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system no longer booting

Last post 11-18-2008, 6:46 PM by LeonTheProfessional. 4 replies.
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  •  11-18-2008, 12:08 PM 425540

    system no longer booting

    Hello All,

    I built this system back in the Spring and it's been running fine, until recently.  Mobo ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard, AMD Phenom 9600, 2 x SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP.  One thing is that I did use some parts from my old computer when building the system, i.e. an IDE Hard Drive, DVD R/W and CD R/W optical drives.  I had to use an adapter for IDE to SATA connection for the old hard drive.

    I was putting in some new RAM last week, OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500), and also moved my 2nd ATI Radeon 3870 Graphics card to the second blue slot (I had it in the black slot which turns out is not x16) and when I closed the case up to try to boot up, it wouldn't boot into windows and didn't appear to be accessing the hard drive.  So opened it back up and noticed the HD adapter had become unseated.  While I had the case open it would boot to windows, but not when the case was closed, and after several attempts would no longer boot either way.

    So I decided to go ahead and order a new HD, Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive figuring the adapter may be fried and it's way past time to get a new drive anyway.  I have it installed, it still doesn't work.  With the case closed, it will boot into windows setup but not with the case closed.

    Also, in both scenarios, I don't see any of the boot sequence on the screen when the case is closed, but I do when it's open.

    Any suggestions?

    Thanks.

    System Specs
    Budget:VGA:2xSAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI-EMonitor:Dell Ultrasharp 20" Flat Panel
    MB:ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMDOS:Windows XP SP3Browser:
    CPU:AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-CoreSound:OnboardCPU Pps:
    Memory:OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PPSU:HIPER Type M HPU-4M780 780WBrand:
    HD:Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Cooling:Fan Cooling in CaseMisc:
  •  11-18-2008, 1:40 PM 425621 in reply to 425540

    Re: system no longer booting

    What case are you using? It sounds like the case is causing a short somewhere, somehow coming into contact with a component (possibly your motherboard?) and preventing it from operating properly.

    Have you tried booting with only one stick installed? Some motherboards don't support 4GB right out of the box and you may need to update your BIOS, but I would imagine that this particular motherboard wouldn't have that problem.


  •  11-18-2008, 3:17 PM 425674 in reply to 425540

    Re: system no longer booting

    I agree with Leon...if it is consistent when you close the case door = short.  A very weird and hard to envision short.  Hence why he would like to know what case you have...plastic door?  All metal? ....

    Was your case bent in shipment?  I could see a closed door flexing the case so perhaps the back of a motherboard was shorting out to the case. Or pushing on something that results in a short, but generally the case would have to be crowded.

    I hate to say this reminds me of a joke but the punchline modified would be, "So don't close the case." 

    edit -- I guess I would pull all the wiring, and reseat it.  Pull and reseat the memory, and double check to make sure it reseated properly (DDR2 can be a pain). .  And as Leon suggested put only one stick back and see if it boots.  I would check the backplane to make sure none of the tabs is poking into the USB or other ports and appeared properly grounded.  I would inspect behind my motherboard to make sure there were no groundings and all the proper standoffs were installed.   

    I suppose if the door is pressing on wiring that has a break altering the response of a broke wire when it gets flexed.  You may want to inspect, replace cables... or move and bundle them if the door would have anything to do with them. 

    I would also pull the second GPU until I had a working stable system and then put it back.

    If that doesn't work: Try to remove as many variables as possible, and with a minimum system see if it boots. I would have downloaded all the most recent drivers (and non-beta BIOS if stable) and make sure they are up to date (I am actually only concerned about when you get to the new GPU, but the rest won't hurt.)  If yes, start adding things back one at a time.   I guess along the way close the case door.  A pain, but it is the symptom.  Hopefully at some point it will misbehave, or you will have worked it out.


    Freedom's the Answer.
    What's the Question?
  •  11-18-2008, 6:09 PM 425766 in reply to 425674

    Re: system no longer booting

    Thanks for the responses, here's the case I'm using:

    RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case

    I feel pretty confident it's not the RAM, but I'll check for wiring issues.  This case is pretty crowded.  I'm planning on getting a Cooler Master Cosmos case soon.  Like ordering within the week.  I'll also remove the second GPU and see.  Unfortunately, sounds like a project for the weekend.

  •  11-18-2008, 6:46 PM 425795 in reply to 425766

    Re: system no longer booting

    Well, when you say "with the case open", which side do you mean? If you're looking at the front of the case, are you referring to the left side or the right side?

    Maybe a power supply cable is somehow exposed and contacting a metal part of the case? But that shouldn't be happening at all. Maybe the power supply is somehow becoming unstable when you shut the case, like the door is applying pressure on side of the PSU and messing with its structural integrity.

    This is really weird though, and these are kind of far fetched guesses lol. 


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