Computer about to be thrown out of the window

"ONE" power supply? All ATX power supplies provide a constant voltage to the
mobo when the computer isn't running, although some have a mechanical switch
as well, which obviously will shut even that off. Without power to the
motherboard, the power-on button won't work.

Besides, if he's poking his hands/tools around inside his case, he'd better
have the stupid thing unplugged, and be grounded.

"William W. Plummer" wrote in message
...
| Discharging the CMOS memory takes only a few microseconds using the
| jumper. Check the mobo manual. But be certain the machine is
| completely unplugged because there is one power supply that does not go
| off when the machine is switched off.
|
|
| Gary wrote:
|
| My experience with ECS motherboards suggst you should run, not walk,
| away from them as quickly as possible. They make bottom-feeding boards
| that aren't meant for a good land fill.
|
| Failing that, reset the bios on the board and even take the battery off
| for ten minutes or so with the computer unplugged. Perhaps there is
| something in the bios. Then check for a bios upgrade and pray that you
| don't foul the eeprom when you update it.
|
|
|
|
|
| Trent SC wrote:
|
| Bloody computers!
|
| My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec:
| ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810
| graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award
| Modular v 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any
| more information?
|
| It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often
| when online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon,
| and took the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440
| graphics card and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the
| hard drive with a spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive,
| just in case it all went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going
| from 128 to 384 with a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two
| memory testers.
|
| The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the
| installation of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and
| while SP2 took fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine,
| it's continued to hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing
| over an icon in Tiles view format. And I didn't get a chance to go
| online before it hung, so I just took out the new hard drive and
| shoved the old one back in before I lost it completely.
|
| This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new
| hard drive and new system and application software. The only common
| factors which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and
| processor. There are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU
| and CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only think that there must be
| something fundamental going on in the motherboard or processor, but if
| anyone else has any brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear
| them!
|

"Toolman Tim" wrote in
:

"ONE" power supply? All ATX power supplies provide a constant voltage
to the mobo when the computer isn't running, although some have a
mechanical switch as well, which obviously will shut even that off.
Without power to the motherboard, the power-on button won't work.

Besides, if he's poking his hands/tools around inside his case, he'd
better have the stupid thing unplugged, and be grounded.

"William W. Plummer" wrote in message
...
| Discharging the CMOS memory takes only a few microseconds using the
| jumper. Check the mobo manual. But be certain the machine is
| completely unplugged because there is one power supply that does not
| go off when the machine is switched off.
|
|
| Gary wrote:
|
| My experience with ECS motherboards suggst you should run, not
| walk, away from them as quickly as possible. They make
| bottom-feeding boards that aren't meant for a good land fill.
|
| Failing that, reset the bios on the board and even take the battery
| off for ten minutes or so with the computer unplugged. Perhaps
| there is something in the bios. Then check for a bios upgrade and
| pray that you don't foul the eeprom when you update it.
|
|
|
|
|
| Trent SC wrote:
|
| Bloody computers!
|
| My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec:
| ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel
| i810 graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is
| Award Modular v 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you
| need any more information?
|
| It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often
| when online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this
| afternoon, and took the opportunity to remover the slightly
| ancient Trident 9440 graphics card and return to the onboard
| graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with a spare, freshly
| formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it all went
| pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with
| a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers.
|
| The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the
| installation of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on)
| and while SP2 took fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on
| fine, it's continued to hang, most often when I'm in My Computer
| and mousing over an icon in Tiles view format. And I didn't get a
| chance to go online before it hung, so I just took out the new
| hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I lost it
| completely.
|
| This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM,
| new hard drive and new system and application software. The only
| common factors which might have an influence are the PSU,
| motherboard and processor. There are no heat issues going on and
| the two fans - PSU and CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only
| think that there must be something fundamental going on in the
| motherboard or processor, but if anyone else has any brillinat
| ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear them!
|

Good point Toolman. At least he picked a cheap model to learn his lessons
on. Fundamentally speaking of course.

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:04:19 -0800, "Toolman Tim"
wrote:

"ONE" power supply? All ATX power supplies provide a constant voltage to the
mobo when the computer isn't running, although some have a mechanical switch
as well, which obviously will shut even that off. Without power to the
motherboard, the power-on button won't work.

Besides, if he's poking his hands/tools around inside his case, he'd better
have the stupid thing unplugged, and be grounded.

Some refer to a supply as the particular voltage rail, not
as the entire physical box of metal. His comment is as
valid as yours is. Even so, unplugging the system is only
useful for clearing CMOS, there are quite a few basics (like
taking voltage readings) that would require system PSU not
only plugged in but whole box full-"on".

"kony" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:04:19 -0800, "Toolman Tim"
wrote:

"ONE" power supply? All ATX power supplies provide a constant voltage to
the
mobo when the computer isn't running, although some have a mechanical
switch
as well, which obviously will shut even that off. Without power to the
motherboard, the power-on button won't work.

Besides, if he's poking his hands/tools around inside his case, he'd
better
have the stupid thing unplugged, and be grounded.

Some refer to a supply as the particular voltage rail, not
as the entire physical box of metal. His comment is as
valid as yours is. Even so, unplugging the system is only
useful for clearing CMOS, there are quite a few basics (like
taking voltage readings) that would require system PSU not
only plugged in but whole box full-"on".

True. But the discussion at this point was basically only the CMOS clearing.
I have no qualms about running tests with a powered up system, but I don't
recommend it to someone who could possibly be a novice.

Trent SC wrote:
Bloody computers!

My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec:
ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810
graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award
Modular v
6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more
information?

It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often
when
online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and
took the
opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics
card and
return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with
a
spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it
all went
pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with a
pair of
fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers.

The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the
installation of
SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took
fine
once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to
hang,
most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in Tiles
view
format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it hung, so I
just
took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I
lost it
completely.

This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new
hard
drive and new system and application software. The only common
factors
which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and processor.
There
are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and CPU are
spinning
efficiently. I can only think that there must be something
fundamental
going on in the motherboard or processor, but if anyone else has any
brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear them!

for some reason my first reply doesn't seem to be showing - so here it
is again.

I was recently (as in withing the last year) using a PC Chips MB with
onboard Video - It was constantly freezing - whether I was surfing the
net - or windows explorer.

I finally was advised to buy a Video Card (which I did - a 32MB PCI
card). I installed the card - and from that point on - till I finally
upgraded to an ASUS MB - I never had the problem occur again.

Trent SC wrote:

My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec:
ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810
graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se.


Don't throw it out ! I can use it as a Linux machine.

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot do_not_type_this_bit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/