775dual-VSTA cold boots fine but restart hangs

Hi,

When my sons elderly Compaq died just before Xmas I built a new PC
based on a 775dual-VSTA. I reused the old AGP graphics card (5200) and
the old IDE disks. My plan is to upgrade piece by piece. CPU is a
Pentium 4 3Ghz. XP SP2.

All has been working fine, and is working OK. However I installed some
XP updates and I noticed the PC didn't reboot after a restart. I don't
see the the nVidia 5200 banner (normally first thing) or the BIOS. I
have a green light on power and a solid red light on the disk access.
The CDROM light does flicker, but I don't appear to be able to boot of
a bootable CD image.

In desperation I disconnected everything and took a look inside. All
looked fine. Reconnected and powered up, and booted perfectly (though
BIOS recognised an unsuccessful boot had previously occured).

I can reproduce this. If I restart the PC appears to hang prior to the
graphics card declaring itself. However if I start from cold (power
off at the wall) it starts fine.

I'm pretty sure that it used to restart OK. It's has autoupdate for
XP running, and has the latest nvidia drivers and directX.

I have not updated the BIOS, as I'm reluctant to and don't have a
floppy drive so it looks a bit complex

Any suggestions. I guess it could be the wires from the motherboard to
the frontpanel power/reset buttons ?

ANy suggestions gratefully received

"jives11" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Hi,
>
> When my sons elderly Compaq died just before Xmas I built a new PC
> based on a 775dual-VSTA. I reused the old AGP graphics card (5200) and
> the old IDE disks. My plan is to upgrade piece by piece. CPU is a
> Pentium 4 3Ghz. XP SP2.
>
> All has been working fine, and is working OK. However I installed some
> XP updates and I noticed the PC didn't reboot after a restart. I don't
> see the the nVidia 5200 banner (normally first thing) or the BIOS. I
> have a green light on power and a solid red light on the disk access.
> The CDROM light does flicker, but I don't appear to be able to boot of
> a bootable CD image.
>
> In desperation I disconnected everything and took a look inside. All
> looked fine. Reconnected and powered up, and booted perfectly (though
> BIOS recognised an unsuccessful boot had previously occured).
>
> I can reproduce this. If I restart the PC appears to hang prior to the
> graphics card declaring itself. However if I start from cold (power
> off at the wall) it starts fine.
>
> I'm pretty sure that it used to restart OK. It's has autoupdate for
> XP running, and has the latest nvidia drivers and directX.
>
> I have not updated the BIOS, as I'm reluctant to and don't have a
> floppy drive so it looks a bit complex
>
> Any suggestions. I guess it could be the wires from the motherboard to
> the frontpanel power/reset buttons ?
>
> ANy suggestions gratefully received
>

As your PC started having problems after an XP update, I suggest that you
use your XP's "System Restore" function. This is an easily forgotten
resource, and should confirm whether you have a software or hardware
problem.
Updating the Bios (latest one is 2.40) is very easy on that board; get
yourself a USB floppy drive.
I can't suggest anything else right now.

A question for you:
Is your onboard audio working? Did you have any problems?
I can't get mine to work: I get "No audio device" in the Control Panel's
"Sounds and Audio Devices". I've installed all the drivers from the supplied
CD, and downloaded and installed the latest Realtek drivers.

Sylvain.

On 26 Feb, 10:55, "Sylvain VAN DER WALDE"
<sylvain.vanderwa...@which.net> wrote:
> "jives11" <jonathan.i...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > When my sons elderly Compaq died just before Xmas I built a new PC
> > based on a 775dual-VSTA. I reused the old AGP graphics card (5200) and
> > the old IDE disks. My plan is to upgrade piece by piece. CPU is a
> > Pentium 4 3Ghz. XP SP2.
>
> > All has been working fine, and is working OK. However I installed some
> > XP updates and I noticed the PC didn't reboot after a restart. I don't
> > see the the nVidia 5200 banner (normally first thing) or the BIOS. I
> > have a green light on power and a solid red light on the disk access.
> > The CDROM light does flicker, but I don't appear to be able to boot of
> > a bootable CD image.
>
> > In desperation I disconnected everything and took a look inside. All
> > looked fine. Reconnected and powered up, and booted perfectly (though
> > BIOS recognised an unsuccessful boot had previously occured).
>
> > I can reproduce this. If I restart the PC appears to hang prior to the
> > graphics card declaring itself. However if I start from cold (power
> > off at the wall) it starts fine.
>
> > I'm pretty sure that it used to restart OK. It's has autoupdate for
> > XP running, and has the latest nvidia drivers and directX.
>
> > I have not updated the BIOS, as I'm reluctant to and don't have a
> > floppy drive so it looks a bit complex
>
> > Any suggestions. I guess it could be the wires from the motherboard to
> > the frontpanel power/reset buttons ?
>
> > ANy suggestions gratefully received
>
> As your PC started having problems after an XP update, I suggest that you
> use your XP's "System Restore" function. This is an easily forgotten
> resource, and should confirm whether you have a software or hardware
> problem.
> Updating the Bios (latest one is 2.40) is very easy on that board; get
> yourself a USB floppy drive.
> I can't suggest anything else right now.
>
> A question for you:
> Is your onboard audio working? Did you have any problems?
> I can't get mine to work: I get "No audio device" in the Control Panel's
> "Sounds and Audio Devices". I've installed all the drivers from the supplied
> CD, and downloaded and installed the latest Realtek drivers.
>
> Sylvain.

Thanks Sylvian, my problem is I'm not sure which update may have
contributed. I have a hunch it might be connected with a USB keyboard
I recently added. It's one with a glowing blue backlight and sometimes
the light appears to stay on. I also noticed this with the Optical
mouse via the PS2 connecter, though when I use a USB mouse, the light
goes off.

I have not had any problems with audio. Are you using the rear
connections or via front panel break out cables

"jives11" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> On 26 Feb, 10:55, "Sylvain VAN DER WALDE"
> <sylvain.vanderwa...@which.net> wrote:
>> "jives11" <jonathan.i...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news: ups.com...
>>
>>
>>
>> > Hi,
>>
>> > When my sons elderly Compaq died just before Xmas I built a new PC
>> > based on a 775dual-VSTA. I reused the old AGP graphics card (5200) and
>> > the old IDE disks. My plan is to upgrade piece by piece. CPU is a
>> > Pentium 4 3Ghz. XP SP2.
>>
>> > All has been working fine, and is working OK. However I installed some
>> > XP updates and I noticed the PC didn't reboot after a restart. I don't
>> > see the the nVidia 5200 banner (normally first thing) or the BIOS. I
>> > have a green light on power and a solid red light on the disk access.
>> > The CDROM light does flicker, but I don't appear to be able to boot of
>> > a bootable CD image.
>>
>> > In desperation I disconnected everything and took a look inside. All
>> > looked fine. Reconnected and powered up, and booted perfectly (though
>> > BIOS recognised an unsuccessful boot had previously occured).
>>
>> > I can reproduce this. If I restart the PC appears to hang prior to the
>> > graphics card declaring itself. However if I start from cold (power
>> > off at the wall) it starts fine.
>>
>> > I'm pretty sure that it used to restart OK. It's has autoupdate for
>> > XP running, and has the latest nvidia drivers and directX.
>>
>> > I have not updated the BIOS, as I'm reluctant to and don't have a
>> > floppy drive so it looks a bit complex
>>
>> > Any suggestions. I guess it could be the wires from the motherboard to
>> > the frontpanel power/reset buttons ?
>>
>> > ANy suggestions gratefully received
>>
>> As your PC started having problems after an XP update, I suggest that you
>> use your XP's "System Restore" function. This is an easily forgotten
>> resource, and should confirm whether you have a software or hardware
>> problem.
>> Updating the Bios (latest one is 2.40) is very easy on that board; get
>> yourself a USB floppy drive.
>> I can't suggest anything else right now.
>>
>> A question for you:
>> Is your onboard audio working? Did you have any problems?
>> I can't get mine to work: I get "No audio device" in the Control Panel's
>> "Sounds and Audio Devices". I've installed all the drivers from the
>> supplied
>> CD, and downloaded and installed the latest Realtek drivers.
>>
>> Sylvain.
>
> Thanks Sylvian, my problem is I'm not sure which update may have
> contributed. I have a hunch it might be connected with a USB keyboard
> I recently added. It's one with a glowing blue backlight and sometimes
> the light appears to stay on. I also noticed this with the Optical
> mouse via the PS2 connecter, though when I use a USB mouse, the light
> goes off.
>
I'm afraid that I can't think of anything to suggest. This newsgroup is not
usually helpful with Asrock motherboards. You could try the two "homebuilt."
newsgroups.

> I have not had any problems with audio. Are you using the rear
> connections or via front panel break out cables
>

I'm using the rear connection. In answer to your email, I didn't know about
the Bios audio settings in "Advanced", but did find out later on. It still
made no difference.
I did have a PCI audio card which I fitted, and the audio is OK now.

Sylvain.

On 27 Feb, 10:00, "Sylvain VAN DER WALDE"
<sylvain.vanderwa...@which.net> wrote:
> "jives11" <jonathan.i...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
> > On 26 Feb, 10:55, "Sylvain VAN DER WALDE"
> > <sylvain.vanderwa...@which.net> wrote:
> >> "jives11" <jonathan.i...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> >>news: roups.com...
>
> >> > Hi,
>
> >> > When my sons elderly Compaq died just before Xmas I built a new PC
> >> > based on a 775dual-VSTA. I reused the old AGP graphics card (5200) and
> >> > the old IDE disks. My plan is to upgrade piece by piece. CPU is a
> >> > Pentium 4 3Ghz. XP SP2.
>
> >> > All has been working fine, and is working OK. However I installed some
> >> > XP updates and I noticed the PC didn't reboot after a restart. I don't
> >> > see the the nVidia 5200 banner (normally first thing) or the BIOS. I
> >> > have a green light on power and a solid red light on the disk access.
> >> > The CDROM light does flicker, but I don't appear to be able to boot of
> >> > a bootable CD image.
>
> >> > In desperation I disconnected everything and took a look inside. All
> >> > looked fine. Reconnected and powered up, and booted perfectly (though
> >> > BIOS recognised an unsuccessful boot had previously occured).
>
> >> > I can reproduce this. If I restart the PC appears to hang prior to the
> >> > graphics card declaring itself. However if I start from cold (power
> >> > off at the wall) it starts fine.
>
> >> > I'm pretty sure that it used to restart OK. It's has autoupdate for
> >> > XP running, and has the latest nvidia drivers and directX.
>
> >> > I have not updated the BIOS, as I'm reluctant to and don't have a
> >> > floppy drive so it looks a bit complex
>
> >> > Any suggestions. I guess it could be the wires from the motherboard to
> >> > the frontpanel power/reset buttons ?
>
> >> > ANy suggestions gratefully received
>
> >> As your PC started having problems after an XP update, I suggest that you
> >> use your XP's "System Restore" function. This is an easily forgotten
> >> resource, and should confirm whether you have a software or hardware
> >> problem.
> >> Updating the Bios (latest one is 2.40) is very easy on that board; get
> >> yourself a USB floppy drive.
> >> I can't suggest anything else right now.
>
> >> A question for you:
> >> Is your onboard audio working? Did you have any problems?
> >> I can't get mine to work: I get "No audio device" in the Control Panel's
> >> "Sounds and Audio Devices". I've installed all the drivers from the
> >> supplied
> >> CD, and downloaded and installed the latest Realtek drivers.
>
> >> Sylvain.
>
> > Thanks Sylvian, my problem is I'm not sure which update may have
> > contributed. I have a hunch it might be connected with a USB keyboard
> > I recently added. It's one with a glowing blue backlight and sometimes
> > the light appears to stay on. I also noticed this with the Optical
> > mouse via the PS2 connecter, though when I use a USB mouse, the light
> > goes off.
>
> I'm afraid that I can't think of anything to suggest. This newsgroup is not
> usually helpful with Asrock motherboards. You could try the two "homebuilt."
> newsgroups.
>
> > I have not had any problems with audio. Are you using the rear
> > connections or via front panel break out cables
>
> I'm using the rear connection. In answer to your email, I didn't know about
> the Bios audio settings in "Advanced", but did find out later on. It still
> made no difference.
> I did have a PCI audio card which I fitted, and the audio is OK now.
>
> Sylvain.

Thanks again, I reposted in the homebuilt group and had some very good
advice. I also ended up realising I'd been an idiot - there is a
windows native BIOS upgrade tool. So , I upgraded the BIOS AND rest to
default settings.
Booted fine and reboots fine. I did notice on reboot that it seemed to
rediscover the onboard sound devices, and initially I was getting some
popup errors when I tried to use some of the sound devices control
tools. However this seemed to be services that had started before the
device was rediscovered. another reboot sorted it and all is ok.

is it worth resetting defaults in the BIOS ?