[whichwaysup]

I have an ASRock P4S61 with a CelronD, 256MB RAM, DVD and a Western Digital 40GB HDD running Fedora Core3.

I have a spare 20GB Quantum Fireball which I want to add to the system.
All drives are set to cable select.

If I add the Quantum drive anywhere on the cables (even with no other drives), the system will not boot. No video is shown at all. It doesn't even get the press F2 for the BIOS screen.

I previously plugged the drive into a Windows machine to see what was on it and it worked fine.

Any ideas?

 

[Deleted090308]

Welcome to TSF. :wave:

I'd say the system is underpowered.
A hard drive "pulls" over 30W at startup.
What power supply do you have? Video card?

 

[whichwaysup]

It's in an Antec Aria case which has it's own proprietary PSU. Rated at about 300W I think.

I wondered about the power, which is why I tried it without the DVD or original HDD plugged in.

 

[Deleted090308]

Look at the sticker on the PSU to find the model name/number.
Try different 4-pin power plugs.

 

[whichwaysup]

Sorry, no video card. Just using the on-board stuff for graphics, sound, etc.

 

[whichwaysup]

I tried 4 out of the five molex connectors (the fith was to short). - No luck.

The PSU comes integrated into the Antec Aria case.
Model number on the PSU is: AR300 with PFC.

It also says 300W output, but then also +5V, +3.3V max output: 195W

 

[Deleted090308]

Check the jumper settings. http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=379

Are you sure the drive is OK?

 

[whichwaysup]

I think your original diagnosis of a PSU problems may have been correct.

I diconnected the front panel LEDs which forgot about earlier (figured every bit of help for the PSU might help), then tried my original setup with the new drive again.

This time it ran through the BIOS, but stopped part way through loading the kernel.

The following few reboots stopped before the BIOS.

Then finally it booted - No changes made!

I mounted the HD and everything worked fine..

I've just tried another couple of reboots and they went fine.
Have now also plugged in the front panel LEDs to see what would happen and it's booted fine again.

Does this just sound like a flakey PSU to you, or are there other things you can suggest? Don't really want to have to replace the case - it fits perfectly where it is!

 

[whichwaysup]

Oh dear. Just tried to shut it down. Almost imediately after clicking 'Shut down' the power turned off. No proper shut down.

Now when it boots, it runs through the BIOS then imediately turns off.

 

[whichwaysup]

This time it got a little further and started to load the kernel before the power going off.

Is this more likely to be the PSU than anything else?

 

[whichwaysup]

I'm now wondering if part of this is a temp issue. Just powered it one again and the PSU fan (which is the only fan in the case) is absolutely racing. But, it has actually booted.

Think I'm gonna give it a rest for tonight. Thanks for all your help.
If you have any thoughts, they'd be much appreciated.

 

[Deleted090308]

Unplug the computer from the wall and open the case.
Remove all dust inside with canned, compressed air.
Make sure the fans and heatsinks are clean.

See if you can borrow another PSU.

Enter BIOS at startup and check the voltages and temperatures.

 

[whichwaysup]

Will give that a go, thanks. Might have to wait till next week though.
I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[Deleted090308]

OK. Good luck.

 

[irvun]

A simple question really, but does it boot normally without the quantum drive ?

 

[whichwaysup]

Hi Irvun - thanks for replying.

It seems it no longer powers up reliably without the original drive. So that may have been a coincidence or the cause of a permanent fault.

NB: I was wearing an ESD strap when I was poking around inside.


I've dug out an old 350W PSU and I get the same problem with that, so I don't think it is the PSU.

It seems that if the machine has been on for some time (even if it hasn't booted), it will then boot when I reset it. So it seems that it might be a temp problem.

Any have any ideas what it might be? Is it more likely to be the M/B or the CPU?

 

[whichwaysup]

Thanks for your help so far guys,

As I think this is probably nothing to do with the HDD, I've started a new thread on the Motherboards, BIOS & CPU forum.

"Boot fail / BOIS does not run intermittently"