Thanks for the input, everyone. Also, thanks to Craig, who sent me an
email. Well, got everything running, and since I'm back online now,
(on a new Abit NF7s!) I thought I'd fill the group in on what I
believe was causing the issue.

Would you believe it appears to have been the amount (or method
applied) of the thermal paste? I figure the system reacts to sharp
temperature spikes that might indicate trouble, even when the actual
heat hasn't had time to get very high. Anyway, I've encountered this
issue with two of the three NF7 boards I put together this weekend.
The tipoff was, I tried powering the board with no CPU in place, but
with the CPU fan plugged in.

Redoing the thermal paste (several times, in one case) until it is not
too much or too little & is applied evenly and not messed up when the
heatsink is put on, seems to solve the issue.

Craig advised me I could disable the Auto Shut Down, if absolutely
neccessary. Thanks, Craig! I'm going to keep it in the back of my
mind, but since I got them working just by redoing the thermal paste,
and being forced to get the paste just exactly correct seems like a
good thing anyway, I'll only use that disable option if it becomes
neccessary.

Thanks for all the help everyone, and I hope this helps someone else
in the same situation.

- Jim J.

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 02:35:53 -0600, Jim J
wrote:

Built a new NF7s system tonight, and it won't power on. Hit the power
switch, and everything comes on for about a second, and then back off
again. I have to turn it off at the power supply long enough for that
little light by the power switch connectors to go off. Then, when I
turn everything on , it will get power for about a second again. I've
tried a different power supply, different RAM (in every slot),
different CPU, swapped the reset switch to the power switch position,
reset the CMOS jumper, and tried it with every different power plug
plugged in, and removed.

Any ideas?