IX38 double boot type problem

[leejayd]

I have the following kit :

Q6600 G0,
2x1gb ballistics,
4 x HD (2 in Raid 0),
6600 GT [EDIT]
SATA DVD-RW
Enermax Infiniti 720
SB X-Fi Audio (PCI-e)

I'm on B05 bios and running at stock speed.

I get a probem when booting up from cold. The fans start to spin, the POST led gets to 9.0, the display doesn't come on, a few seconds later the board re-boots. Sometimes, this second boot works. Sometimes it doesn't.

When it fails for the second time I can re-set the BIOS and it works.

Once in XP it's very stable. I'm running at stock speed.

Could this be a problem with the PSU? I've been running this system for a several weeks now. Slowly adding more hardware like drives, soundcard. When I first bult the barebones systems there was no such problem.

I'm keen to find out if anyone else is experiencing this problem.

[leejayd]

I've tried unplugging a hard drive and DVD-R, no effect.

I've tried with 1 stick of memory, no effect.

I've swapped the PSU cables into differrent ports on the modular psu, no effect.

It's very weird. Could this be a bios issue?

[leejayd]

I've found the problem is with my old Pci-e v1 graphics card. When I move it to the third PCI-e (x4) slot it works fine. Although, this slot is only x4 hence this is not okay.

I've built a system for my friend with a PCI-e v1 graphics card, hence the problem. Can this be sorted with a bios update or do I need to return the board. I don't want to send it back only to get a new board with the same problem. I thought PCI-e v2 worked with V1 cards.

[BUFF]

8800GT is PCI-E 2.0 though as is X38 for the 2 X16 slots on the nb.

[leejayd]

8800GT is PCI-E 2.0 though as is X38 for the 2 X16 slots on the nb.

Sorry Buff, I made a boob with my spec. I have a 2 systems with the IX38. One for me with an 8800GT (PCI-e v2) and one for my mate with an old PCI-e v1.1 card (he'll be upgrading later!).

The problem of non-posting happened on my mates system with a 1.1 card in slot 1. When I moved this card to slot 3 the problem went away. When I tried my 8800GT card in my mates system (slot1) there was no problem.

Hence, the problem is that slots 1 & 2 have problems with PCI-e 1.1 cards. My mate will be upgrading the card to v2 in around 5 months so this problem would go away.

In the meantime I don't want to keep the 1.1 card in slot 3 as this is only x4 speed.

I need guidance - should I return the board only to get a new board with the same problem OR will a bios update/tweak overcome this type of problem.