I need help with a weird one, please...

[TwoRails]

I need some help. I’m working on a good friend’s (and fellow Forum member) first build, which I helped with. It’s been working flawlessly for a couple of years.

I’ve got more time in it than I care to admit, but I’ll try to keep this short. When he first called, the system would try to boot but shutdown fairly quickly with an error. He tried running the XP Pro CD but the box would shut down after each attempt to repair.

I got the box over to my place last night and first tested the power supply. It tested good.

I put in a floppy to see if it would boot. It booted but the system shut down in a few minutes.

Even though the inside of the box is clean overall, I took a closer look at the heat sink: it was clogged. OK, so it was overheating I figured. After cleaning, as expected it had no more shut downs, but this is where it starts getting weird.

The box still would not boot from the HD. I ran a CHKDSK and scanned for bad sectors: OK

Tried a Repair Installation from the CD, it took, but it still would not boot from the HD with a Disk Boot Failure error. OK, so I figured I had a drive going south. I took a working drive from my Win 98.2 box (yes, I have a current backup ) and plugged it in as Master, with his orig now set to Slave, and left his orig Slave unplugged.

Now for the weird part: The system booted as expected, and Win 98.2 when thru the motions of finding new hardware and everything was good. My drive had no problems. Then I rebooted and now my drive gave a Disk Boot Failure error! I then booted from the XP CD and went thru the install routine. Success... or so I thought. The machine booted, but from the original HD which is now set as Slave, not my HD which is set to Master. I looked at my drive with Windows Explorer, and everything was intact.

I reboot from his drive, and got another failure. I then rebooted from my drive, and failed again. If I leave the CD in, then it will boot and go to the hard drive. At least it did about a dozen times. The same happened with my drive. Now, with no changes, each boot goes into Windows setup instead of booting to the HD.

The only thing I can think of is that the mobo is going out. I’m thinking that if the CPU was damaged from overheating from the clogged HS, it would work at all.

Other little things I tried: New battery, new IDE cable, changed settings back and forth (Master/Slave, CS) , swapped RAM around, and swapped IDE channels. Asus Probe says that all voltages are good, and they were OK when I checked them with a multimeter.

The mobo is an Asus A7N8X Dlx version 2.0 with a stock 2800+ XP, Win XP Pro, and a AIW 9700 Pro. No OCing.

Anybody have any ideas?? I'd hate to put in a new mobo to find out later it was something simple I overlooked.

[flanzig1]

I have had something like that on one of my builds using a HD with an OS on it. I had so many error and install problems that what I finally had to do is a clean format a couple of times. Also, it still could be the PSU; the voltages could be correct but could have ripple on the DC.

[TwoRails]

I'm still thinking it's not the PS; just ran the tester for another 30 - 35 minutes and everything seems fine.

Do have another clue, though. Now the box will Not shut off. The power switch is now acting like the reset switch -- hold it in for 4 seconds, the system powers down, fans just about stop, and then it attempts to reboot.

[wilcopshot]

its funny how a small problem can be fun to explore and fix but when they move into the realms of insanity it just becomes a pain in behind. Try booting with no slave drive. Sounds very much like your storage devices are corrupting when they are booted. try an old 98 startup disk and see if you can get some old school dos action on the go.

Boot sector virus is a possibility. Try a fresh reinstall of windows with no other media attatched but the already fully formatted (and re-partitioned) HD. Make sure there is no way a virus can be on the new disk or transferred from the old disk on bootup.

Also, its a long shot, but just short of throwing the motherboard away (or destroying it in a rage) see if you can flash the BIOS and load a new version from the manufacturors site. The odds of an accidental BIOS error (or corruption) are slim to none. My last comp died via lightning strike straight through a window so if there is anything to learn from odds its that they hate you and all you stand for.

Good luck,

Keep us updated,

Greg

[TwoRails]

Thanks for the tips, wilcopshot. Ya, I'm having a ball, but to a point. In the order you mention: No diff on how many drives are installed. Yes, it'll boot from a floppy, or from a CD, just not from either IDE channel. Actually, a boot sector virus is pretty much out. This box is one of several he has and it has *never* been hook up to the Web. It's been only a gaming and data storage machine. Yes, I tried one of my personal, good drives in there: no change.

flanzig1, even though I didn't think it was a PS, I hooked up a brand new Antec PS I had "in stock" ... no difference.

TwoRails