Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
From a friend of mine who buys comp's parts in the hundreds per month he said, Asus I believe it was Soyo are good. *Not sure on the Soyo* Sorry nothing more specific...but I can ask if you like? Femme Roger Sherman wrote: Hey Terry... Yep, just did that. Stripped it down to the bare motherboard, reseated the CPU, RAM, vid card...reconnected the power switch, reset switch, etc. Then I tried starting it up, with basically nothing but the vid card attatched, and it still exhibited the same boot problem, so I guess I'm in the market for a new motherboard. I saw a couple Asus boards on the AMD recommended list that might do the job. Anyone want to make some recommendations for boards that worked well for them? It needs to be a board recommended for an XP1800, that will accept DDR RAM, and no integrated sound or video... Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Lyvim Xaphir wrote: I think Damian is on the right track with the RAM replacement approach. If you could get a known good ram module, you might be able to make some progress in your diagnosis. I assume that your bios is at it's defaults and you haven't make any changes to the processor speeds (overclocking, etc). ? You MB should have a jumper for reseting CMOS to default. Try activating the jumper. On my Soyo Board, I have to remove the power (pull the plug) and activate the jumper for a few seconds. I had to do it a couple of times when I was messing with the Config Settings. -- Gerald Waugh Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Tuesday 19 March 2002 06:05, Roger Sherman wrote: If it's no trouble, yeah, that would be great! He sounds like quite the authority. I did see Soyo on the recommended list...I can't remember, I think they might have had onboard sound, and I'm determined to use my SB Live Well, I'm a Soyo fan, but wasn't real thrilled when they started integrating sound. Went ahead an got a k7vta pro almost a year ago an it's been flawless, even tho I'm oc'd to the hilt. Anyhow the onboard AC97 works great... I was plesantly surprised. NBD tho to use a different card, the onboard sound is easily disabled by a bios setting. I tried it, it works. Both the k7vta and Dragon boards are AMD and LinuxHardware approved for the high end Athlons. So it's not just me that likes 'em ;) The original poster mentioned expense. The k7vta pro is very inexpensive and works great with any old sdram. One thing Soyo boards are noted for is great ram performance. I'm usin ancient pc100 sdram at 135Mhz Cas2 4bank interleaved. Runs memtest86 or cpuburn (burnK7 and burnMMX) endlessly with -0- errors. Competes favorably with many DDR systems. -- Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
I post to a msg board that sometimes sees 1000 posts a day :) No its no trouble, most on the board are geeks/IT guys/Kids playing quake too. This guy is a very smart man whom I trust for HW recommendations I will see what I dig up from his brain ;p Roger Sherman wrote: On Tue, 19 Mar 2002, FemmeFatale wrote: From a friend of mine who buys comp's parts in the hundreds per month he said, Asus I believe it was Soyo are good. *Not sure on the Soyo* Sorry nothing more specific...but I can ask if you like? Femme If it's no trouble, yeah, that would be great! He sounds like quite the authority. I did see Soyo on the recommended list...I can't remember, I think they might have had onboard sound, and I'm determined to use my SB Live I don't want to put you to any bother, though, so don't do it if its an inconvenience... Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Roger Sherman wrote: Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. First of all, the system configuration: Abit KG-7 motherboard AMD 1800XP 512 Meg DDR RAM ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder 32mg vid card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum w/Live Drive 60 gig Maxtor HD generic DVD/CDROM from my old PC, a Compaq presario (which is happily gurgling along as a dedicated FTP server now) Now, it's got a boot problem that is baffling to me - to turn this PC on, I have to press the start button, at which point it sounds like it's starting up, the HD and all the fans start spinning, but I don't get the beep that I get with a successful boot, and there's no video output. So, I then have to turn the PC off, unplug it, and plug it back in - at which point it will usually start up again. Now, I do mean it will start up again just from plugging it in - I don't have to press the start button. But, sometimes I'll plug it in, and it wont start, at which point I'll have to unplug it, then press start, and it seems to discharge a little power. Then I plug it in again, and it will start. Then I get the beep that it's booting correctly, and I get video output and away we go. Now, I'd live with this problem, if it weren't for the system freezes. The first time I turn the PC on each day, there is always a complete freeze of the system - and I totally can't get it unfrozen, either by Control-Alt-Backspace, or Alt-SysRq-r. My only recourse is to press and hold the start button til it shuts down (with this box, you have to hold the start button in for 5 seconds to shut it down, for some reason). Using the reset button doesn't seem to work. This system freeze can happen anywhere, too. Sometimes it'll happen when Mandrake is actually starting up, once it even happened at a command line login (it's set up to start at runlevel 3), but usually it happens about 2 - 3 minutes after the system is up and running...usually after I've started X, and am checking my email. And I can't let it run all day - the PC actually works great once it gets past the booting and system freeze problems (usually the system freeze problem happens one or two times, and then the PC will run properly), but if I get up and walk away for several hours, then come back, of course the monitor will have gone into power save mode, and I jiggle the mouse to wake it up, but at that point for some reason the PC will have stopped giving video output, and I have to start the whole process over again. My ideal situation would be to just leave this PC running 24/7, but that makes it impossible, obviously. Now, I've tried several things to fix the problem - a friend told me the symptoms are indicative of a hardware incompatability, so I changed the HD, the CD-ROM (which is why I have the DVD player in there - I originally had a Plextor CD-RW), the power supply, and I took out the SoundBlaster and nic card (a linksys nic), although I put those two back in, since it didn't seem to make a difference. I also tried disconnecting the floppy drive. Before I replaced the HD and CD-RW, they effectively stopped working with this PC, and I'm worried what's currently in there will stop working as well, as every time I make a change, things seem to get a little better, but never really work right, and then things degenerate. I don't have anything else I can swap into this box, so if it continues to degenerate with the current config, I'll have to stop using it until I can afford to take it to a PC doctor. Again, sorry for the OT post, but any help anyone can offer would be hugely appreciated. Ack...forgot to mention - I read somewhere that the KG-7 occasionally suffers from wierd voltage spikes caused by the CPU and case fan monitoring, so I tried hooking them up to fan connections that didn't use the monitoring, which made absolutely no difference. -- peace, Rog registered linux user #190719 ICQ #56469198 http://www.toddstheory.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Bill Spatz wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Roger Sherman Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 6:28 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [newbie] OT - PC building help Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. -- I had a similar problem with my laptop after upgrading the RAM. Be sure that your RAM is fully and securely seated in their slots. Bill Thanks Bill...I actually had to take a great deal of care with the RAM...this board seems to be incredibly sensitive to how the RAM is seated. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the problem. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.333 / Virus Database: 187 - Release Date: 03/08/2002 -- peace, Rog registered linux user #190719 ICQ #56469198 http://www.toddstheory.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Monday 18 March 2002 07:28 am, Roger Sherman wrote: Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. First try re-seating everything, ram, cable connections, peripheal cards, etc, even the cpu. Clean the connectors on ram and other cards with a clean pencil eraser. If you have more'n one stick of ram, try reversing the order they're installed. Make sure your harddrive cables aren't wadded up, don't have any kinks in 'em. Make sure that Compaq CD drive is properly set to either master or slave, and not CS (cable select). Abit's are fussy about what card is in what slot. Look for a KG-7 FAQ, there's often recommends for which card to put where, eg, SB Live! in slot 3. There are many reports of Abit/SB Live! problems, sometimes solved by moving them to suggested slots. I believe you'll have the best chance of getting further help from an AMD newsgroup. As always make sure you're grounded to the case to avoid static elec shocks to the electronics. Working barefoot on a tile floor is a good idea. Give the PS a few minutes to loose any residual charge after unplugging before working on the system. I'm no big fan of Abit's period. Might as well admit that up front. Many users experience just the symptoms you describe, but with any board they're indicative of motherboard and/or power supply problems. You need at least a 300w PS and it should be one one AMD's recommended list. Go by model numbers, many PS's are sold under different brand names. BUT with Abit's it's more often the motherboard. I believe that's why AMD does not recommend them. http://www.amd.com/us-en/ (look for AMD Athlon Configuration Info) It could also be many other varied things (eg, drive cables, bad ram, etc) causing your problems, but you'll have to eliminate the mobo/PS first. They're the most important part of any system. The very foundation. -- Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. First of all, the system configuration: Abit KG-7 motherboard AMD 1800XP 512 Meg DDR RAM ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder 32mg vid card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum w/Live Drive 60 gig Maxtor HD generic DVD/CDROM from my old PC, a Compaq presario (which is happily gurgling along as a dedicated FTP server now) Now, it's got a boot problem that is baffling to me - to turn this PC on, I have to press the start button, at which point it sounds like it's starting up, the HD and all the fans start spinning, but I don't get the beep that I get with a successful boot, and there's no video output. So, I then have to turn the PC off, unplug it, and plug it back in - at which point it will usually start up again. Now, I do mean it will start up again just from plugging it in - I don't have to press the start button. But, sometimes I'll plug it in, and it wont start, at which point I'll have to unplug it, then press start, and it seems to discharge a little power. Then I plug it in again, and it will start. Then I get the beep that it's booting correctly, and I get video output and away we go. Now, I'd live with this problem, if it weren't for the system freezes. The first time I turn the PC on each day, there is always a complete freeze of the system - and I totally can't get it unfrozen, either by Control-Alt-Backspace, or Alt-SysRq-r. My only recourse is to press and hold the start button til it shuts down (with this box, you have to hold the start button in for 5 seconds to shut it down, for some reason). Using the reset button doesn't seem to work. This system freeze can happen anywhere, too. Sometimes it'll happen when Mandrake is actually starting up, once it even happened at a command line login (it's set up to start at runlevel 3), but usually it happens about 2 - 3 minutes after the system is up and running...usually after I've started X, and am checking my email. And I can't let it run all day - the PC actually works great once it gets past the booting and system freeze problems (usually the system freeze problem happens one or two times, and then the PC will run properly), but if I get up and walk away for several hours, then come back, of course the monitor will have gone into power save mode, and I jiggle the mouse to wake it up, but at that point for some reason the PC will have stopped giving video output, and I have to start the whole process over again. My ideal situation would be to just leave this PC running 24/7, but that makes it impossible, obviously. Now, I've tried several things to fix the problem - a friend told me the
RE: [newbie] OT - PC building help
El lun, 18-03-2002 a las 10:58, Roger Sherman escribió: On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Bill Spatz wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Roger Sherman Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 6:28 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [newbie] OT - PC building help Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. -- I had a similar problem with my laptop after upgrading the RAM. Be sure that your RAM is fully and securely seated in their slots. Bill Thanks Bill...I actually had to take a great deal of care with the RAM...this board seems to be incredibly sensitive to how the RAM is seated. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the problem. i had similar problems ( not booting, freezing ) with my sister's computer a while ago. i had to borrow her a stick of RAM to replace hers, and that did the trick. is there any way you can test your RAM? on other machine, a friend's or something? HTH. Damian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
Roger Sherman wrote: Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. First of all, the system configuration: Abit KG-7 motherboard AMD 1800XP 512 Meg DDR RAM ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder 32mg vid card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum w/Live Drive 60 gig Maxtor HD generic DVD/CDROM from my old PC, a Compaq presario (which is happily gurgling along as a dedicated FTP server now) Now, it's got a boot problem that is baffling to me - to turn this PC on, I have to press the start button, at which point it sounds like it's starting up, the HD and all the fans start spinning, but I don't get the beep that I get with a successful boot, and there's no video output. So, I then have to turn the PC off, unplug it, and plug it back in - at which point it will usually start up again. Now, I do mean it will start up again just from plugging it in - I don't have to press the start button. But, sometimes I'll plug it in, and it wont start, at which point I'll have to unplug it, then press start, and it seems to discharge a little power. Then I plug it in again, and it will start. Then I get the beep that it's booting correctly, and I get video output and away we go. Now, I'd live with this problem, if it weren't for the system freezes. The first time I turn the PC on each day, there is always a complete freeze of the system - and I totally can't get it unfrozen, either by Control-Alt-Backspace, or Alt-SysRq-r. My only recourse is to press and hold the start button til it shuts down (with this box, you have to hold the start button in for 5 seconds to shut it down, for some reason). Using the reset button doesn't seem to work. This system freeze can happen anywhere, too. Sometimes it'll happen when Mandrake is actually starting up, once it even happened at a command line login (it's set up to start at runlevel 3), but usually it happens about 2 - 3 minutes after the system is up and running...usually after I've started X, and am checking my email. And I can't let it run all day - the PC actually works great once it gets past the booting and system freeze problems (usually the system freeze problem happens one or two times, and then the PC will run properly), but if I get up and walk away for several hours, then come back, of course the monitor will have gone into power save mode, and I jiggle the mouse to wake it up, but at that point for some reason the PC will have stopped giving video output, and I have to start the whole process over again. My ideal situation would be to just leave this PC running 24/7, but that makes it impossible, obviously. Now, I've tried several things to fix the problem - a friend told me the symptoms are indicative of a hardware incompatability, so I changed the HD, the CD-ROM (which is why I have the DVD player in there - I originally had a Plextor CD-RW), the power supply, and I took out the SoundBlaster and nic card (a linksys nic), although I put those two back in, since it didn't seem to make a difference. I also tried disconnecting the floppy drive. Before I replaced the HD and CD-RW, they effectively stopped working with this PC, and I'm worried what's currently in there will stop working as well, as every time I make a change, things seem to get a little better, but never really work right, and then things degenerate. I don't have anything else I can swap into this box, so if it continues to degenerate with the current config, I'll have to stop using it until I can afford to take it to a PC doctor. Again, sorry for the OT post, but any help anyone can offer would be hugely appreciated. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com OK well finding this line in your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file OptionDPMS on and changing it to Option DPMS off will stop the powersaver (then just lock the screen when you leave for a while). I would be very concerned about a number of things: 1. The front panel connections to the header need to be double-checked... It is almost like the power switch is conected to the Green header pins. 2. The motherboard may have an intermittent short. Sspray instant frost in a few spots to see what happens. If you can reproduce the symptoms that way, time for a warranty return. 3. The motherboard may be like my experience with Abit, just plain poorly manufactured, and ready to eat other components. Abit did some really weird things with dodging around the PCI
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
just thought i would add my two cents... i run an abit bp6 dual machine. it is very stable now that i removed my piece of #$$% HP cd burner. but, while i was fighting with it, i had some similar weird symptoms you mention, like if i edited the bios settings, generally the machine would hang after save and exit. needing a power reset. every once in awhile, if i have had it turned off (doesn't happen often), when i start it up by power on, it won't boot until i give it a reset then away it goes. i think this is specific to this mb, but something related to the video card not initialising correctly. things for you to check: are you running the most current revision of the bios? your power supply is stable and delivering the correct voltages? what size of supply are you running? i too have heard of the AMD chips being somewhat hungry and sensitive to dirty power. i know i haven't helped much other than i feel for you brother! been there, done that. made me crazy for awhile too. good luck! :-) moose. On March 18, 2002 10:48 am, you wrote: Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
Roger Sherman wrote: well IMO I've built several PC's you have a definite problem. If I may ask, is that the old case Powersupply that came with it? I know you said you swapped PW's, but...how big is that PW? 250 watts won't cut it. Get the biggest you can afford this is one area in PC's where more $ usually means better hardware. Powersupplies that are crappy also weigh less. If you can, take 2 that are the same output stuff. Put one in one hand, the other in the other hand. Weigh them. The heavier one is the better one. Why? Because they don't use cheap electronics, more fans more circuit board stuff. I would recommend a 350 watt PS minimum. Preferably one that will clean the input electricity too. It helps a helluva lot. Other than that, I take it cooling isn't an issue? Do you have 2 case fans at least in there ? One on the Hard drives one at the back letting air out help. *Not expensive, maybe $10 tops for 2 or 3 of them*. Femme Now, I've tried several things to fix the problem - a friend told me the symptoms are indicative of a hardware incompatability, so I changed the HD, the CD-ROM (which is why I have the DVD player in there - I originally had a Plextor CD-RW), the power supply, and I took out the SoundBlaster and nic card (a linksys nic), although I put those two back in, since it didn't seem to make a difference. I also tried disconnecting the floppy drive. Before I replaced the HD and CD-RW, they effectively stopped working with this PC, and I'm worried what's currently in there will stop working as well, as every time I make a change, things seem to get a little better, but never really work right, and then things degenerate. I don't have anything else I can swap into this box, so if it continues to degenerate with the current config, I'll have to stop using it until I can afford to take it to a PC doctor. Again, sorry for the OT post, but any help anyone can offer would be hugely appreciated. -- peace, Rog registered linux user #190719 ICQ #56469198 http://www.toddstheory.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] OT - PC building help
Hey Terry... Yep, just did that. Stripped it down to the bare motherboard, reseated the CPU, RAM, vid card...reconnected the power switch, reset switch, etc. Then I tried starting it up, with basically nothing but the vid card attatched, and it still exhibited the same boot problem, so I guess I'm in the market for a new motherboard. I saw a couple Asus boards on the AMD recommended list that might do the job. Anyone want to make some recommendations for boards that worked well for them? It needs to be a board recommended for an XP1800, that will accept DDR RAM, and no integrated sound or video... On 18 Mar 2002, Terry Smith wrote: Roger, Sorry to hear about your troubles. I had some 'shutdown' problems with my new box also. Turned out to be a bad mobo (which has been replaced - no problems since). One way of debugging these things is to 'simplify'. Disconnect all your peripherals - removable drives, keyboard, floppy, mouse, etc. - everything except the monitor and the boot drive. Does it boot and run? (Obviously you won't be able to do anything). Yes, start adding components and rebooting. No. Swap drives. Try again. No. Swap power supplies. Try again. Well I think you get the drift. Try to isolate the component that's causing the problem. Good luck. Terry Smith Cape Cod, USA On Mon, 2002-03-18 at 08:28, Roger Sherman wrote: Sorry to address this to the list, but I'm at my wits end, and it's either this, or find a service center or something to fix this problem for me, and after building this PC, I really don't have the money. I built a PC about two 1/2 months ago (my first attempt at building a PC), and I'm having a booting problem, and a problem with it freezing up, and I'm hoping someone could help point me in the right direction, troubleshooting wise. First of all, the system configuration: Abit KG-7 motherboard AMD 1800XP 512 Meg DDR RAM ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder 32mg vid card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum w/Live Drive 60 gig Maxtor HD generic DVD/CDROM from my old PC, a Compaq presario (which is happily gurgling along as a dedicated FTP server now) Now, it's got a boot problem that is baffling to me - to turn this PC on, I have to press the start button, at which point it sounds like it's starting up, the HD and all the fans start spinning, but I don't get the beep that I get with a successful boot, and there's no video output. So, I then have to turn the PC off, unplug it, and plug it back in - at which point it will usually start up again. Now, I do mean it will start up again just from plugging it in - I don't have to press the start button. But, sometimes I'll plug it in, and it wont start, at which point I'll have to unplug it, then press start, and it seems to discharge a little power. Then I plug it in again, and it will start. Then I get the beep that it's booting correctly, and I get video output and away we go. Now, I'd live with this problem, if it weren't for the system freezes. The first time I turn the PC on each day, there is always a complete freeze of the system - and I totally can't get it unfrozen, either by Control-Alt-Backspace, or Alt-SysRq-r. My only recourse is to press and hold the start button til it shuts down (with this box, you have to hold the start button in for 5 seconds to shut it down, for some reason). Using the reset button doesn't seem to work. This system freeze can happen anywhere, too. Sometimes it'll happen when Mandrake is actually starting up, once it even happened at a command line login (it's set up to start at runlevel 3), but usually it happens about 2 - 3 minutes after the system is up and running...usually after I've started X, and am checking my email. And I can't let it run all day - the PC actually works great once it gets past the booting and system freeze problems (usually the system freeze problem happens one or two times, and then the PC will run properly), but if I get up and walk away for several hours, then come back, of course the monitor will have gone into power save mode, and I jiggle the mouse to wake it up, but at that point for some reason the PC will have stopped giving video output, and I have to start the whole process over again. My ideal situation would be to just leave this PC running 24/7, but that makes it impossible, obviously. Now, I've tried several things to fix the problem - a friend told me the symptoms are indicative of a hardware incompatability, so I changed the HD, the CD-ROM (which is why I have the DVD player in there - I originally had a Plextor CD-RW), the power supply, and I took out the SoundBlaster and nic card (a linksys nic), although I put those two back in, since it didn't seem to make a difference. I also tried disconnecting the floppy drive. Before I replaced the HD and
RE: [newbie] OT - PC building help
On Mon, 2002-03-18 at 08:58, Roger Sherman wrote: I had a similar problem with my laptop after upgrading the RAM. Be sure that your RAM is fully and securely seated in their slots. Bill Thanks Bill...I actually had to take a great deal of care with the RAM...this board seems to be incredibly sensitive to how the RAM is seated. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the problem. peace, Rog Roger, I think Damian is on the right track with the RAM replacement approach. If you could get a known good ram module, you might be able to make some progress in your diagnosis. I assume that your bios is at it's defaults and you haven't make any changes to the processor speeds (overclocking, etc). ? HTH LX _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
