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I?ve had lots of different things cause weird problems like or similar to this so I?ll run down the list:
-Bad caps, usually this becomes progressively worse. Look for capacitors with rounded tops; they should be perfectly flat.
-Bad memory modules, replace with a known good if you have them or pull modules out one by one if you don?t. The idea is that the odds of all your modules are bad is small, pulling them out and then insert them one by one in reverse order can isolate the one bad module. The only problem is if you only have one module or if your motherboard needs a matched pair to run.
-Defective processor, not much you can do to test this unless you have another motherboard that can accommodate the processor or if you have another processor.
-Cold solder joints on components or cracked circuit board runs on the motherboard.
-Power supply with inconsistent voltages.
-Grounding, hard to mess up since the screws you use to mount the motherboard connect are what ground it to the chassis. The holes the screws pass through have exposed copper on the top edges, the heads of the steel screws make contact with the exposed copper and ground it direct to the chassis. Incidentally just in case it needs to be said you shouldn?t use insulating washers on the mounting screws unless the MB manufacturer says to.
-Assembly issues: with boards as tight as they are not its possible that you might have bent a capacitor while installing the processor fan mount or perhaps have a MB mounting screw touching a capacitor or other device lead.
If none of this works and if your board is still under warranty I would get back on the phone and demand a warranty replacement. Chipset drivers load after Windows start, not during the initial boot sequence. You?ve already checked for grounding issues so you can rule that out. Even if it is a BIOS problem you?ve already flashed the BIOS which is way more than I would have ordinarily done for a new board with problems out of the box.
Let us know what the outcome is?.
Comments:
Dec 09, 2006
- Forgot one thing, with regards to testing for cold solder joints or cracked runs. You can test by GENTLY flexing the board ever so slightly while booting. Note that the key word is gently, you could easily damage the board.Dec 09, 2006
- I apologize for the wonderful grammar and sentence construction. I guess I should double check my work when its way past my bed time :)