terry74728

I have a strange problem that I have posted to a forum before, but could never get a satisfactory solution. I built a new computer last February and everything works fine except the computer will shut down at the Windows loading screen when the ambient room temp. is around 70 F. or below. It posts just fine, and will usually boot all the way up on the second attempt to boot. Once it has booted completely up there are no problems and I can shut down and re-start normally as long as the computer hasn't been sitting a long time and hasn't cooled down to below around 70 F. During warmer weather it will boot up on the first try, but since the weather is getting cooler now, it has started shutting down at the start-up screen when cold again. I want to point out also that it shuts off at the exact same time during the Windows loading screen. I can start the computer in safe mode or go into the bios and it will continue to run with no problem...it seems that the extra time that the computer is running at the safe mode option screen or bios is enough to warm up the computer and will start up ok when I choose to start Windows normally. I have tried a different power supply with the same results. Here are my computer specs:

AMD 64 X2 5200+
Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 motherboard
Sapphire X1650XT video card
Theramaltake 430 watt power supply
G. Skill F2-6400CL4S-1GBHK RAM (2 gb.)
Western Digital WD2500KS hard drive
Samsung SH-S182M dvd/cd burner
Thermaltake VB1000BNS case

Any ideas or solutions will be greatly appreciated.

speedster123

welcome
has this problem been from the start?
what other supplies did you try?

its a strange problem indeed, actually the opposite of most computer issues.

you didnt overload with the thermal paste..?

run chkdisk /r

check your temps and voltages in the bios
or download /http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

terry74728

Thanks for your reply. This problem has occurred from the very start. The power supply is the only other component that I have available to swap out...which was no help. I am using the fan/heatsink that came with the processor and it already had a thermal pad installed when it was new, but just to make sure it isn't that, I removed the processor and re-installed using Arctic Silver 5...no help. I ran chk/disk....no errors. Checking the voltages and temps was one of the first things I did....nothing out of the ordinary there....I'm still stumped. Any other ideas??? Thanks.

dai

your underpowered
Power Supply Information and Selection

terry74728

If under-power is the problem, why does the problem only occur when the ambient room temp. is 70 F. or below? Once the computer has booted up it works just fine...no shut-downs. During warmer temperatures, it will boot up on the first try.

Moderith

make sure your CPU fan and the power supply fan are spinning freely when it is cold and you turn your computer on. might be that the lubricants in the fan are cold and just not spinning at a high enough rate, but after it is used for a little it warms up and spins freely. you might even want to check if its spinning freely before you turn it on on a colder day. should be very easy to spin and hold a spin for a second after you give it a light flick.

chopper63

Hi,

I have the same MB and it does the same. It takes 3 startups and then it keeps working. The problem seems to get worse the older the MB gets. It has nothing to do with power supplies as I tried 3 different ones and this one is a heavy duty 750 watt.
I'm sure it is in the MB as I tried a heap of other parts, it seems the MB doesn't hold the power supply in. (MB starts and stops power supply green wire I believe)
I haven't found the solution yet but I know that Gigabyte has released a second version of this MB with an extra fan on the cooling sink of the MB chipset. In my opinion this means that they had some issues with this board.

I post if I find out more, al help or suggestions welcome!

GP

schmmo

I Googled your mobo and found several instances of similar or exact problems. Please review the below links to form your own conclusions.

http://www.motherboardpoint.com/t861...y-on-boot.html

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...m/236009040831

http://www.techspot.com/drivers/driv...ormation/8173/

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=17574

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=17574

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=75224

From info I've gathered above, it might be a cheap simple fix by just updating your BIOS firmware to F5 or later.

Good luck!

chopper63

Hi and thanks for the info Schmmo!

Already updated the Bios a while ago to the latest version but that doesn't seem to fix it.
Heaps of other ppl have similar problems with this MB so bad effort from Gigabyte.
At the moment I have the voltage to the memory upped to 2.1 V as suggested in one of the links supplied by Schmmo.

We see what happens, keep you informed!

Cheers

chopper63

Hi there,

After much fiddling, testing, updating bios and so on I came to the same conclusion as before, the MB doesn't hold the power supply in.

In my opinion this is a hardware fault on the MB and not something that can be fixed with driver and bios upgrades. Since it gets worse over time I think it is a component wearing out.

Now the good news...
There is an easy fix. I soldered some wire (2 strands of a ribbon cable will do) in between the green wire and one of the black wires of the power supply. Some Heat shrink over the soldering joints to insulate and make it look tidy. I routed these wires to an empty drive bay and drilled a 6mm hole in the front of the plastic covers, soldered the wires to a $3 ON/OFF switch and mounted this in the hole. Done!
I flick on the switch to ON as soon as the computer boots and this locks the power supply to on.
If I want to switch the computer of I flick the switch to OFF and shut the pc down in normal way.

It seems to work fine with no consequences to operating system, MB or anything else.
It also made the MB running more solid then before.

Have fun!

terry74728

After RMAing my motherboard back to Gigabyte and getting my motherboard back, the very same original problem continues. One thing I did try was setting up the m.b. outside the case and discovered that the system will boot up just fine on the very first try outside of the case. I thought maybe I had a case problem, but I put everything into another case I have and the problem occurs in that case too. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

dai

try putting some fibre washers on top of the standoffs

terry74728

I had that very same idea. I already have some m.b. washers ordered and will give that a try. Thanks.

dai

there are a few more on the forum with the same problem it would appear to be a design flaw

terry74728

Installed the m.b. washers....still the same problem continues. I too am beginning to believe it is a design flaw with the m.b., but I am still open for suggestions or info. Thanks.

dai

if it is starting ok outside of the case the m/b must be shorting somewhere to the backing plate
see if you can see anywhere it may be touching where it is not supposed to
you are not overtightening the securing screws into the standoffs
the m/b is fitting into the i/o plate at the back correctly
check the the prong on the end of any addin cards is sliding into the slot in the case all the way

terry74728

Thanks for the suggestions, but I had already checked all of those items. Something that I recently discovered is that the reason it started outside of the case on the first try was because when the front panel start button is disconnected (I started it by using a small screwdriver across the start button pins) it started on the first try. After putting the m.b. back in the case and re-connecting everything except for the start button, I discovered that it will start up fine on the first attempt. I don't think it is a problem with the start button in my case because I got the very same results in a different case. It seems that something is sending a signal to shut off the computer through the start button...and let me add again...this only happens when the room temp. is below 70 F. Is there some kind of temp. sensor on the m.b. that may be causing it to shut down?

dai

still start by replacing the case button

xraynman

I have the same exact problem and the exact MB. At first the chipset would overheat and would shut down randomly when getting hot. I removed the heatsink and used thermal paste on chipset. That got rid of the overheat issues. It is way less annoying now, because 1 extra turn on and PC is fine. Before it would only shut down when I was in the middle of a game getting ready to save ....... and shutdown.

Now anything less than around 70 and it will take a couple of resets. I do live in Florida, so cold days are few and far between.

ThorXP

Years ago whenI was repaiting electronic equipment there was a freeze spray that would cool down a component even while the unit was turned on. If this is a design flaw then when the unit is inning taking a can of this freeze spray and just using it on a small portion of the motherboard will or should make it fail when the correct spot is cooled.