wuns7t--

Where do I go from here? Thanks Ken and Nev The PC runs with XP once it has loaded. So there cannot be a major component failure. I have dusted the inside, I use a toothbrush for fan blades and heat sinks. No overheating reported. Would it be an idea to move the story to another thread? Is 'Motherboards ' too narrow. It might not be the motherboard. But what else is there? CPU? but that works fine once OS loads. Sat evening my son sat and restarted the system more than 40 times- and then it worked until switched off hours later. Perhaps there is someone else on PC help who has had the same problem or recognises what it might be. Cheers JR

Hi Ken Alreaady done both installed Ram + another from different PC tried. Same picture. if it starts at all Windows loading page then 3-5 blue loading stripes and then shut down. all changes tried listed in first post +now alternative Power Unit. As mentioned system will not boot from Live CD when HDD disconnected-so HDD cannot cause fault! From Live CD it runs until Loading Linux Kernel and switches off as soon as 100% reached. This getting urgent. The pained looks from my teenage son are getting harder each day he cannot play Team Fortress! Mario Kart and Janes attack squadron run on any PC but new games seem to drive hardware development. No one NEEDS the modern specs. Cheers Ancient Amateur.

Thanks, Have tried with substitute Power Unit. No improvement. Same Symptoms. Hi - I have several PCs of various vintages. None has had this specific problem before. Anyway i took the power pack out on another PC and tried it. Precisely the same problem. after reataching the existing PU The faulty PC got as far as 'Window cannot start normally' so I started it in secure mode with network and that worked, including all internet connections. In fact it will generally start in safe mode if it gets that far. I tried to do a System REstore- but the XP no longer shows any restore points. Nor can XP find any system details . So something is a bit fisshy there. From safe mode I clicked on Restart button and it did and loaded XP normally. I left the PC running for several hours and as noted above- once it starts it runs fine. However, after switching off it will not start again. Because I have tried to eliminate all other components I put this in 'Motherboard' section because that and CPU are only things I have not changed. cheers wuns7t

System: Motherboard: ABIT NFM2SV CPU: Athlon 64 4800+ X2 RAM: DDR2 1GB or 2Gb PC is 4 years old when start button is pressed the CPU fan starts. It sometimes then stops after a few seconds. On starting again the BIOS text appears and runs through to system start. If XP is selected the XP screen appears and the blue loading stripe runs across 3-5 times and then the system switches off. My son who plays games on this PC perseveres and restarts up to 20 times and often XP will then start and run perfectly. the problem is getting the OS to 'take'. If OpenSuse is selected from installed the same thing happens. The Linux screen appears and then the system shuts down. Using Live CD with or without HDD connected, the Linux Kernel starts to load but as soon as it gets to 100% the system shuts down. The problem is not OS dependent. XP Home is installed as is OpenSuse 11.4 on HDD. I have also tried LIVE CDs (OpenSuse 12.1 and Ubuntu 11) Using Live CDs I have disconnecte both HDD- so they cannot be problem. I have also removed PCIe graphics card and tried to start using on board Gforece 6100 chip. I have tried to start using two single RAM sticks separately. I have exchanged mouse and keyboard and also Optical Drive. also disconnected LAN cable. Cleared CMOS memory and replaced backup battery. Any suggestions??