I recently built a computer - Asus P4G8X motherboard, Intel 2.53 Ghz, 1GB
2100 RAM, ATI 8500 128MB, a WD 40GB Master, and two 120GB SATA drives
(striped to make 240GB). Onboard sound. APC Backup power. My computer
was running fine for about one month. I shut it down to go on a
business trip. When I tried booting it up again, I got nothing to the
monitor. OK, bad video card. Just to be safe, I put an old PCI video
card I had laying around, to make sure it wasn't the AGP slot. Then,
the PC booted to the BIOS screen, informing me that the system clock
speed was incorretly stated and please fix it. I saved the listed
value - 2.53 - and tried booting up. XP would boot to the desktop and
then the screen would go black. I tried a few more times with the same
result. I tried booting into safe mode - this would bring up Windows
to where XP found the new video card and then the screen would just
freeze. Again, I tried with the same result. I wasn't even able to
boot to a command prompt. I figured the OS was hosed and proceded to
fresh install. The fresh install goes to about 25% done and freezes,
just like it did in safe mode. I have tried installing about 4 times,
always getting to about 25-35% done and then it freezes up. I tried
flashing the BIOS and it still froze up while installing. I'm suspecting
the motherboard, CPU, or the RAM, but I don't have a spare motherboard
or 2100 RAM to swap out for troubleshooting. I'm pretty sure the
voltage from the power supply (400Watt) is OK, although I haven't
metered it. Has anyone else had this problem?

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 04 Jun 2003 22:12 PDT

Hi,

Have you checked that your CPU fan is still correctly in place and
working fine? Have you asked around you if anyone touched the machine
when you were away? Like techtor I'm suspecting that something got
pushed out of its correct place.

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by jdv70-ga on 10 Jun 2003 06:44 PDT

No one else touched the machine. I re-seated the CPU fan and it is
working OK. I tried to re-load the OS last night. I unplugged the SATA
from the motherboard, removed the video card, blew out the AGP port,
and re-seated the video card. I also reseated the RAM and checked
*every* power connection in the box. I triple-checked every BIOS
setting. Amazingly, XP loaded OK - drivers and all. The machine
warm-booted ok, from driver installs, but as soon as I shut it down
and cold-booted it, the monitor got no signal from the video card.
This is the initial problem! So, I'm right back to square one. :( The
power supply metered OK, by the way. I suspect a voltage issue
(somewhere?) and don't want to call Asus without knowing what's wrong.
Thank you for taking the time to help me with this, I hope the
clarification helps you!

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 10 Jun 2003 06:57 PDT

Hi,

Thanks for the clarification, have you tried any other OS? Maybe XP
for some reason doesn't like your hardware?

Failing that, if CPU, RAM, PSU and videocard are ok, that only leaves
the motherboard. That is assuming you tried other sticks of RAM and
another CPU. If you got the motherboard from a local shop can you ask
them to try another one?

Sorry for not being more conclusive.

Thanks.
endo

Jdv70,
Now that you've attempted to flash the BIOS and failed, it's quite
certain that the motherboard's original BIOS is gone. You might need
to use a boot disk with BIOS recovery files if you made one, or could
buy or borrow another motherboard to be able to do anything else.

Those are quite weird occurences that you described. However I believe
your proceeding to change the video card and reinstall the OS may have
not been needed... a component may have just become loose by itself,
and you may have needed to adjust it.