Help AB9 Quad GT Re-Booting

[Mishuno]

I could use some help.

I have a system with the following:

Abit AB9 Quad GT
2 x 1gig OCZ DDR2 1.9-2.1v 4-4-4-15 800 Part: OCZ2P800R22GK
WD SATA HDD
NEC DVD-RW
NVIDIA 7950
ThermalTake 600w PSU
Intel E6700

Everytime I boot the system it goes all through the post to FF and as soon as it starts to boot windows the system resets and starts to boot again.

Also does this if I try to boot off a CD. I get to press any key to boot from CD and it as soon as I do it resets.

I tried adjusting all voltage and timings for DRAM and it still does this.

I tried another pair of Ballistix RAM and still no go.

I Tried fail safe, also did not work.

I reset CMOS.

Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.

Thanks.

[BUFF]

is this a new system or 1 that was running OK previously?
If it's a new system & you just acrried a Windoews install over from a previous mobo that's most likely your problem.

if that isn't it then it sounds as if the mobo is fine & it's probably a memory or Windows problem.
have you checked that the RAM voltage set is actually that recommended by the mfr?

[0iD]

Unplug your hard drive & see if it still does it.

[Mishuno]

Not a new system: all new but HDD, CD and PSU.

I adjusted the the voltage and timings according to the mfr.

Yes there is a previous install of Vista on the HDD but I have been trying to boot into a clean install from both a windows XP and Vista CD and it still resets.

Wil try a different HDD next.

Be back...

[0iD]

I had a similar prob trying to install vista the other day, where i had a previous install of XP on a disk, not the clean one i was trying to install to. What i ended up doing was removing all but the new clean drive & it worked fine, then plugging them back in once the intall had completed.
No idea why, but it worked.

[Richh]

Also does this if I try to boot off a CD. I get to press any key to boot from CD and it as soon as I do it resets.

Are you using a USB or PS/2 keyboard? If you're using a USB 'board, the likeliest explanation for what you're seeing is that the board isn't responding to your keypresses. As such, even though you're pounding the keys to get it to boot from the CD, it is still lapsing through to boot from your hard disk, with the existing OS installation subsequently causing your reboot.

Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.

Are you still running the shipping 10 BIOS? If so, follow the instructions below to the letter and tell us what happens:

Do you have any USB devices, other than a keyboard and mouse, currently connected to the PC? If so, temporarily unplug them. This is especially important if you have a USB hard disk or any flash drives!

If your keyboard is USB, firstly try switching the USB Keyboard Support in the BIOS from OS to BIOS. However, if you have a native PS/2 keyboard available, try this instead.

Once this change has been made, try again to boot from CD.

The other thing that would be well worthwhile is making up a bootable floppy or CD image with the 11 BIOS on it, and upgrading before installing your OS. Before you go that far however, try and get to the bottom of the apparent failure to start OS setup from CD. I'd put money on a USB keyboard being the root cause, so see what you can discover in this area.

[gilgamesh]

Are you using a USB or PS/2 keyboard? If you're using a USB 'board, the likeliest explanation for what you're seeing is that the board isn't responding to your keypresses. As such, even though you're pounding the keys to get it to boot from the CD, it is still lapsing through to boot from your hard disk, with the existing OS installation subsequently causing your reboot.




Are you still running the shipping 10 BIOS? If so, follow the instructions below to the letter and tell us what happens:

Do you have any USB devices, other than a keyboard and mouse, currently connected to the PC? If so, temporarily unplug them. This is especially important if you have a USB hard disk or any flash drives!

If your keyboard is USB, firstly try switching the USB Keyboard Support in the BIOS from OS to BIOS. However, if you have a native PS/2 keyboard available, try this instead.

Once this change has been made, try again to boot from CD.

The other thing that would be well worthwhile is making up a bootable floppy or CD image with the 11 BIOS on it, and upgrading before installing your OS. Before you go that far however, try and get to the bottom of the apparent failure to start OS setup from CD. I'd put money on a USB keyboard being the root cause, so see what you can discover in this area.

Hi Richh mate

I have the same problem evne with a PS2 keyboard, I put it down to BIOS incompatibility with some IDE drives.frrr however HELP is at hand!! Peter In Tiawan e-mailed Sean and I the latest BIOS today to solve this issue amongst others, I cannot test until this weekend, howeveri f someone beats me to it , please let me know
I will e-mail 'BUFF' with the beta bios released today via e-mail to Sea and I . Richh if you get the chance PM me with your opinion on it please.

Gilgamesh

[Max Normal]

There is a header for a 12v 4-pin molex next to the 16x PCIe slot which is to supply auxilliary power to the PCI bus, I wonder if your gfx card is a bit too power hungry and underpowered? Might be worth connecting this if you have not done so already. Also, does your gfx card have its own aux power header that may need connecting?

Just a thought, but I know that power problems are a common cause for rebooting.

Also:
To be honest I have not looked in my BIOS yet as I am waiting to finish my system by buying a gfx card, but I assume that there is a "set by SPD" option for the RAM so that the BIOS can automatically set the correct RAM timings for the FSB, otherwise you may be out of sync and this can cause reboots. Softening the RAM timings can #apparently# help alleviate this problem, but obviously is NOT the correct cure if the BIOS is not "set by SPD" for RAM.

[Agent]

There is a header for a 12v 4-pin molex next to the 16x PCIe slot which is to supply auxilliary power to the PCI bus, I wonder if your gfx card is a bit too power hungry and underpowered? Might be worth connecting this if you have not done so already. Also, does your gfx card have its own aux power header that may need connecting?

Just a thought, but I know that power problems are a common cause for rebooting.

Also:
To be honest I have not looked in my BIOS yet as I am waiting to finish my system by buying a gfx card, but I assume that there is a "set by SPD" option for the RAM so that the BIOS can automatically set the correct RAM timings for the FSB, otherwise you may be out of sync and this can cause reboots. Softening the RAM timings can #apparently# help alleviate this problem, but obviously is NOT the correct cure if the BIOS is not "set by SPD" for RAM.

Thanks for signing up and the post, but this issue was fixed ages ago in the first BIOS update

Regards

[Max Normal]

Oops! sorry, just used to the actual person with the problem saying that it was solved before a thread is closed. And as I know from bitter experience, the issues that I highlighted can cause the exact same symptoms. There is not just one global BIOS-update based cure in the whole world for this type of symptom, so as you no doubt know, many people with problems caused by myriad hardware issues will be searching the forums for an answer, not just the original person with a single problem, and I'll continue trying to help them with the light of my bad experiences as they have helped me in the past.
anyway I am glad to be wrong in this case, nothing worse than a new build causing problems .