I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

--
*Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

What temperatures is it running at?

--
Si

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

Had that recently - oddly enough, seemed to be the graphics card.
Remove, reseat. Update drivers. Update firmware (on card and/or BIOS on
motherboard). Most complete fix was to switch graphics cards between two
identical machines - problem moved with the card but also became much
less frequent (once a month instead of several times a day).

Other things tried w8ithout success (but might be worth a go) included
checking memory using http://www.memtest86.com/, reseating memory,
patching Windows, setting graphics acceleration to minimal and all the
usual silly things that almost never help.

--
Rod

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time.

As what?

Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

How old is the mobo? Sounds like the bulging capacitor problem that affected
many pc's about 5 or 6 years ago, mine included, which reboots itself for no
apparent reason every now and then. If the mobo is newer than that then it
could just be an intermittent bad connection or dry joint somewhere which
will probably be impossible to track down.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

--
*Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Take a look at the CPU fan and heatsink,if need be take them off and see if
they need a clean? fluff and dust build up a lot in this area and clog the
fins of the heatsink resulting in random shutdown because of overheating.
If this is not the problem load bios defaults.

"Rod" wrote in message

Had that recently - oddly enough, seemed to be the graphics card.
Remove, reseat. Update drivers. Update firmware (on card and/or BIOS on
motherboard). Most complete fix was to switch graphics cards between two
identical machines - problem moved with the card but also became much
less frequent (once a month instead of several times a day).

Other things tried w8ithout success (but might be worth a go) included
checking memory using http://www.memtest86.com/, reseating memory,
patching Windows, setting graphics acceleration to minimal and all the
usual silly things that almost never help.

--
Rod

Does your graphics card have a fan?

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

--
*Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

AVG shutting it down? never heard that one before,run AVG in safe mode and
see what it finds?

On 6 Feb, 09:37, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

The electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard can go. You can spot
the knackered ones as the metallic top rises up in a domed fashion.
You can change these knackered caps to repair, but watch how much heat
you apply to the board as you can easily lift tracks/pads and ruin it.

If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than switch
itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

Jon wrote:


If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than switch
itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

Tim

On 6 Feb, 12:25, "Tim Downie"
wrote:
Jon wrote:

If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than switch
itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

Tim

Fairy nuff. But I'd bet a pint that the capacitors have dried up on
the mobo.

Tim Downie wrote:
Jon wrote:


If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than
switch itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

Tim

I think we've found another use for the ubiquitous Maplin IR thermometer.
--
LSR

In article ,
Dave Baker wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which
shuts off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies.
Thinking PS problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will
boot up ok and continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches
off half way through the boot sequence - but never at the same time.

As what?

It doesn't switch off at a particular point in the boot sequence which
might point at a software thing.

Any guesses? I've got AVG free installed and that shuts it down after
doing its tests. That sequence always works ok.

How old is the mobo?

Just over a year. The whole thing.

Sounds like the bulging capacitor problem that
affected many pc's about 5 or 6 years ago, mine included, which reboots
itself for no apparent reason every now and then. If the mobo is newer
than that then it could just be an intermittent bad connection or dry
joint somewhere which will probably be impossible to track down.

Ok.

--
*Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
George wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which
shuts off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies.
Thinking PS problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will
boot up ok and continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches
off half way through the boot sequence - but never at the same time.
Any guesses? I've got AVG free installed and that shuts it down after
doing its tests. That sequence always works ok.

Take a look at the CPU fan and heatsink,if need be take them off and see
if they need a clean? fluff and dust build up a lot in this area and
clog the fins of the heatsink resulting in random shutdown because of
overheating. If this is not the problem load bios defaults.

All clear.

--
*i souport publik edekashun.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
George wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which
shuts off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies.
Thinking PS problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will
boot up ok and continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches
off half way through the boot sequence - but never at the same time.
Any guesses? I've got AVG free installed and that shuts it down after
doing its tests. That sequence always works ok.


AVG shutting it down? never heard that one before,run AVG in safe mode
and see what it finds?

I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and after
disc activity ceases the machine shuts down. I've never been able to find
out why. It's not actually as much as problem as you might think as I use
this machine for most. Just use the PC for some browsing and handling AV
stuff.

--
*A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Tim Downie wrote:
If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than switch
itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

It can happen seconds after a cold start. And the machine is well cooled,
with the correct fan on the processor which is working normally. Thing is
sometimes the PC is in use all day without problems.

--


Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article
,
Jon wrote:
On 6 Feb, 12:25, "Tim Downie"
wrote:
Jon wrote:

If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than
switch itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

Tim

Fairy nuff. But I'd bet a pint that the capacitors have dried up on
the mobo.

Nothing looks amiss - and it's a bit new for capacitor failure given those
caps ain't exactly stressed.

--
*People want trepanners like they want a hole in the head*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
Thing is sometimes the PC is in use all day without problems.

Microsoft

--
Si

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message



AVG shutting it down? never heard that one before,run AVG in safe mode
and see what it finds?

I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and after
disc activity ceases the machine shuts down. I've never been able to find
out why. It's not actually as much as problem as you might think as I use
this machine for most. Just use the PC for some browsing and handling AV
stuff.

--
*A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I would put in another HD? with XP installed and run it for a few days and
see if its a software problem? then if does the same I would as already been
suggested change the Graphics card or if the mobo has a built in
graphics,take the GC thats in it? out and run it lie that to see if its the
card.

do you hear a click when the problem happens?

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Tim Downie wrote:
If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than
switch itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

It can happen seconds after a cold start. And the machine is well
cooled, with the correct fan on the processor which is working
normally. Thing is sometimes the PC is in use all day without
problems.

Dave,

Perhaps a silly question.

Is the PC 'hidden' away in a cupboard under the desk - or enclosed in some
other way.

Reason for the question: My other half has her computer in a side cupboard
under her desk and she was having exactly the same problems for around 6
months giving all the classic signs of overheating and shutting down.

I tried reseating everything in on the motherboard - including using paste
on the processor and moved all the cables out of the way of the airflow etc
to no avail. (A higher output PSU had also been fitted).

It turned out that the air from the fan was hitting the back of the cupboard
and was 'bouncing' around and being recirculated through the computer case
causing the processor to overheat rather quickly - some very drastic surgery
to the board at the back of the cupboard allowed the air to escape into a
large void and the problem was solved - no unexplained shut-downs now for
almost a year.

This may not be your problem, but the cause may be just as improbable :-)

HTH

BRG

On Feb 6, 1:17*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:


I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and after
disc activity ceases the machine shuts down. I've never been able to find
out why. It's not actually as much as problem as you might think as I use
this machine for most. Just use the PC for some browsing and handling AV
stuff.



You've got the "shut down computer after scan" tickbox ticked??


If I've had mine on for a long time and it's getting short of memory
it will sponaneously restart itself but not getting past POSTing is
something else. Does it boot up into command prompt? (if your OS
supports it)

It's not an old Asus board from 1976 is it? ;-)

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 06:12:25 -0800 (PST), adder1969 wrote:

I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and
after disc activity ceases the machine shuts down.

You've got the "shut down computer after scan" tickbox ticked??

I was going to say that... B-)

Even if the box isn't ticked it's not unknown for these things to lie or
pick up a setting buried 6 applications, 4 menus and 3 dialogue boxes away
from the application that you think you are using.

Find the setting change *and* save it *and* close the application. Don't
just toggle the setting without saving or not quit the applcation. Restart
the machine, check the setting, change it back, save, close the
application restart again check the setting...

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.


Dave,
What make/output is the power supply? What is the consumption of the PC?
How many hard drives, how much memory, any extra cards etc?

I had a very similar problem with my wife's PC about a year ago. Tried
all sorts of things including a number of power supplies. It wasn't
until I fitted a good quality 700watt power supply that the problem went
away. Seemed like total overkill for the PC but it's been very stable
ever since.

You should be able to find out what temperature the CPU is running at.
Have you done this? The mobo manufacturer usually supply some sort of
monitor program.

One program that might help identify the problem is Passmark Burnin
Test. It's a very good stability test program.

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Best of luck,
Roy

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

--
I assume that you have checked the event viewer to see if it is a software
issue

Tony

In article et,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and
after disc activity ceases the machine shuts down.

You've got the "shut down computer after scan" tickbox ticked??

I was going to say that... B-)

It's not ticked and never has been.

Even if the box isn't ticked it's not unknown for these things to lie or
pick up a setting buried 6 applications, 4 menus and 3 dialogue boxes
away from the application that you think you are using.

Oh dear.

Find the setting change *and* save it *and* close the application. Don't
just toggle the setting without saving or not quit the applcation.
Restart the machine, check the setting, change it back, save, close the
application restart again check the setting...

I'll give that a try. It's not the main problem, though.

--
*Just give me chocolate and nobody gets hurt

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article et,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
I think it is AVG - but could be Spybot. The both run once a day and
after disc activity ceases the machine shuts down.
You've got the "shut down computer after scan" tickbox ticked??

I was going to say that... B-)

It's not ticked and never has been.

Even if the box isn't ticked it's not unknown for these things to lie or
pick up a setting buried 6 applications, 4 menus and 3 dialogue boxes
away from the application that you think you are using.

Oh dear.

Find the setting change *and* save it *and* close the application. Don't
just toggle the setting without saving or not quit the applcation.
Restart the machine, check the setting, change it back, save, close the
application restart again check the setting...

I'll give that a try. It's not the main problem, though.


Just disable suspect software, and/or try to replicate the fault in safe
mode (F7 on boot IIRC). PCs are basically a few components - you have to
work through and isolate. My guess from what you say would be MB on a
new PC - the trickiest component to test alas.

Rob

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dave Baker wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which
shuts off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies.
Thinking PS problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will
boot up ok and continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches
off half way through the boot sequence - but never at the same time.

As what?

It doesn't switch off at a particular point in the boot sequence which
might point at a software thing.

Ah, I see.


Any guesses? I've got AVG free installed and that shuts it down after
doing its tests. That sequence always works ok.

If it only shut down after running AVG then we'd be fairly safe in calling
it a software fault but as it also does this during boot up then it's more
likely hardware. My first call would be a faulty RAM stick which only
manifests when particular sectors get used and also after running memory
intensive software such as AVG. Try removing, cleaning and reseating the
sticks and also running a RAM checker such as DocMemory. If you have any
swap the sticks for known good ones or even just remove one at a time and
run the machine with limited RAM until the problem manifests again.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines

"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...
As what?

It doesn't switch off at a particular point in the boot sequence which
might point at a software thing.

Ah, I see.


Any guesses? I've got AVG free installed and that shuts it down after
doing its tests. That sequence always works ok.

If it only shut down after running AVG then we'd be fairly safe in calling
it a software fault but as it also does this during boot up then it's more
likely hardware. My first call would be a faulty RAM stick which only
manifests when particular sectors get used and also after running memory
intensive software such as AVG. Try removing, cleaning and reseating the
sticks and also running a RAM checker such as DocMemory. If you have any
swap the sticks for known good ones or even just remove one at a time and
run the machine with limited RAM until the problem manifests again.
--

Uninstall AVG or disable it at start-up. I've come across this very issue
before on another PC. Unfortunately I don't recall exactly what the problem
was with AVG but IIRC it was due to an upgraded version. I have no issues
with AVG in general - I use it myself on a number of PCs with excellent
results - but there is a certain problem identical to yours being manifest
on some machines.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

Take a look at;

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

Buy a new motherboard if you have this problem, it's a good excuse for
an upgrade.

Make sure all the fans are running and up to speed (including
northbridge and graphics card fan), make sure the CPU heatsink hasn't
lifted and was installed correctly in the first place. Remove any
expansion cards and then add them back one at a time if this makes the
system stable. Try swapping the RAM with another machine. Run Memtest86+
with all peripherals that aren't needed to boot Memtest disconnected
(boot from flash drive or floppy) and see if the machine is stable.
Again, add back one at a time.

Run the manufacturer's hard disk diagnostics and run the full test, it
might take a few hours but it should show up problems with the HDD if
there are any.
--
Clint Sharp

In message , George
writes

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.

--
*Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Take a look at the CPU fan and heatsink,if need be take them off and see if
they need a clean? fluff and dust build up a lot in this area and clog the
fins of the heatsink resulting in random shutdown because of overheating.
If this is not the problem load bios defaults.

Or ...

I installed the heatsink the wrong way round once, which meant that it
wasn't in good contact with the correct part of the processor, causing
it to overheat and shut down

--
geoff

In message
, Jon
writes
On 6 Feb, 12:25, "Tim Downie"
wrote:
Jon wrote:

If it was something overheating it would more likely crash than switch
itself off,. Same goes for memory faults.

In my experience, a sudden switch-off is quite common with processor
over-heating so don't rule it out.

Tim

Fairy nuff. But I'd bet a pint that the capacitors have dried up on
the mobo.

I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years
now


--
geoff

In message , geoff
writes
I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years
now
Want to take me up on it as well? I could do with a pint right now.

Seriously though, it's still a huge problem despite what you may have
heard.


--
Clint Sharp

Clint Sharp wrote:
In message , geoff writes
I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years
now
Want to take me up on it as well? I could do with a pint right now.

Seriously though, it's still a huge problem despite what you may have
heard.

My original recollection of this issue was that it was attributed to a
dodgy batch of electrolyte used in cheap caps, even then I thought it
was pretty minor, and mainly and issue with cheap pc's

.... but then again I don;t deal witha large number of pc's

I am genuinley curious as to what extent it is (and was)a huge problem,
anything I can find is at least 3 years old, and no real indication of
the scale of the problem.

Having said that I'll now need to go and check the 4 year old pc that i
occasionally let the kids use and has been showing intermittent problem
for the last few months :-)


cheers

David

Fairy nuff. But I'd bet a pint that the capacitors have dried up on
the mobo.
I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years
now

My previous machine died of this with the same characteristics to the
ops' back in March (?) last year.

A colleague also had a machine fail in July last year of the same
thing, although their board was toast in the process (mine was just
unstable and deteriorating due to what looked like a single faulty
cap).

So I hate to say, but I beg to differ - there are plenty of machines
in circulation still that may suffer from this, although most failed
quickly (in 12-24 months from manufacture).

IIRC Dell still have a motherboard replacement policy in force on some
of their GX range due to the same thing.

It can happen seconds after a cold start. And the machine is well cooled,
with the correct fan on the processor which is working normally. Thing is
sometimes the PC is in use all day without problems.

Per my other reply, similar experience to my own. Mine was a single
faulty cap (not leaking, just an ever so slightly rounded top)

It doesn't switch off at a particular point in the boot sequence which
might point at a software thing.

The only other thing I could suggest by way of narrowing it down to
software or hardware would be to run a linux live CD to see if it
bombed - that way you're avoiding Windows.

How old is the mobo?
Just over a year. The whole thing.

Damn, there goes the capacitor theory...

Does memtest throw up any errors ? note that there are two versions,
one completely free, and one commercial with a free derivative - one
didn't work properly on my mobo and threw up errors immediately
although the machine has been solid for 18 months.

If one doesn't work, try the other :-}

In message , Clint Sharp
writes
In message , geoff
writes
I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years
now
Want to take me up on it as well? I could do with a pint right now.

Yes - with regard to his mobo, O smug one ...


Seriously though, it's still a huge problem despite what you may have
heard.


It was, I've repaired several Mobos with this problem, It's not a
problem with 12 month old Asus boards

London Pride, if you please ...

--
geoff

In message , Colin
Wilson o.uk writes
IIRC Dell still have a motherboard replacement policy in force on some
of their GX range due to the same thing.
GX and SX range. Just had a Dual Core machine fail with bad caps, well
under a year old (big name brand).
Had some clone boards fail with bad caps at just over a year old
recently.

The 'bad' electrolyte problem has been a major cause but fairly recently
there was also a *huge* batch of caps that were overfilled with
electrolyte and have been fitted to a lot of big name machines. Cooling
as always is a problem that kills caps quickly as well.
--
Clint Sharp

In article ,
Rob wrote:
Just disable suspect software, and/or try to replicate the fault in safe
mode (F7 on boot IIRC).

Happens in safe mode too. Should have mentioned that.

PCs are basically a few components - you have to
work through and isolate. My guess from what you say would be MB on a
new PC - the trickiest component to test alas.

I've fairly extensive experience of electronic faults but this one doesn't
follow the norm.

--
*Procrastinate now

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ,
Rob wrote:
Just disable suspect software, and/or try to replicate the fault in safe
mode (F7 on boot IIRC).

Happens in safe mode too. Should have mentioned that.

PCs are basically a few components - you have to
work through and isolate. My guess from what you say would be MB on a
new PC - the trickiest component to test alas.

I've fairly extensive experience of electronic faults but this one doesn't
follow the norm.

pop over here with it, we can fart around swapping bits over, chuck
another HD in etc, get my free pint(s) by eliminating the capacitors as
being the problem,

a process of elimination, which is much easier when you have everything
to hand

--
geoff

In message , geoff
writes
It was, I've repaired several Mobos with this problem, It's not a
problem with 12 month old Asus boards
Ah, but then you made a rather sweeping statement in the first instance
and didn't specify Asus only. I see probably 30-40 systems a month for
repair and I can say it's definitely still a problem that affects quite
a few big name box manufacturers. I usually only get to see 'clone'
stuff when family or friends phone me so I couldn't comment on Asus
specifically.

London Pride, if you please ...
Tell you what, I'll buy mine, you buy yours and we can share a pub...


--
Clint Sharp