Help! my shuttle SN95G5 has died

[Mcjohnston]

Hello, my shuttle sn95g5 v1 had completely funked up! 1st things 1st list of errors: as they occurred

- Randomly restarts when in windows - problem progressively got worse
- Wont load past system check, some errors ect but fixed with cmos clear
- Black screen of death won’t load anything even xpc bios splash - fixed with MANY restarts

took it onto myself to deduce psu was dead ordered new one and replaced worked for 1/2 day then my game of eu3 started crashing, then finally windows restarts black screen of death wont load anything, though k, overheated let everything cool off but still dead.

- replaced cmos battery still dead
- replaced with old psu that worked now and again, still dead
- replaced with wrong ordered 250w psu that to big for case, but works sitting on top -still dead
- Has a cup of tea - worked once to windows, reboots, dead

So erm... help! it may be still a power supply issue but im very unsure since one new psu and the one I order incorrectly didn’t make it work. Perhaps the bios chip is junked? Or something else any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance .Mike

[Splash]

what happens if you boot without RAM installed?

[notsobig]

I'm with Splash, sounds like a ram issue or maybe a bad hard drive.

[Mcjohnston]

Ok after a big fun filled afternoon, may I also add I really need a beer! I got this response from shuttle:

1. Defect CPU / Defect memory controller (inside CPU).
- Please exchange the CPU for test. If you dont have another
CPU, please contact your reseller for help.

2. Defect memory
- Please try with one module first. Perhaps one is defect only.
If the system will crash immediately, try the other module.

3. Instable voltage control on mainboard.
- The reason can be a defect capacitor or burned transistor.
We have to check this is our lab, but your reseller perhaps
is able to check this too.

4. Instable 12V line in power supply.
- Please try with another PSU. You can use a standart ATX PSU
for test. The connectors on mainboard are identical.

blah blah blah,

So from splash's advice took out one ram module after it started naffing up again, and huzzah! worked windows loaded fine, so concluded other must be dead. turned off replaced ram and double huzzah stilled worked fine. Now im really confused, put both ram modules back in worked for about 5 mins same issues. So there must be something wrong with the motherboard perhaps?

Also after replacing the ram windows fixed a few corrupted files on hdd followed by a good old, windows is missing or corrupt \windows\system\32\config\system, this was easily fixed.
So what the problem is? pfft god knows im stumped but seems to be working fine for now but runing 1 gig of ram really crunches my lifestyle, continues help is always most welcome

[mr mister]

try running memtest on each stick of ram individually to see if it shows any problems.

[Mcjohnston]

mem test and a what now? linkage please as google returns a few hundred results!, also each stick seems to run fine when just browsing the net and doing simple things, but anything that requires more memory use will crash to desktop. im still having a toss up between a faulty power supply, memory or other

[Splash]

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

That'll get you a prebuilt .iso - burn that to disk and boot from it. Test each module individually - I would leave it running for a few hours on each module to be sure (unless it bombs pretty soon, in which case test that module in the other slot)

Once you have eliminated the memory (or otherwise) I'd move onto the hard drive - run chkdsk /r on the drive, and possibly any manufacturer tools. Does the drive feel hot to the touch?

[Mcjohnston]

Another fun filled day, ran memtest on each stick individually for two passes, no errors one each, then ran memtest with both slotted in for one pass with no errors. I let it load to windows after 10 sec Zonk!!! Dead, i removed one stick and works fine. Next I ran chkdsk twice just to make sure both returned that disk was clear, although I think I did spot something about 12k of bad data on disk? But changed screen too quickly. Let it load to windows works fine, turned off installed 2nd ram stick let it load windows, 10 seconds later Zonk dead!!!

As always, still very stumped that my comp only works with one Ram stick inserted worked fine for two ½ years.

Ideas anyone? Becoming sorely tempted to buy a new rig and sell this one as a media pc on Ebay.

[Mcjohnston]

anyways, been pondering over a few things, only things left to do is flashing to an older bios, as i think that this issue started after i used the latest ones maybe? cant really rember then a good old format.

and could i also get a wink of acknowlagemt that the system ive ran up on ebuyer.co.uk is sweet as i think:

Shuttle SG33G5 Black Barebone System - £222.14
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 - £119.06
Western Digital WD2500KS 250GB - £42.65, got an external dont need anymore
NEC Optiarc AD-7170S-0B 18x - £17.41
Sapphire X1950Pro 256MB - £79.56, ohh my thats cheap. not a dx10 fanboy just yet although not sure its fit comfo please!
OCZ OCZ2VU8004GK DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz (2x 2GB) - £155.99, treating myself as i think i can get a few £100 for what i have now
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x64Bit oem - £62.50 inc VAT someone please stop me, just the windows xp i have is oem and ill have to get a new one as its a different MB

Total: £710.94 not to shabby i think, apart from cleaning out my bank account