AV8 3RD-EYE Shutting Down

My brother bought a pc from Evesham in the UK, and unfortunately his
XP1900+ chip decided it didnt want to do any more work.

He then decided on upgrading to a 64 bit 3000+ Athlon, and bought the AV8
3RD-EYE as it was a winner in PC Pro magazine.

The PC boots up fine, successfully booting through POST. Then sometimes
depending on how the PC is feeling when it gets to the Fast User
switching page it says shutting down. It usually does this about three
times before succesfully going past this user screen. He has noticed
that when it starts shutting down the LED numbers change to 02. We
cannot find this code anywhere in the manual or on the web.

The previous motherboard was an A7V266-E that used they Hyperion Via 4 in
1 drivers. The AV8 is also using the 4 in 1 drivers, we have updated it
using the latest versions of those drivers.

We have also upgraded the BIOS to the highest version possible and yet
still this occurs.

Any ideas?

We couldn't find any way of blitzing/uninstalling the old drivers such as
driver cleaner, which is what I would have done first if it was an nForce
board.

"Stone Free" wrote in message...
> My brother bought a pc from Evesham in the UK, and unfortunately
> his XP1900+ chip decided it didnt want to do any more work.

Were there any factors that contributed to this failure, or was it totally
spontaneous and unexpected?

> He then decided on upgrading to a 64 bit 3000+ Athlon, and bought
> the AV8 3RD-EYE as it was a winner in PC Pro magazine.
>
> The PC boots up fine, successfully booting through POST. Then
> sometimes depending on how the PC is feeling when it gets to the Fast
> User switching page it says shutting down.

What, specifically, do you mean by "it says shutting down"? Do you mean that
the OS shuts down and powers off the system, that the Fast User Switching
service alone shuts down, what? If the OS has an unrecoverable emergency and
decides to shut the system down, you should be able to find the source of
the problem in one of the event logs.

Also, what exactly do you mean by the "Fast User switching page"? Fast User
Switching is a service that normally starts and runs silently without any
"screen" or advertisement that it's running. Are you referring to the
Welcome screen?

> We have also upgraded the BIOS to the highest version possible and yet
> still this occurs.
>
> Any ideas?

Not really, you haven't described the error in sufficient detail to be
certain of what the symptoms are, and in any case it's difficult to comment
on system stability issues when we don't have any idea of the
ratings/quality of the power supply, memory and so-on that was supplied with
the original OEM PC.

It's also possible that the failure of the original CPU could have damaged
some of the other components (memory, PSU etc.) as it failed, or even that a
fault somewhere else could have caused the original failure. All these
possibilities make diagnosing the problem "by proxy" potentially very
difficult. Ultimately the best people to solve this issue are you and your
brother, as you're the only ones with direct access to the hardware.

> We couldn't find any way of blitzing/uninstalling the old drivers
> such as driver cleaner,

Why didn't you just have done with it and reinstall the operating system? At
least then you know you're starting from a clean OS without any question of
whether said "driver cleaners" have done a proper job. There's little point
any of us saying another word until you've taken this step.
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace .nospam with .com in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

"Richard Hopkins" <> wrote in
news:41e6a276$0$19154$:

> "Stone Free" wrote in message...
>> My brother bought a pc from Evesham in the UK, and unfortunately
>> his XP1900+ chip decided it didnt want to do any more work.
>
> Were there any factors that contributed to this failure, or was it
> totally spontaneous and unexpected?
It was totally unexpected.

He was in the middle of removing some minor viruses, when the computer
froze. He then turned the pc off and then on again, and went to have his
dinner expecting that it would have booted into windows.

When he came back the screen was blank. He tried turning it on again but
it would not even post.

A friend then came over and lent him an old TBird athlon and the pc
booted.
>> The PC boots up fine, successfully booting through POST. Then
>> sometimes depending on how the PC is feeling when it gets to the Fast
>> User switching page it says shutting down.
>
> What, specifically, do you mean by "it says shutting down"? Do you
> mean that the OS shuts down and powers off the system, that the Fast
> User Switching service alone shuts down, what? If the OS has an
> unrecoverable emergency and decides to shut the system down, you
> should be able to find the source of the problem in one of the event
> logs.
The moment it gets to the "Welcome" screen, there is a message saying
"shutting down" and the PC will turn off as if the power button had been
pressed (or someone had manually clicked turn off computer)

I looked in the event viewer logs and there is nothing listed. When my
own home built pc shuts down unexpectedly there are log error entries,
but not in my brothers case.
>> Any ideas?
>
> Not really, you haven't described the error in sufficient detail to be
> certain of what the symptoms are, and in any case it's difficult to
> comment on system stability issues when we don't have any idea of the
> ratings/quality of the power supply, memory and so-on that was
> supplied with the original OEM PC.
I think he told me that the power supply was 350 watts, he also has a
Geforce 6800 (one of the cheaper ones with 1 power connector not 2)
>
> It's also possible that the failure of the original CPU could have
> damaged some of the other components (memory, PSU etc.) as it failed,
> or even that a fault somewhere else could have caused the original
> failure. All these possibilities make diagnosing the problem "by
> proxy" potentially very difficult. Ultimately the best people to solve
> this issue are you and your brother, as you're the only ones with
> direct access to the hardware.
Unfortunately I live 70 miles away and my brother will not be back to the
UK for 3 months whilst he is in Greece
>
>> We couldn't find any way of blitzing/uninstalling the old drivers
>> such as driver cleaner,
>
> Why didn't you just have done with it and reinstall the operating
> system? At least then you know you're starting from a clean OS without
> any question of whether said "driver cleaners" have done a proper job.
> There's little point any of us saying another word until you've taken
> this step.
Because it is in use by my parents and there is a lot of configuring to
do to get the pc back in a state they would recognise.

Also seeing as there is not a change in motherboard drivers, I dont see
why there should be a problem.

"Stone Free" wrote in message...
> He was in the middle of removing some minor viruses, when the
> computer froze.
> When he came back the screen was blank. He tried turning it on
> again but it would not even post.
>
> A friend then came over and lent him an old TBird athlon and the pc
> booted.

Did it run stably when this substitute CPU was installed?

> The moment it gets to the "Welcome" screen, there is a message
> saying "shutting down" and the PC will turn off as if the power
> button had been pressed (or someone had manually clicked
> turn off computer)

Is "Shutting down" literally the only thing that's written on the screen?
Normally in these cases there'd be some sort of process or error message
attached to the shut down tag.

> I think he told me that the power supply was 350 watts, he also has
> a Geforce 6800

A 350 watt power supply of known brand and provenance, and listed capacities
for the main output lines, or an unbranded Chinese cheapie?

> Unfortunately I live 70 miles away and my brother will not be back
> to the UK for 3 months whilst he is in Greece

Not an issue we have any control over unfortunately.

>> Why didn't you just have done with it and reinstall the operating
>> system?
>
> Because it is in use by my parents and there is a lot of configuring to
> do to get the pc back in a state they would recognise.

Again your parents aren't our problem, but I'm sure they'd prefer a PC that
works to one that doesn't. You came here with a technical issue and asked
for advice/ideas, so that's what you got. If you want to sort this issue out
you're going to have to grasp some nettles at some point. In this case it'd
be probably be better to do it sooner than later.

Your description of the nature of the problem reinforces a reinstall as a
valid diagnostic step. As the system was running and an enforced shutdown
took place as a result of the failure, it's eminently possible that some
system files could have been damaged, which could be the cause of the
enforced shutdowns.

> Also seeing as there is not a change in motherboard drivers, I dont
> see why there should be a problem.

There's a change of chipset, and therefore a change in HAL. There's also the
issue mentioned above with the possibility of file damage, and furthermore
the question of any lingering virus infection. Reinstall the OS.
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace .nospam with .com in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

"Richard Hopkins" <> wrote in
news:41e6b94a$0$19155$:

> "Stone Free" wrote in message...
>> A friend then came over and lent him an old TBird athlon and the pc
>> booted.
>
> Did it run stably when this substitute CPU was installed?
No, but apparently it did not run stably in his friends pc either
>
>> The moment it gets to the "Welcome" screen, there is a message
>> saying "shutting down" and the PC will turn off as if the power
>> button had been pressed (or someone had manually clicked
>> turn off computer)
>
> Is "Shutting down" literally the only thing that's written on the
> screen? Normally in these cases there'd be some sort of process or
> error message attached to the shut down tag.
No, the shutting down message is written on the welcome screen, there is
no dialog box. This is exactly the same message you would get if you
pressed the power button at this point.
>
>> I think he told me that the power supply was 350 watts, he also has
>> a Geforce 6800
>
> A 350 watt power supply of known brand and provenance, and listed
> capacities for the main output lines, or an unbranded Chinese cheapie?
I don't know, but I would assume as Evesham are quite a big and well
known company that it is probably branded. Would have to check.
>
>> Unfortunately I live 70 miles away and my brother will not be back
>> to the UK for 3 months whilst he is in Greece
>
> Not an issue we have any control over unfortunately.
>
>>> Why didn't you just have done with it and reinstall the operating
>>> system?
>>
>> Because it is in use by my parents and there is a lot of configuring
>> to do to get the pc back in a state they would recognise.
>
> Again your parents aren't our problem, but I'm sure they'd prefer a PC
> that works to one that doesn't. You came here with a technical issue
> and asked for advice/ideas, so that's what you got. If you want to
> sort this issue out you're going to have to grasp some nettles at some
> point. In this case it'd be probably be better to do it sooner than
> later.
I have always had that in mind as a last ditch solution, I was hoping
that there would be things to try before that.
>
> Your description of the nature of the problem reinforces a reinstall
> as a valid diagnostic step. As the system was running and an enforced
> shutdown took place as a result of the failure, it's eminently
> possible that some system files could have been damaged, which could
> be the cause of the enforced shutdowns.
I don't know that it was the result of a failure as nothing is listed in
the event viewer.

I was also wondering if it was something to do with the LED 02 code, but
there is no documentation.
>
>> Also seeing as there is not a change in motherboard drivers, I dont
>> see why there should be a problem.
>
> There's a change of chipset, and therefore a change in HAL. There's
> also the issue mentioned above with the possibility of file damage,
> and furthermore the question of any lingering virus infection.
> Reinstall the OS.
I have one other avenue, I subscribe to PC Pro so I will send in a letter
to see if they can provide a solution and if not, I will reinstall the os