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  • Strange (something for you hardware gurus)

    Hi folks,

    i hope that some of you hardware gurus can explain this to me.

    System specs:

    Asus P3-BF/Bios 1006
    Intel P3-700E Coppermine CPU
    256 MB PC100 CAS2 Ram (1 stick)
    G400Max/Bios 1.9-33/PD6.20
    Sony GDM-400PS 19" as primary monitor
    Medion 15" TFT Flatscreen as secondary monitor (for those germans out there: Aldi)
    SB Live+Hoontech Digital I/O Board
    2 x Adaptec 2940
    2 x IBM DDRS34560
    1 x Quantum Atlas II
    1 x Pioneer DVD 303
    1 x Teac CD-R50S
    HP Scanjet 4p
    3COM 3c905X-TX 10/100 mbps Combo Nic
    FAST Movie MachineII Mjpeg Capture Board with TVTuner and hardware overlay
    300W idon'tknowwhatbrand power supply
    Logitech wireless keyboard & mouse
    Operating systems: 98SE/Win2K prof/Suse Linux7 (KDE2/XFree4.01)

    Clean IRQ configuration, except the G400 sharing IRQ11 with the 3Com Nic.
    System definetly is rock stable, runs Q3 for hours so this is not a problem.

    Yesterday evening i did some mpeg2 rendering with Tmpeg while surfing the web and designing some html pages. I had numerous windos open, using the Matrox Multi-Desktop and Dualhead. To be precise, Tmpeg was rendering on desktop 2 on the second monitor. Outlook 2K was wating for email on desktop 2 on the primary monitor. Proton (nice html/php editor) was open on the second monitor on Deskop 1. Numerous IE5.5 windows were open on both screens on desktop 1. Quit a heavy load for this tiny system running 98SE at that time. I was using 98SE, because of the excellent Dualhead support.

    Anyway, i worked like this for about 4 to 5 hours, when suddenly my mouse movements
    became extremely jerky (battery level was ok), my keybord didn't react anymore. Just the usual stuff when 98SE is about to crash. I managed it to shutdown all apps using the mouse and initiated the sutdown process. No surpise, system hung on shutdown.

    After 5 minutes i decided to push the reset button and the weirdness began to start:
    1. No video signal on boot
    2. No beeps
    3. Both adaptec leds were on

    I opened the case and pulled the Max, the ram stick and keyboard. Usually this should force the comp to do at least some bios beeps. Nothing. I decided to leave it like this and went for another beer (burp) and did something else.

    Today I did some more stuff: exchanged the ram stick, pulled out most of the cards, ... . However, with no memory on board and the following cards inserted: Fast MMII, 3com Nic,Sblive I suddenly recognized a shy beep. I did some more card swapping and finally ended up in the same configuration as yesterday and the machine is running again (stable as before).

    Now my question:
    What the f*ck happened here?
    Can anybody explain this?

    Sorry for the long post and
    cheers,
    R.
    You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

  • #2
    I repaired an Athlon based machine at my work that did the same thing.
    The Mobo was broke, it had an 280W PS

    Then we actualy has a Athlon Machine standing as a Demomacine running 3Dmark2K in a loop and that one has to be cmos cleared sometimes to boot. (its completly dead, the PS wont start, no beeps, lights etc etc)


    ------------------
    Intel PIII-800/133MHz MSI 6337
    G400Mill 32MB SGRAM + RRG
    SBlive Value (oldest piece of equipment in my can ! )
    256 MB RAM CAS2
    58GB HDD Space!(Actual 60GB) (30+30 IBM DTLA 30GB drives)
    Pioneer 104S DVD 10x CD 40x SLOT IN
    SONY CRX140E 8/4/32 CDRW
    If there's artificial intelligence, there's bound to be some artificial stupidity.

    Jeremy Clarkson "806 brake horsepower..and that on that limp wrist faerie liquid the Americans call petrol, if you run it on the more explosive jungle juice we have in Europe you'd be getting 850 brake horsepower..."

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    • #3
      1) Check your CMOS battery.

      2) Sometimes this sort of thing is the only warning a power supply gives you before becoming a Roman Candle or lagging fire within your computer case.

      3) The fact you are running so many device, particularly the SCSI cards and the HDDs begs to ask the question: How many watts is your Power Supply rated for? A GOOD 300 Watt power supply should considered the bare minimum for your system.

      Hey, Donny! We got us a German who wants to die for his country... Oblige him. - Lt. Aldo Raine

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