Intermittent boot problems with 8RDA3+

A while back I built a machine for a friend using the Epox 8RDA3+ and
an Athlon XP2500 processor. The computer has worked fine for a long
time but recently he has had trouble booting. When it fails to boot,
the board gets to the "FF" post code and the Windows XP logo starts to
appear. However, the image stays dim rather than brightening and then
displaying the little "Star Trek" moving bar like XP normally does
upon booting. Most of the time but not allways, when this happens the
speaker emits a two tone noise that sounds like a police car in the
U.K.

I tried booting in safe mode and the last thing that seems to
successfully load is mup.sys. My friend told me that no new software
has been installed in months. I checked for viruses, spyware, etc. but
it was clean. I was able to do this because about 20% of the itme the
machien boots OK. Also, there are no errors in the event viewer.

The motherboard looks visually OK-- no bulging capacitors. I ran the
Epox USDM monitor and it shows everything in the normal range; the
voltages and temperatures seem fine.

My first thought was the power supply but based on the USDM info it
seems OK. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bill

Hi, Bill.

How about the simplest fix: Unplug and re-plug all the cables and
connectors. And blow the dust out. Check for any new sources of RF too
close to the computer. Etc.

I assume you've already tried all those, but sometimes we overlook the
obvious. :^{

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 RC on EPoX MF570sli/Athlon 64 X2 5000+)

<> wrote in message
news:d80d417e-41b3-4e40-9a85-...
> A while back I built a machine for a friend using the Epox 8RDA3+ and
> an Athlon XP2500 processor. The computer has worked fine for a long
> time but recently he has had trouble booting. When it fails to boot,
> the board gets to the "FF" post code and the Windows XP logo starts to
> appear. However, the image stays dim rather than brightening and then
> displaying the little "Star Trek" moving bar like XP normally does
> upon booting. Most of the time but not allways, when this happens the
> speaker emits a two tone noise that sounds like a police car in the
> U.K.
>
> I tried booting in safe mode and the last thing that seems to
> successfully load is mup.sys. My friend told me that no new software
> has been installed in months. I checked for viruses, spyware, etc. but
> it was clean. I was able to do this because about 20% of the itme the
> machien boots OK. Also, there are no errors in the event viewer.
>
> The motherboard looks visually OK-- no bulging capacitors. I ran the
> Epox USDM monitor and it shows everything in the normal range; the
> voltages and temperatures seem fine.
>
> My first thought was the power supply but based on the USDM info it
> seems OK. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

<> wrote in message
news:d80d417e-41b3-4e40-9a85-...
>A while back I built a machine for a friend using the Epox 8RDA3+ and
> an Athlon XP2500 processor. The computer has worked fine for a long
> time but recently he has had trouble booting. When it fails to boot,
> the board gets to the "FF" post code and the Windows XP logo starts to
> appear. However, the image stays dim rather than brightening and then
> displaying the little "Star Trek" moving bar like XP normally does
> upon booting. Most of the time but not allways, when this happens the
> speaker emits a two tone noise that sounds like a police car in the
> U.K.
>
> I tried booting in safe mode and the last thing that seems to
> successfully load is mup.sys. My friend told me that no new software
> has been installed in months. I checked for viruses, spyware, etc. but
> it was clean. I was able to do this because about 20% of the itme the
> machien boots OK. Also, there are no errors in the event viewer.
>
> The motherboard looks visually OK-- no bulging capacitors. I ran the
> Epox USDM monitor and it shows everything in the normal range; the
> voltages and temperatures seem fine.
>
> My first thought was the power supply but based on the USDM info it
> seems OK. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

I had a similar problem with my used (Ebay purchase) 8RDA3+ but it started
as soon as I installed the board. About every 3rd boot, it would take 2 or
3 tries to get past the BIOS screen. It seemed to hang up by not
recognizing the drives. I checked all the connections although I did not
unplug everything. I had people telling me it was the power supply also but
it was pretty new and over 400 watts so I didn't replace it.

I can't explain it but the problem went away. Haven't had a boot failure in
2 months. Could come back tomorrow but for now, it seems to be ok.

Good luck.

Btw, do you know what your CPU temp runs? When I had an 1800+, it was about
36-39C. My 2700+ is usually 50C +/- 2C depending on ambient. During the
weekly virus scan, it gets into the mid- to upper 50s.