PC won't boot, Please Help! Q9550 and Asus P5Q-E

Joystik

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Hi, forgive the long winded explanation but I am desperate...

Recently purchased new components and re-built my machine. Since completion I've had nothing but problems and it's been a nightmare. I desperately need to find a fix.

PC specs; Q9550 (new), Asus P5Q-E (new), Win XP Pro SP2, 74Gb WD Raptor SATA, 200gb Seagate Barracuda IDE, Asus EAH3450 (new), 4x 1GB DDR2 Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 (new), Antec P150 case with Antec HE430 watt PSU. It may be worth moving i have 5/1 usb/firewire devices connected being various music production devices.

PC worked initially (built 3rd October) temps ran high every now and again approaching 68o C on rare occasions but generally 30-35o. After about an hour it crashed and re-booted, then continued to do this every couple of hours. I read numerous possible reasons to do with the mb bios and the Asus features i.e. Xpert Drive, etc. so sort about updating and disabling as necessary in the bios. Then whilst in Bios CPU temperature soared to 90o and bounced up and down by 5o for no apparent reason. It stayed this way... Soon after Windows wouldn't start due to the temp I'm guessing and the machine would repeatedly re-boot as it began to launch windows.

Assuming it was a temp problem I switched from the stock heatsink that came with my processor to a tower (Thermaltake TT102), applying fresh compound. Now my PC won't even boot! I get no beep from the PC speaker, nothing. Power is being fed through to the motherboard as it lights up and powers up. Fans spin and the HDD activity light lights up but that's as far as it goes... Monitor remains in sleep mode during this time nothing comes on the screen. I tried to switch back to the factory heatsink, still doesn't work. Now to make matters worse the last couple of times I have tried to power it up, the machines power cuts out during the process. Sometimes this happens right at the beginning, other times after a few minutes. It only does it the once.

Please Please help or advise if you can I am beyond desperate and insane at this point. If you need more info let me know.

Thanks,

Marvin
 
Definitely sounds like a motherboard issue to me. First, disconnect everything from the Mobo apart from 1 stick of RAM, the CPU and the graphics card (and the PSU of course). You should still see some sort of POST even though everything else is disconnected.

If that fails, try the other stick of RAM (if applicable). Also try resetting the BIOS.

I then think there's no other option but to try out a different motherboard. 90% sure that the motherboard has fried at some location - even something so tiny you can't see would still prevent the PC from booting. If you can be bothered to do this yourself then by all means do. But I know the feeling of a self-built PC that isn't working: I just took mine to the shop! Get it out my sight for a bit; lol.

Have you built PCs before? Are you sure you installed the motherboard correctly? Did you use brass risers on the motherboard plate? Did you you use plastic washers on the screw holes that aren't metallised?

Of course it could also be something to do with static, but that is incredibly unlikely and unlucky. Did you build it on think carpet? Did you ground regularly? Either way, you'll need a new mobo.

Good luck.

Jez
 
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i would also consider the fact that your psu is not up to the job.

That's a lot of components to be running with only 430W psu - as above - try getting it all to post with just the basic stuff. If it does then gradually add more ram/hard drives etc etc to see which components tend to fail.

Try getting hold of a 550/600W psu and see if that helps.
 
:O:O Ditto that above post; I didn't see that you mentioned the PSU. Heck, that's not beefy enough for those other components I don't think.

You may well have killed your PC with a weedy PSU.

Jez
 
Thanks for the replies..

I've spoken with a few tech guys and they also suggested the answer lies with the PSU. I've ordered a new one since and providing my components weren't ko'd by my psu.. it should be a go. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers
 
i think its your ram. i have a pq5-pro and i couldnt get 4gig of dominators to run stable. even with 2.6volts burning through them. i had more luck with 3xdominator but it would flake out eventually. this was in xp and vista.

one thing you can try that i didnt is try running them at 800MHz and see if you machine stays stable. if it dont return them.

try using 1 stick to test for stability and if stable the do the same for each bank (slot) so to eliminate the mobo as the problem.

let me know how you get on mate.:smashin:
 
joystik, i had problem with booting, and fans blowing full blast, and nothing on monitor on same mb. reset the BIOS, what restart computer, and take f2 default option, that will start your computer, and if you need to change some thing in bios, push reset button to do this. you do not need to shut down computer, let him go to sleep - all is quite after he fall a sleep. if i shut down computer with windows program - start, shut down- i found out that my computer goes down, then up, with all fans blowing and computer and monitor doing nothing. i try reboot, cold boot, unplugging etc. only thing to get boot, i have to reset bios with jumper on mb and do all above. to shut down computer i am pushing front power button an it nicely shut down, and start up if i push the button again. i did not study this bios, i am not expert, but i think this bios is set up to control hardware and software.
i had second trouble with this board, and lot of wasted time on it. i install two pata drives, one primary as a c: drive, second slave to it, and third drive for a big storage a sata type. i load windows vista 64, and programs, and then i run in to above problems. to add to above problems, i recieved no bootable drive errors, and no boot at all. to correct this, i found out that every time i reset bios, priority drive was switched from pata drive on to sata drive. so after every reset to start computer i have to go back into bios i change sata to pata drive to be #1 drive, and with it it was bootable in boot option.
i hope i helped you and some other people, with this board.
jiw:hiya:
 
Hey,

Just a quick note to say that this is now sorted.

I ordered a Corsair TX 650watt psu and a new cooler towards the end of last week. As soon as I replaced my 430watt psu and my old thermaltake cooler it was up and running without me adjusting any bios settings (firmware 1003).

Everything has been stable with no problems thus far, but I don't want to jinx it. Running idle the machine ranges between 18 and 20 degrees celsius. With Cubase running with multiple audio tracks and vst's (which is what the machines main use is) it doesn't go over 30, ranging between 24 and 29 degrees.

I don't know why I didn't even consider upgrading the psu when I originally bought the new components. Luckily anyway the underpowered psu didn't wreck any of my attached components, so I was lucky to escape.

Thanks for your help on this.

Until the next disaster, cheers!
 
Hey,

Just a quick note to say that this is now sorted.

I ordered a Corsair TX 650watt psu and a new cooler towards the end of last week. As soon as I replaced my 430watt psu and my old thermaltake cooler it was up and running without me adjusting any bios settings (firmware 1003).

Everything has been stable with no problems thus far, but I don't want to jinx it. Running idle the machine ranges between 18 and 20 degrees celsius. With Cubase running with multiple audio tracks and vst's (which is what the machines main use is) it doesn't go over 30, ranging between 24 and 29 degrees.

I don't know why I didn't even consider upgrading the psu when I originally bought the new components. Luckily anyway the underpowered psu didn't wreck any of my attached components, so I was lucky to escape.

Thanks for your help on this.

Until the next disaster, cheers!


Glad it's sorted!:clap:
 

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