged the controller at one point. I ended up trying to boot several times before noticing the CPU fan wasn't coming on. Hopefully the 4 seconds it was on wasn't enough to do real damage. Things seem ok so far.

[deuce]

Temps seem ok; 26/27C under no load with core temp beta. I think this is correct, because Intel TAT says 11/12 which means core temp is adding the 15 correctly. Even if 41/42 were really the correct temp, I would probably be ok.

So it seems the time it spent trying to turn on without a CPU fan didn't do any damage. I don't think any thing else could have been damaged, so it looks like everything it good.

[Tomtheman70]

Originally Posted by deuce

Temps seem ok; 26/27C under no load with core temp beta. I think this is correct, because Intel TAT says 11/12 which means core temp is adding the 15 correctly. Even if 41/42 were really the correct temp, I would probably be ok.

So it seems the time it spent trying to turn on without a CPU fan didn't do any damage. I don't think any thing else could have been damaged, so it looks like everything it good.

I don't believe that even having your computer on for a minute without a fan would cause any serious damage.... Wouldn't the computer shut itself down before it would pop the chip?
I'm pretty sure my ASUS motherboard has some sort of "BIG RED BUTTON" that it will push if the CPU temps get way above normal.

[deuce]

Well, analog temp sensors on motherboards can't accurately take the temp of core 2 duo cpus. You need specific software that reads the digital sensor on the die in the cpu and then it still needs to add 15F to give an accurate read out. So any fail safe mechanism in the bios won't be able to shut down the computer in the event that the chip overheats. If I check the bios temp reading of my cpu it usually says 7C, which is way below ambient room temp.


I guess the question would be if the short time the computer was on in-between restarting several times was enough to do anything, and it didn't appear so.

[Rumpel]

Originally Posted by deuce

...
I guess the question would be if the short time the computer was on in-between restarting several times was enough to do anything, and it didn't appear so.

I wouldn't have thought you'd have any problem as long as the heatsink hadn't been disturbed. The fan doesn't do anything useful re cooling the CPU until the temperature in the heatsink has started to climb. My guess is that the CPU wouldn't fry until the heatsink was at least uncomfortably warm to the touch at the base. (But yes -- operate a computer without a heatsink, and the CPU will fry in seconds if there isn't an adequate thermal protection cutoff.)

(A hint if you're using your fingers to check the temperature of a heatsink: it's less painful to burn the back of your finger than a fingertip. And sometimes heatsinks get hotter than you expect.)