An-M2HD several restarts before booting W7

[Phyxius]

Hello,

I have tried to find the solution to this problem but no such luck and I can use some help.

I have done the following to systematically exclude some components.

First of description of the problem;
When startup my system from a cold start it shuts down within second to startup again.
This happens several times after another but in the end it always follows through to booting W7.
It does this every time you turn it on from an off state

System spec:
Abit AN-M2HD (BIOS ID: 19)
AMD Athlon64 X2 BE-2350
4x GeiL 1 GB DDR2-1066 Duo Kit (4Gb total)
Asus EAH5450 512MB PCI-e videocard
WD caviar 750GB harddrive
Hitachi 7K2000 2TB harddrive
Samsung SH-S223B S-ATA DVD writer
Antec 430watt powersupply

I have used Memtest86+ to see if the memory modules are ok. The modules passed the test twice 100%.

I have used a new powersupply (450W) to see if my original powersupply is unstable. Even with the new powersupply the problem did not resolve. I also used a powersupply calculator program to calculate how much power my system uses at idle and full load. This was between 280 and 320 watt.

I have removed the PCI-e videocard and cleared the cmos and used the internal videocard. It seemed to solve the problem. So I re-installed the PCI-e videocard. Still no problem but I did notices that it toke more time to get to the 1ste bios screen where the memory size and drive are checked.

So I changed the following settings;
time and date
memory voltage to 2.25
disabled boot to other devices
enabled pallet snoope
disabled internal videocard

After this the problem reapperd.

Put every setting that I changed back but the problem is still there.

The videocard is new and it does not consume a lot of energy to be unstable.

So now I am at an dead end

I hope someone here can suggest some thing or better yet give the solution.

thank you .

[Phyxius]

Update:
I replaced the "Asus EAH5450 512MB PCI-e videocard" with an "Asus En210 512MB PCI-e videocard".
The discribed problem did show but far less offten and also the system started faster to the 1ste bios screen where the memory size and drive are checked.
With the Asus EAH5450 it take approx. 16 to 30sec. to the 1ste bios screen but with Asus En210 it was almost instand.
With this test incombination with the previous ones it most be something to with my mainbord.

[GoNz0]

sounds like th emotherboards got a bad cap or 2, check for swollen ones round the cpu.

[Phyxius]

I did not see your post until this morning.
I will check to make sure that all capacitors are in order.

Will come back to this approx. 12 hour from now.

[Phyxius]

Ok, I check all of the capacitors on the board (incl. the ones around the CPU). None of them were swollen, leaking or other wise. So the capacitors are OK.
Thank for the idea dough.

[yakusa]

Hi. Dont worry about that. Is a known issue with Ati 5000 series working with nForce chipsets.
Old motherboard like AN-M2 with old bios work like in Your post.

I have AN-M2 + EAH5770 and i have a 2-5 restarts before normal boot. After that work fine with no other problems

I know it's weird but I got used to it

[cruzer747]

SOLVED!?!?!? ok, I have been plagued by this problem and if it gets worse.... which it did for me... for two different mobos (an-m2hds) I originally went to only using onboard video. Well, that got old, the first board I figured was a junker so I decided to snoop around, inspect caps and take accurate measurements of some of them to no avail. I got desperate as I was not able to boot a pcie card for months now with all kinds of possibilities eliminated. All I want to say and I made an account here so google has record of it as it could be a short term long term fix(who knows my two mobos both lasted about 8 months before they became testy with booting a pcie card) I swapped my bios chips (both the most current revision... no dice. I then took the bios chip out and ran the mobo through a power cycle. Popped it back in and VIOLA boots without even flinching! Aside from the pcie thing I was also experiencing the random shutdown and needing to reset the bios. perhaps there is a bad phisical connection at the chip from the factory? Well, what do you have to lose! if you are having these problems, give it a try! I was looking at having to upgrade my mobo and that means a new OS :-( so good luck all!

[cruzer747]

ok, maybe not solved, after I turned it off after a night of gaming after getting it to work again, it was back not wanting to boot which eventually it did, but I will tweak some more with it as it is headed to the scrap bin if I cant fix it! *pulls out heat gun* :-D

[cruzer747]

The board has been booting both hot and cold the last 2 days, so who knows but I did find a capacitor that was out of spec (not by much) but on the spare board that had the same problem, the cap closest to the bios chip 1000uf @6.3v was only giving me 880. All of the others I desoldered of that type were still putting out at least 970 so perhaps they underestimated the size cap that needed? A shot in the dark but I am going to solder in a 1500uf a@6.3 if this problem remains persistent. At this point the thing is behaving again....

[jawada]

I got desperate as I was not able to boot a pcie card for months now with all kinds of possibilities eliminated. All I want to say and I made an account here so google has record of it as it could be a short term long term fix(who knows my two mobos both lasted about 8 months before they became testy with booting a pcie card) I swapped my bios chips (both the most current revision... no dice.