reboot problem
 

Has anyone ever had this problem? (independent of linux):

Reboot does NOT work... be it from the "restart" switch on the computer case, to a ctrl-alt-del or "reboot" from windows, to a "save and exit" from the bios...

What do I mean by it not working? Well, basically, if I try to reboot with any of the above, the computer behaves as expected (i.e. in windows it goes through shutdown process, etc), but then, when the monitor flashes (briefly losing the signal before the restart pushes the BIOS boot information back to the screen) it just halts. Nothing. Nada. The ONLY way to start the computer is from a cold start (be it from a full "Shutdown" in Windows or hitting the power swith on the power supply).

Has anyone ever had this problem before? Do you know what I can do to remedy it? I have had this happen once before, on a linux box. The motherboard and processor had been a throw-away gift from a friend, and so I figured it was just old and the MB didn't behave correctly.

However, it is doing it to me on my BRAND NEW MACHINE. I just put together the following:

AOpen AK77-333 main board
AMD Athlon XP 1900+
512 PC2700 DDR
AOpen GEforce3 Ti 200 128meg DDR
SoundBlaster Audigy

It is very frustrating. I am getting random freezes (it has frozen before IDE detection, during "ESCD" check, and randomly during Windows XP sessions) as well as the wierd reboot problem. I am not sure if they are related... but I thought I would ask here since there seem to be lots of people who know their stuff. I am trying to get windows installed so I can install Slack8.1, but, with the random freezes, it is hard. I actually first discovered this reboot problem during WinXP installation, when it tried to "restart" itself to let some settings take affect... and all I got was a blank screen. Anyone have any suggestions?

Down and Out with a crappy new computer

The reboot issue, that it just sits like a dumb fart after a reboot call, with all drives unmounted and the machine halted, is common. There are just a few thousand too many BIOS revs for the guys behind APM to figure in everything. A newer board is less likely to be covered, it happens... newer kernel is about the only guess.

The freezes, especially as they are under either OS, has to be hardware, or the bizarre combination of 2 different OSes having 2 different problems.

Offhand, what does XP's hard drive integrity tool claim?

Cheers,

Finegan

Would flashing the BIOS with the newest revision help, you think?

I've never used this tool, but the hard drive to the computer is NOT new. It is from my old computer, which didn't have any problems... (even w/ WinXP).


Does anyone know if a bad DIMM would cause a crash early in the BIOS boot sequence? Or is that stuff just stored in the onboard cache?

1. BIOS flash, maybe, maybe not, its a shot in the dark and certainly couldn't hurt if you feel confident with BIOS flashing.

2. I just read over the first post. Have you only got windows on this new crate so far?

Early in the BIOS boot sequence? if its after post, BIOS is done, fisnished, once that POST beep has gone out, its all the NT kernel's job from there... or whichever. If the crash is before POST, the machine should screech out a beep code that you could look up at whichever BIOS's home site. If it doesn't scream a beep code and causes the machine to crash... Also, if the drive info gets displayed and then BIOS hangs, check you jumpers and check the BIOS settings... maybe you're trying to force an ata 33 to do Ultra DMA or something wiggy.

That's about everything I've run accross.

Luck,

Finegan

P.S. oh duh, yeah bad RAM sticks almost always emit their own special bios beep codes, plus if you want to get really finicky, its easy to check the sticks integrity with memcheck, but that's after Linux is on it.

Thanks for the help! I really appreciate it (nothing is worse than buying a new machine nad it not working).

Yes, as of now, I only have windows on the box, because I know if I want to dual boot windows needs to go on first.

Hrm... when, exactly is the POST done? I know it beeps at the beginning, after that it is the BIOS done and it is up to what windows has written in the MBR and kernel? (or linux, or whatever)? But, by the time it is detecting the HD's or other IDE devices, it is now in the hands of the OS kernel? I am understanding that correctly?

And, unfortunately, I just found out my roommates HD is failing(which is where I have stored all the data I wanted to keep from my last computer). Such problems I am having!

Again, thanks for the help.

And, it has only frozen before IDE detection like once (maybe twice)... I *think the drive is ATA66, but, the MB supports up to ATA133.

Yep, all right all around... well to be anal it follows the boot order, so it usually tries the HD last, but anyway: the POST is that beep noise. The one short tone is traditional for "all is well" basically. On mine three long sharp tones meant missing or mis-seated CPU (or in my case, fried), two short two long meant mis-seated or missing RAM. If you've never heard these, that's a good thing. Beep codes are not universal, Epox for instance has started putting an LED display on the board to display a code you then check against the manual.

A hang in bios could mean a number of little things, a disagreement with the video card, a weirdness with the BIOS, really bad heat, but if it isn't common its probably not a big worry. The machine not shutting off correctly and odd hangs under windows... is... *must restrain self* er... uhm... *must not unleash rant*... duhm... erghhh... not my alley *whew*. Actually you can install windows second, whatever, especially if they are on 2 physical drives. The big problem is that no matter what you tell it, I think every single Windows OS will over-write the MBR, which just means you have to keep a linux boot disk around and re-run lilo or grub... its no big deal usually.

You're probably fine for the Linux install, but if windows is crashing like a pig, you'll probably want to take care of that first.

Luck,

Finegan

Just wanted to say I think I solved the problem. (with windows freezing anyway... not sure yet if the reboot problem is solved). I did a process of elimination, and discovered that if I removed my sound card (Sound Blaster Audigy) it worked fine. I did a fresh install of windows, and the second time it would see that there was a new "multimedia" device. But, when I tried to install things via the SB installation CD, it didn't find the hardware. So, I changed the PCI slot it was in... and it seemed to fix the problem.

I wont be surprised if it solves the reboot problem as well... since, it makes sense that if I have a bad PCI slot, WITH hardware in it, it would make things go haywire.

Anyway, just wanted to give you an update, and to thank you for the help, Finegan.