VIA chipset  

But seriously, flat battery? Sounds like it.......

Everytime it happens does it reset all your bios settings to default?

I just read the post again, it shouldn't fail  before the video ID screen at all. Something's very wrong if it does, almost like something is loose......... or a bad connection.

Check everything, even your case wiring. Virtually rebuild it and check cabling etc. Faulty PSU?

Could your BIOS simply be set incorrectly causing some conflict ?  But then there's the randomness......

Batteries usually last around 5 years, though it's not unusual to have one go earlier. You can still boot up with a bad battery, it just won't save the CMOS info after shutdown (will reset to defualts). Which leads me to believe the PSU is bad -- or -- the motherboard is faulty. Check the capacitors/MOSFETS on the board for any that are swollen or leaking fluids. My bet would be the PSU though. That is probably the most common major component to fail.

If the CPU were bad, it would not POST at all and nothing would work. If the RAM were bad, you would error during POST with some beeps (after vid card POST). If the vid card were bad, you'd get a nice long beep then blank screen.

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There is a strong possibility the mainboard was dodgy from the start then, providing the symptoms haven't changed. I was going to say the CPU may be dodgy, but... as you said above, this problem persisted thru cpu changes.

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Batteries may easily be faulty from day 1.
The battery is a very low tech item, it can be overlooked as a problem source, however, from the symptoms, I no longer think this is the problem.

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That's just the normal ATX way of doing things Fozzer, it is actually shut down, unless you have actually shut down into "standby mode". If the PC is rebooting normally into windows, it's not in standby mode at all, but actually turned off.

The light on the mainboard is there as a warning light to power off at the wall switch before adding-removing components.

BIOS reset on some mainboards may require power off at the wall, removal of the battery and the jumper cap reset.

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This may actually be the key to the answer. Find out why the CPU/system config is doing this, and I believe the problem will be resolved.

The system is spitting out the 166mhz FSB speed for some reason, and because it is intermittent and random, it does point to a hardware fault........ ie. mainboard or it's BIOS because of the long term nature thru your many upgrades.

In previous discussions on your BIOS upgrade options, I was not aware that you were experiencing bootup irregularities.

If you are certain that the problem does not lie with other components, loose connections or BIOS settings, then I would definitely try a BIOS upgrade first with a view to  replacing the mainboard should the problem persist.

Stay away from the VIA chipsets. nVidia make the best chipsets for AMD based machines and they are priced competitively. nForce2 ultra 400 is the one to  go for as a replacement. (Gigabyte make a fully featured budget board, I have used it in several of my builds.) They do make "deluxe" type boards in this range though. If you have a view to O/clocking, then make sure the BIOS supports FSB settings in 1mhz increments up to 250mhz for socket A.

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-7N400-L1.htm#


I would not have rested until such a problem was fixed from the time I first purchased the PC, this is a  major configuration fault and you have been lucky (or unlucky) to have had so much use out of the board so far without further problems. I would not even attempt to install windows on a machine until issues like this were resolved.

Faulty new mainboards are common enough, though I've been lucky not to strike one yet.

I've had a couple of naff mobos and this definitely sounds like one.

Don't listen to all this stuff about which chipset is 'best'. I will never take advice from ANYONE in the future after my last new 6600GT (nVidia) sodded up my nForce2 chipset (nVidia) mobo. Never before had such an experience with VIA or SiS.

I am today (right now actually) trying to get data off my last hard drive so I can install the replacement mobo I had to buy as a result and get back to trying to do some work.

Moral - we all have different experiences. I will never again say what is 'best' and I will never take advice from anyone about what is 'best' but I will listen to other people's experiences and share my own which as far as nVidia are concerned right now are abysmal.

Paul, he he.....I'm beginning to smile again.

The board is a PCChips M848A, it has a SiS chipset and AMIBIOS. All I've done is connect it all up and stuff in my last h/drive that my old nForce2 board was taking chunks out of every time I booted and actually would not boot this morning at all with the old mobo. Cleared CMOS, set up the BIOS, bunged in the auto setup install disk and the old copy of XP came up straight away. All devices installed no problem and it's running like a train.

And it's a £20 board! Don't think it supports CPU overclocking but that doesn't worry me with this processor (AMD 2600+ same as you).

Not finished as I now have to do a completely fresh install - but I'll let you know how I get on.

As you can see, with your problems you have to suspect your mobo. When you're struggling to get things working you lose sight of the fact that nowadays everything should plug together and work straight away. If it doesn't, there's usually something else wrong. For some reason we are always reluctant to blame the manufacturers and struggle on for much longer than we should thinking that we can sort things out by tweaking. But if there's a faulty component you can't.

My advice now is - put it together, run it, if it works, fine. If it doesn't, check that you haven't made a mistake. If you think you haven't, don't hesitate and send the thing back.

It's not your job to try to make a crap component work. It's the manufacturer's job to rectify it, not yours.

PS

This board may not meet everyone's needs - but I'm hoping to pass it and the PC it's in on very shortly as I hope that the damaged AMD 64 3000+ that I repaired will also work when I plug that into the board I've got for it now and I'll be able to move on to a new system based on that.

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This is a Socket A mobo because I've got the 2600+ AMD cpu. Wouldn't use anything other than AMD. It just doesn't have the nForce chipset like my old board. It's got everything else - USB2.0, onboard LAN (old board had plugin card), great audio (front and rear connections) etc. So far I'm very pleased with it.

Never had something going wrong with Asus. Usually fixes come out as soon as problems are discovered (as far as Asus can solve it, some are persistent like the 16MB cache maxtor on nforce which is a nvidia fault)

If the thing doesn't boot right, dont risk a bios update but get a new one (fyi: WinXP doesnt like SATA if it is confronted with a new board)