IP35E Constantly Rebooting itself

[Raiden1803]

Hi, im new to the forums. i bought a abit IP35-E Motherboard from fry's electronics about a week ago and built my rig iwith the following parts :

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.66GHz Socket 775
Nividia XFX Geforce 8600 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi
Western Digital SATA 320GB Hard drive
1gig of DDR2 Ram
500Watt ATX Power Supply

for whatever reason when i power up my system it will power up, then shut down. it wont even go as far as POST so i never hear it beep. I do get the red and green LED lights saying that it is receiving power, but one thing i did notice was when i plugged in the IDE cable to the motherboard one of the pins was pushed back slightly and was kind of loose.... it wasnt knocked out entirely but i was able to push it back in with a pair of pliers.. (lol i know) Im concerned that that is what might be the problem causing it not to boot correctly.

the other thing that im worried about is the 500Watt power supply might not be cutting it, i have a thermaltake Tsunami case
with like 4 12cm fan's along with a set of neon lights at the bottom of the case that might be over taxing the power supply. but i did try to power it on without all the fans and it still constantly restarted itself

i need a fresher mind on this, so if anyone has any ideas i'd be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

[BUFF]

can you list the exact make/model of RAM & PSU?
Also, the Intel heatsink retention imo is poorly designed & often people don't have the hs properly fitted (it takes a fair bit of force) & this causes th system to shutdown due to CPU heat.

[Raiden1803]

Power supply - Ultra Xfinity 500 watt ATX Power Supply / ULT31844
Ram - "Crucial" Pin DIMM 128Mx64 DDR2

but i fully agree, the new intel heat sink is a royal pain in the neck. I've had many problems with the stupid plastic screw things falling apart on me... that actually might be the problem considering the only way i can tell if its properly fitted is to see how firmly in place it is...

[Raiden1803]

Grr... i think something else might be going on aside from the heat sink. im positive that its properly fitted all the way, it looks like its in their tight enough ( i have a pic of what it currently looks like but i cant post html links..) would not having enough memory causing it not to boot up? i only have the one gig in there. if its not that than i think the power supply cant handle the load and possibly fried afew things just trying to boot up.. O_o

[Raiden1803]

Nevermind, it was the crappy intel heat sink. it wasnt mounting to the board correctly. apparently one of the plastic swash thing broke and wasnt latching correctly like it should.i just bought another fan from altex. its a coolmaster. (C15-9HDSC-PL-GP , thats the only model number or whatever i can find on the box.. weird. lol) everything seems to be running fine-ish. i was able to install window's and everything.

the only thing that is still puzzling me is the way the CPU fan is acting. when i first power up my pc it powers on, then shuts down, then powers up again. the second time usualy the CPU Fan starts up and blasts at full speed, calms down, then the system runs normally.. still a little strange but atleast this time i was able to put window's on it without much of a problem. maybe the fan's alittle buggy..? i dunno. it's just a standard coolmaster fan for the Intel 775 Socket.

[BUFF]

don't want to say "I told you so " but ...

The double boot is normal on the early BIOS.
From what I understand BIOS 14 final is due on the ftp & that will cure it.

[Raiden1803]

Yeah i know im just stubborn and have to try things myself sometimes.... oh well, Appreciate it though. just updated the bios and that fixed that problem. last thing. (sorry this is my first experience with dual core systems) Im having trouble getting USB 2.0 enabled.. I know the IP35-E Supports it, and i have SP2 Installed (even though the instructions on the CD said SP1 and the Download link on the CD for it leads to a XP page on microsoft's site...) and all my ports (Front and rear) are reading as 1.1 at reduced speed...

how do i activate USB 2.0 on this board?

[BUFF]

Did you change any of the BIOS USB settings?
Other than that it should be USB2.0 with SP2.
You could try deleting the hubs in Device manager & letting Windows redetect.

[Raiden1803]

Yea i looked at it under the BIOS In The OnChip PCI Device -> USB Function's Menu. the USB Operation mode only has two settings High speed or full/low speed. is too enable usb 2.0 somewhere else that im missing..? currently i have it on high and it's acting like i's being it's on a non speed plug.... on every single port on the board o_O

[BUFF]

I know that there is an issue with the last Intel chipset drivers causing USB problems but afaik that normally manifests as USB failing to work at all (this doesn't affect just abit mobos but in general) - there is an MS Kb article.