AGP Failure?

You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok

I originally downloaded the floppy image which didn't work when I booted
from the floppy. I then downloaded the ISO image, burned it to CD and booted
from the CD which did work.

Try another power supply

Already done that.

What motherboard chipset driver version are you running

Good question. How do you determine this? I *do* know its the same driver
version running before Christmas when my box worked perfectly.

Maybe the hard disk is going out

Now that I am more confident that the memory is not at fault I am even more
certain that the mainboard is at fault: the AGP port doesn't work correctly,
the HDD is behaving differently, I can't successfully burn a DVD and the box
resets itself from time to time.


"DaveL" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok. Try another power
supply. Maybe the hard disk is going out. What motherboard chipset
driver version are you running?

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
I finally got memtest to run. It's now run for 18 hours without a single
error which rules out the memory stick.

The box is now suffering from hard disk problems - during boot up the
drive light comes on for 30 secs or so before beginning the boot sequence
and occasionally during normal operation (e.g opening IE) the machine
freezes for 30 secs or so before running the program.

This is driving me nuts - any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


"Rich Webb" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:12:45 -0000, "Martin"
wrote:

I can get to the BIOS if I use the TNT2 card - all the others now barf
at
the BIOS splash screen.

Incidentally, I tried to burn a DVD this weekend using NERO. All
attempts
have failed - the burn succeeds but during the verify the box restarts.

I've used three different media - all with the same result.

Could it be my 512Mb RAM stick that's going bye bye?

Maybe. Download memtest86 or memtest86+ and run it overnight.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.memtest.org/

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

All of these problem could be due to a bad hard drive. Download the hard
drive manufacturer's utility disk and run diagnostics on it. Oh, and for
sure, you better back up any data that you can't live without. I have all
my pictures backed up on cdrom.

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok

I originally downloaded the floppy image which didn't work when I booted
from the floppy. I then downloaded the ISO image, burned it to CD and
booted from the CD which did work.

Try another power supply

Already done that.

What motherboard chipset driver version are you running

Good question. How do you determine this? I *do* know its the same driver
version running before Christmas when my box worked perfectly.

Maybe the hard disk is going out

Now that I am more confident that the memory is not at fault I am even
more certain that the mainboard is at fault: the AGP port doesn't work
correctly, the HDD is behaving differently, I can't successfully burn a
DVD and the box resets itself from time to time.


"DaveL" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok. Try another
power supply. Maybe the hard disk is going out. What motherboard
chipset driver version are you running?

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
I finally got memtest to run. It's now run for 18 hours without a single
error which rules out the memory stick.

The box is now suffering from hard disk problems - during boot up the
drive light comes on for 30 secs or so before beginning the boot
sequence and occasionally during normal operation (e.g opening IE) the
machine freezes for 30 secs or so before running the program.

This is driving me nuts - any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


"Rich Webb" wrote in message
news On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:12:45 -0000, "Martin"
wrote:

I can get to the BIOS if I use the TNT2 card - all the others now barf
at
the BIOS splash screen.

Incidentally, I tried to burn a DVD this weekend using NERO. All
attempts
have failed - the burn succeeds but during the verify the box restarts.

I've used three different media - all with the same result.

Could it be my 512Mb RAM stick that's going bye bye?

Maybe. Download memtest86 or memtest86+ and run it overnight.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.memtest.org/

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

All of these problem could be due to a bad hard drive

I think you're right. But why would a faulty hard disk could cause AGP
problems?

Anyway, all backups done

"DaveL" wrote in message
...
All of these problem could be due to a bad hard drive. Download the hard
drive manufacturer's utility disk and run diagnostics on it. Oh, and for
sure, you better back up any data that you can't live without. I have all
my pictures backed up on cdrom.

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok

I originally downloaded the floppy image which didn't work when I booted
from the floppy. I then downloaded the ISO image, burned it to CD and
booted from the CD which did work.

Try another power supply

Already done that.

What motherboard chipset driver version are you running

Good question. How do you determine this? I *do* know its the same driver
version running before Christmas when my box worked perfectly.

Maybe the hard disk is going out

Now that I am more confident that the memory is not at fault I am even
more certain that the mainboard is at fault: the AGP port doesn't work
correctly, the HDD is behaving differently, I can't successfully burn a
DVD and the box resets itself from time to time.


"DaveL" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok. Try another
power supply. Maybe the hard disk is going out. What motherboard
chipset driver version are you running?

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
I finally got memtest to run. It's now run for 18 hours without a single
error which rules out the memory stick.

The box is now suffering from hard disk problems - during boot up the
drive light comes on for 30 secs or so before beginning the boot
sequence and occasionally during normal operation (e.g opening IE) the
machine freezes for 30 secs or so before running the program.

This is driving me nuts - any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


"Rich Webb" wrote in message
news On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:12:45 -0000, "Martin"
wrote:

I can get to the BIOS if I use the TNT2 card - all the others now barf
at
the BIOS splash screen.

Incidentally, I tried to burn a DVD this weekend using NERO. All
attempts
have failed - the burn succeeds but during the verify the box
restarts.

I've used three different media - all with the same result.

Could it be my 512Mb RAM stick that's going bye bye?

Maybe. Download memtest86 or memtest86+ and run it overnight.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.memtest.org/

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

Well, try going into the bios with the ti4200 installed and the hard drive
disconnected. Also, closely inspect the motherboard for bulging or leaking
caps. You could be dealing wiht more than one problem.

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
All of these problem could be due to a bad hard drive

I think you're right. But why would a faulty hard disk could cause AGP
problems?

Anyway, all backups done

"DaveL" wrote in message
...
All of these problem could be due to a bad hard drive. Download the hard
drive manufacturer's utility disk and run diagnostics on it. Oh, and for
sure, you better back up any data that you can't live without. I have
all my pictures backed up on cdrom.

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok

I originally downloaded the floppy image which didn't work when I booted
from the floppy. I then downloaded the ISO image, burned it to CD and
booted from the CD which did work.

Try another power supply

Already done that.

What motherboard chipset driver version are you running

Good question. How do you determine this? I *do* know its the same
driver version running before Christmas when my box worked perfectly.

Maybe the hard disk is going out

Now that I am more confident that the memory is not at fault I am even
more certain that the mainboard is at fault: the AGP port doesn't work
correctly, the HDD is behaving differently, I can't successfully burn a
DVD and the box resets itself from time to time.


"DaveL" wrote in message
...
You did not say what you did to get memtest running ok. Try another
power supply. Maybe the hard disk is going out. What motherboard
chipset driver version are you running?

DaveL


"Martin" wrote in message
...
I finally got memtest to run. It's now run for 18 hours without a
single error which rules out the memory stick.

The box is now suffering from hard disk problems - during boot up the
drive light comes on for 30 secs or so before beginning the boot
sequence and occasionally during normal operation (e.g opening IE) the
machine freezes for 30 secs or so before running the program.

This is driving me nuts - any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


"Rich Webb" wrote in message
news On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:12:45 -0000, "Martin"
wrote:

I can get to the BIOS if I use the TNT2 card - all the others now
barf at
the BIOS splash screen.

Incidentally, I tried to burn a DVD this weekend using NERO. All
attempts
have failed - the burn succeeds but during the verify the box
restarts.

I've used three different media - all with the same result.

Could it be my 512Mb RAM stick that's going bye bye?

Maybe. Download memtest86 or memtest86+ and run it overnight.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.memtest.org/

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

I've just replaced the mainboard and everything is back to normal.

Thanks for all your help.

Martin

"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Soltek SL-75FRV
Athlon XP2000
GeForce Ti-4200
2xHDD
1xDVD+/-RW

My box has been switched on permanently for nearly four months. I've been
away on holiday for a week and decided to power off.

On my return I turned the box on but there was no signal to the monitor.
The
disks were spinning but I couldn't see anything. I wiggled a few cables
etc
before deciding to fit an old Riva TNT2 AGP card. This worked fine.

Ahah! The 4200 must be knackered - great excuse to buy a 6600GT. No joy -
the GT at least allowed me a glimpse of the Soltek BIOS splash screen then
it froze.

I tried a GeForce 5200 with the same result. In fact the 4200, 5200 and
6600
all exhibited the same symptoms: at some point between power up and logon
the screen would either freeze, be garbled or not send a signal to the
monitor.

At this point I replaced the power supply (350W).

Still no joy - only the Riva TNT2 card works which is as solid as rock.

I've run out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Martin