A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » General Hardware & Peripherals » Homebuilt PC's
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 20th 16, 01:29 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 533
Default Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely

Hello,

This video on youtube shows the strange procedure I have to follow to boot up my computer lately:

https://youtu.be/oglScNl_jjw

This strange problem started occuring after I accidently put the computer into sleep mode, and re-powered the system after the power was cut but the fans had not completely stopped spinning.

Did perhaps the spinning of the fans cause some kind of purge surge ?

Perhaps the copper coils inside the fans caused some kind of feedback power into the system ?

My first hypothesis/hunch was that it might be a bios bug/race condition.

I pulled out all cables, cut the power, even removed the battery, but this did not help. So perhaps it's hardware damage instead of software bug ?

One last thing I have not tried yet is to reset the CMOS ? Perhaps the CMOS of my DreamPC can remember settings without batery power ? To me that seems somewhat unlikely but what do I know ?!

Anyway I share this video with you to show this very strange and bizar boot sequence/problem/procedure.

I would love to hear any theories/hypothesis what might be causing this.

So far, before I showed this video and told this story people have written back with following feedback/advice/theories:

1. Power supply might be giving a bad "good power" signal. DreamPC2006 currently has OCZ Stream X power supply it has. (I could look into it further for more details though googling Skybuck's DreamPC might also uncover more info about it from my previous postings). Personally I cannot imagine this brand which was somewhat expensive to have this problem ? Though I can imagine that wear and tear over the years might have caused this... or perhaps lightning. Then again it seems very minor and such... so very strange... It didn't fail completely... it's just behaving strangely ???

2. Wrong settings for CPU ? The system boots with defaults... no overclocking is used or ever was used. Surely the system should boot with defaults ? I cannot imagine it not booting with defaults... Very strange. Perhaps try and set it to 2.0 ghz instead of standard ?! Haven't tried this yet cause it's such a strange theory and I am not sure if setting different settings than default is save.

3. Batteries inside keyboard/mouse remembering weird settings. My mouse/keyboard don't have any batteries, they just USB. I don't know if they have any memory though that stays resident after power cut ?!?

4. All cables were removed and power shutdown and CMOS battery removed, and everything reconnected, this did not help.

Was further strange about this system which it has done for years now. When I touch a key or mouse or even the case it would power on ?! Those settings were disabled in the bios but it still does it ?! Could this indicate some strange wiring problem ?

5. My latest theory, some plug/cable is misplaced inside of it, or the flash/card reader drive is causing some strange electrical effect, or perhaps even wrongly connected, I even once fried a system with such a plug connecting it wrongly... I believe I did connect it correctly... but perhaps these are just shady devices. I don't feel like experimenting with replugging cables unless there is hardcore proof that something was connected wrongly ! I'd right not fry my system or mess with it... unless some solution sounds credible and doesn't sound like it could endager my system. This system has to survive until at least 2017 february. By that time I should have a new AMD Zen based system ! =D But it would be very cool if my old computer woulds survive like all my other computers... there is a lot of info on it and it's still usefull and it would make a nice backup computer.

This current boot procedure is making me nervous... I am slightly worried that someday this will cause it to fry to death. Since these components are old and especially the socket 939 motherboard, I will probably not find an replacement easily.... though I just remembered I do have a backup motherboard lying around somewhere, so perhaps that could save me in the feature in case it's the motherboard and/or it's chips that go bad in the near future..

Let me know what you think is causing this weird power on/boot problem ?!?!?!?

Bye,
Skybuck.
  #2  
Old December 20th 16, 03:05 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely

wrote:
Hello,

This video on youtube shows the strange procedure I have to follow to boot up my computer lately:

https://youtu.be/oglScNl_jjw

This strange problem started occuring after I accidently put the computer into sleep mode,
and re-powered the system after the power was cut but the fans had not completely stopped spinning.

Did perhaps the spinning of the fans cause some kind of purge surge ?

Perhaps the copper coils inside the fans caused some kind of feedback power into the system ?

My first hypothesis/hunch was that it might be a bios bug/race condition.

I pulled out all cables, cut the power, even removed the battery, but this did not help.
So perhaps it's hardware damage instead of software bug ?

One last thing I have not tried yet is to reset the CMOS ? Perhaps the CMOS of my DreamPC
can remember settings without batery power ? To me that seems somewhat unlikely but what
do I know ?!

Anyway I share this video with you to show this very strange and bizar boot
sequence/problem/procedure.

I would love to hear any theories/hypothesis what might be causing this.

So far, before I showed this video and told this story people have written back with
following feedback/advice/theories:

1. Power supply might be giving a bad "good power" signal. DreamPC2006 currently has
OCZ Stream X power supply it has. (I could look into it further for more details though
googling Skybuck's DreamPC might also uncover more info about it from my previous postings).
Personally I cannot imagine this brand which was somewhat expensive to have this problem ?
Though I can imagine that wear and tear over the years might have caused this... or
perhaps lightning. Then again it seems very minor and such... so very strange... It
didn't fail completely... it's just behaving strangely ???

2. Wrong settings for CPU ? The system boots with defaults... no overclocking is
used or ever was used. Surely the system should boot with defaults ? I cannot imagine


it not booting with defaults... Very strange. Perhaps try and set it to 2.0 ghz instead
of standard ?! Haven't tried this yet cause it's such a strange theory and I am not
sure if setting different settings than default is save.

3. Batteries inside keyboard/mouse remembering weird settings. My mouse/keyboard don't
have any batteries, they just USB. I don't know if they have any memory though that stays
resident after power cut ?!?

4. All cables were removed and power shutdown and CMOS battery removed, and everything
reconnected, this did not help.

Was further strange about this system which it has done for years now. When I touch a
key or mouse or even the case it would power on ?! Those settings were disabled in the
bios but it still does it ?! Could this indicate some strange wiring problem ?

5. My latest theory, some plug/cable is misplaced inside of it, or the flash/card reader
drive is causing some strange electrical effect, or perhaps even wrongly connected, I even
once fried a system with such a plug connecting it wrongly... I believe I did connect it
correctly... but perhaps these are just shady devices. I don't feel like experimenting with
replugging cables unless there is hardcore proof that something was connected wrongly !


I'd right not fry my system or mess with it... unless some solution sounds credible and
doesn't sound like it could endager my system. This system has to survive until at least
2017 february. By that time I should have a new AMD Zen based system ! =D But it would
be very cool if my old computer woulds survive like all my other computers... there is a lot
of info on it and it's still usefull and it would make a nice backup computer.

This current boot procedure is making me nervous... I am slightly worried that someday this
will cause it to fry to death. Since these components are old and especially the socket 939
motherboard, I will probably not find an replacement easily.... though I just remembered I
do have a backup motherboard lying around somewhere, so perhaps that could save me in the
feature in case it's the motherboard and/or it's chips that go bad in the near future.

Let me know what you think is causing this weird power on/boot problem ?!?!?!?

Bye,
Skybuck.


Steps noted in video:

Press power button. Fans stop spinning after two seconds.
More than a fan twitch, fans were running then stop.

Press power button a second time, fans run, no POST happens.
Power is stable at this point. No other visual symptoms.

Press RESET button, get an immediate POST single-beep.
Sequence continues until "Resuming Windows" (Win7 pattern).
It's unclear whether it is actually reading from the
hiberfil.sys or not. I presume it is, because the pressing
of the reset button should have wiped out the "sleep"
RAM contents.

The resume from the hiberfil.sys (i.e. coming out of
hibernation or out of hybrid sleep), seems to work.

*******

Theory (and not a very good theory):

The focus should be on the results of the first step.
The press of the power button, then shutdown.

This could happen on a PROCHOT event. But this is
unlikely to be the root cause, as the system quite
easily operates later. So that's not it. It it kept
shutting down every two seconds, then we would need
a PROCHOT theory to fit the symptoms. But the later
successful operation, says that's not it.

There aren't too many other root causes.

Some hardware designs, the BIOS starts up in "normal"
mode. Then, if the BIOS thinks the user has selected
an overclock setting, the overclock controller is
loaded with the new settings, the PC does a "mini-reset"
and then the system is overclocked.

This could be the reason it shut down at 2 seconds. But then,
why didn't it POST right after that ?

The symptoms point to some incorrect BIOS setting.

Each manufacturer has a different "recovery from overclock"
procedure. On Asrock, it takes three presses of the
RESET button, to clear the overclock settings and
get the system to run from normal settings. On Asus,
the BIOS will simply reset the overclock settings,
if it detects a BIOS level "crash" - even if the
user is *not* overclocking. So the Asus method is
overkill, and it resets the settings on trivial events
when the user is not overclocking.

I would carefully review the BIOS settings, and
make sure nothing is outside of normal values.

If the CMOS battery was bad, the clock time might be
wrong at system startup. The video gives no opportunity
to verify the clock time. You can check that and see if
clock time is correct.

You seem to have a SIL3132, and the BIOS is "looking for an
array" at startup. If you're not using the SIL3132, you
can turn it off in the BIOS. Then, on each POST sequence,
you can watch the BIOS screen, and see if the SIL3132 (at
BIOS level), ever turns itself ON. If it does, that means
the CMOS settings got reset somehow. Recovery from overclock
will do that. So by turning off the SIL3132 (which you don't
seem to be using), you could use that as a visual indicator
that the CMOS has been reset by some BIOS-level event.

Paul
  #3  
Old January 7th 17, 10:29 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 533
Default Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely

The power supply failed/died.

Cause of death, high probability:

New couch (static charge generator) + New shoes (isolator) leading to static discharge of 1500 volts onto PC by human body standing up from couch wearing isolators (shoes) then touching PC.

Remedies for futu

Shoes replaced by spanish slipper.
Couch will be returned to store.

Perhaps new leather couched will be bought or old couch re-used for time being.

  #4  
Old January 7th 17, 10:40 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 533
Default Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely

Pentium 3 had seasonic S12 600 watt power supply.
Bought new power supply for AMD X2 3800+.

New power supply was not capable of running machine, probably amperes too low. Computer store guy probably a complete idiot/knowledge out of date... anyway... new computer supply did work in older machine.

New computer supply would make newer machine beep beep beep.

Just like to point out that buying a new power supply is no garantuee that it will work.

The guy asked what graphics card was in it... I told PCI express...

In all fairness... they not a true computer shop... just an electronics shop that build some computers on the side.

It was some kind of silver/aluminum LG or LCS power supply or something like that 350 watts... 80 low noise or something... insides looked nice.. costed 50 bucks...

However I noticed something worrieing...

"Cooling paste" ? That clueless guy in store called it ? I believe it's just sloppy glue...

The glue I between the power incoming connection and the grid/fence...

If that stuff goes brown it might conduct and might be a problem.

Fortunately I don't use P3 much...

I will inform you guys better at a later date and ask you what you think of it... by showing pictures and such...

And what that round thing is near where the electricity comes in...

I am a bit worried that it might fry me some day if I were to regularly use it.

I removed a little bit of the glue so it wouldnt make contact but 0.5 millimeter removed is probably not enough.

So will let you guys look at this at a later date.

The white stuff that can be found in electronics that looks like a chinese came inside of it ?! Is it glue or is it cooling paste ?!

I read somewhere... probably on usenet once... that it s glue to hold components together...

Also the cooling paste theory seems bull... because this stuff is just splattered all over it in a sloppy way guess what "made in china".

Anyway I thought the Seasonic S12 was better.

I opened it up to inspect it... it was slightly stuck... but ok... blow out all the dust.

To my surprise there is also whitesh glue in it... but it's not entirely white... it has gone pink a bit.

This seasonic S12 power supply was in use when my system overheated !!!!

So some of that heat probably went into the power supply, the heat came from the CPU and mostly GPUs... and thus the power supply's glue could also heat up by EXTERNAL factors ! Which is quite an important/amazing discovery/conclusion by myself !

Fortunately it seems to be just pink... not brown. Perhaps a bit orange like here and there... some brownish tiny spots here and there.

I am not 100% confident about this power supply. But so far so good.

This glue stuff is worrieing:

Electronics industry please stop using it !

This glue stuff can go conductive !

I will post a special warning about that on electronics newsgroup !
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely [email protected] Storage (alternative) 2 December 21st 16 09:34 PM
DreamPC 2006 ready for it's grave... Skybuck Homebuilt PC's 71 November 2nd 11 12:51 PM
Skybuck's DreamPC Fourth Build, 116 Pictures available ! Chris S.[_3_] Nvidia Videocards 2 June 12th 11 11:21 PM
Skybuck's DreamPC Fourth Build, 116 Pictures available ! personaobscura Asus Motherboards 2 June 7th 11 04:23 AM
Skybuck's "DreamPC 2006" in a COMA AGAIN !!! [email protected] Homebuilt PC's 77 June 27th 09 03:35 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:53 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.