New PC - Infrequent Boot Problem

[Crazytom]

I'm having a problem with a pc my dad and I built recently.
Basically, the pc sometimes fails in the boot sequence before anything is displayed on the screen.
This is an intermittent problem that seems to occur at random. The only solution is to clear the CMOS.
Here are the specs:
Abit AB9 mobo --- E4400 cpu --- 2gb corsair XMS2 ram --- 8600gt gpu --- Maxtor 160gb sata hdd
The mobo has a small calculator style 2 digit display, and during the boot sequence this stops at "25", or passes that and stops at "2A"
I had a look in the manual, and 2A wasnt there, but 25 was:
"Early PCI initialization:
-Enumerate PCI bus number.
-Assign memory and I&O resource
-Search for valid VGA device & VGA BIOS, and put it into C000:0"
This leads me to believe its a gpu failure or something similar, as there are no other pci devices plugged in...

Please help! Anything will be greatly appreciated...

[GoNz0]

check all cables over, reseat the card to make sure its in 100% and has the power cables setup according to the manual.

update the bios if possible to the latest release as this often has compatability fixes for various things.

corsair ram must be set to the correct voltage and timings in bios to operate properly. that could also lead to the no boot problem.

[iranu]

As gonzo says plus,

Abit support say

To discharge CMOS :
- shut down the system
- unplug the power cord from the back of the power supply
- switch the CMOS jumper to discharge position (please refer to your user manual)
- wait 1minute
- put the jumper back to normal position
- Press DEL to enter CMOS setting, load fail safe default.
- Then Load optimized default
- Newer Model does not need this steps. SOFT MENU, and set the CPU operating speed accordingly (some models has guru uility)
- make sure you save the setting then exit the BIOS.

2A is supposedly a Ram issue so try booting to bios with only 1 stick of ram installed (and try all the slots) and set correct ram voltage. (random occurrences are usually ram related). What bios revision are you running? Download and install the latest bios should help.

Could you also state the PSU model you are using.

[Crazytom]

Thanks very much for your help so far guys.
Im using a silverstone 400W psu with 14A and 13A on the 12V rails, so is sufficient.
I checked everything you mentioned to do with the card, that seems to be fine.
The ram voltage was set to 2.0 volts so i dropped that to the specified 1.9v. However, when i tried to manually set the ram latencies to the specified 5-5-5-12 it failed to boot at all, and repeatedly warning beeped at me whilst hanging on C1. Im going to look into flashing the bios to see if a new one is available, and I'll try running it with the RAM in slots 2 and 4 rather than 1 and 3 to see if that solves anything.

[DataMatrix]

As gonzo says plus,

Abit support say

To discharge CMOS :
- shut down the system
- unplug the power cord from the back of the power supply
- switch the CMOS jumper to discharge position (please refer to your user manual)
- wait 1minute
- put the jumper back to normal position
- Press DEL to enter CMOS setting, load fail safe default.
- Then Load optimized default
- Newer Model does not need this steps. SOFT MENU, and set the CPU operating speed accordingly (some models has guru uility)
- make sure you save the setting then exit the BIOS.

2A is supposedly a Ram issue so try booting to bios with only 1 stick of ram installed (and try all the slots) and set correct ram voltage. (random occurrences are usually ram related). What bios revision are you running? Download and install the latest bios should help.

Could you also state the PSU model you are using.

Why do people such as yourself post such unneeded guides to reset the CMOS? The CMOS does not run from the mains so removing the power cord is unnecessary nor do you need to wait a minute for it to be reset... All it needs is a quick short on the jumper then move it back while the system is shut down.

[iranu]

Why do people such as yourself post such unneeded guides to reset the CMOS? The CMOS does not run from the mains so removing the power cord is unnecessary nor do you need to wait a minute for it to be reset... All it needs is a quick short on the jumper then move it back while the system is shut down.

Number 1 - that is what abit (his board manufacturers) support say. Number 2 - removing the power cable is always advisable. Why I here you cry? Well it means that no power can get to the PC. Reseting the cmos with the power on can bork the board so it's best to be safe. It's called good practice.

[DataMatrix]

Number 1 - that is what abit (his board manufacturers) support say. Number 2 - removing the power cable is always advisable. Why I here you cry? Well it means that no power can get to the PC. Reseting the cmos with the power on can bork the board so it's best to be safe. It's called good practice.

No 1: I didn't see that, also, they are paid to write crap like that.
No 2: It's actually advisable not to so that any static you have on you is discharged through the case into earth, you should flick the switch at the back, not pull the cable out. Also, it can only ruin the motherboard when the system is actually running as in booted up, not while it is in it's idle state ready for you to press the power button.

[Crazytom]

Thanks for the help guys, but I think flashing the BIOS may be the answer after all. This shows how updates 11 and 17 fix the problem I described. Im tired now, but i'll download the abit FlashMenu program tomorrow and flash the newest bios in.