Help - new build won't shut off

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:53 am

A few weeks ago I got some system advice for a new system here and just put the parts together. It all seemed to go very well up to installing XP until I realized the dang thing keeps turning itself back on.

Here's the sequence. I turn the power switch on for my PSU, then hit the power for the case. A strange thing happens here - it turns on then turn off after maybe 3 seconds. It then turns back on again and proceeds to boot normally. I then tell XP to shut down and it does. Then a small pause of a few seconds and the cycle repeats where it turns on, then off, then full on logging back into XP.

The case I'm using is a spare Chenbro 610 which lacks a reset switch but I didn't think that would matter. I thought maybe the physical switch was broken, and that is possible, but it did work recently as my main case. The MB, CPU, HD, PSU, RAM, video, DVD are all new. Oh, and no OC was done, in fact, all I did in the bios was make sure my DVD was first in boot process to load the OS.

The problem is I don't know what to blame. I am leaning toward it being a problem with the ABIT IP35 MB but I'm not sure. The Corsair HX520 should be plenty of power but maybe it's surging? I also wonder if it's driver or bios related but I'd rather not try to install everything only to find out it's hardware. Plus I lack extra parts to swap most of this stuff out for debugging.

This is my first Intel board in a while but I've never seen this behavior before. Any ideas where to start?

LAThierry · Post by **LAThierry** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 8:52 am

Just a quick idea... In case it's not a hardware issue, here's a few things you can check in the BIOS' "Power Management Setup" area. Look for things having to do with powering up or waking up the system, like:

"Restore on AC power loss"
"Wake up by..." (USB, keyboard...)
"Resume power on"

Make sure each of those is set so that the PC has no reason to want to wake up.

Does it stay powered off if you turn it off with the power button? (may have to hold it for 4 seconds, check BIOS for that setting too)

Another thing you could try is one of those Live Linux CD (say Ubuntu or any other flavor), boot with it , let it load properly and then tell it to shutdown. If it shuts down and stays powered down, maybe Windows XP is the culprit.

I'm out of ideas for now, but hey it's early and it's Saturday morning...

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:20 am

resume by mouse, resume on network, there are all kinds of things, in the bios which can power up the pc.
Also in Windows, look in the device manager. There are a lot of devices which have an option "allow this device to wake up this computer from standby" etc. disabling those options will also help.

Good luck hunting

JoeWPgh · Post by **JoeWPgh** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:58 am

The powering back up could be any of the things mentioned. I suspect your BIOS is set to power back up after power off.
The puzzle is why it's powering down upon boot. How far into POST are you getting? Any messages reported or weird beeping before it shuts down? My first guess would be a bad memory stick or memory socket. But again, it's just a guess. I'd try moving the memory around and run memtest or similar utility.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:11 am

What version of Windows XP are you using (Pro/home) and which service pack. I seem to remember some versions of the original release having shutdown problems that were corrected in either SP1 or SP2.

Probably not the issue you're seeing, but it's might be worth looking into.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:17 am

Quick update.

It does appear to shut off and stay off if I hold down the power switch. But it still "wakes up" if I shut down from XP. I have Linux Puppy CD somewhere that I'm going to try to see if OS makes a difference. I did go into the bios and switch off all the "wake if .." options so that should not be the problem (unless I missed one).

If the Linux boot does the same thing I'm wondering if I can get a replacement switch from an electronics store to test if it's the case.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:42 pm

After struggling with some Linux distributions and SATA I finally managed to get Ubuntu Live to boot after disconnecting my floppy and typing in come commands from a buried thread. Ubuntu loaded, I told it to shut down, it did, then the stupid thing started up again.

I upgraded to latest bios along the way, no change. I could try Vista but after Ubuntu I doubt it will work. No messages I can see on boot but they flash too fast to really get a good look. I may run a memtest for a few hours to see what that does.

Only thing I can think of is it's a bad motherboard. Any other ideas?

JoeWPgh · Post by **JoeWPgh** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:42 pm

I've had several computers that would start up on their own. I've never nailed those ghosts down completely, but it seems to be BIOS related.
The fact that you system shuts down on boot up suggests a hardware failure. If it's your mobo, I'd guess it was your memory slots. That's why I suggested you move your mem sticks to different slots. A big part of troubleshooting is eliminating possible causes - no matter how trivial they might appear.
Another, though remote possibility, is if your keyboard is USB, but you do not have USB upon boot (or however it's phrased) enabled in BIOS. Silly, yes. But again, the more you eliminate, the less there is to deal with.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:51 pm

For some reason Google failed me so I went to the ABIT forum. I'm very upset to say this wasn't an uncommon problem for a board that was recommended right here. The double boot was well documented but the not shutting down was harder to find, most trying to blame bad Antec PSUs. It turned out that not only did I need to get the latest bios but I also had to flash the CMOS. I've never had to do that before to clear up a hardware issue from fresh install. I've never had to upgrade the bios before.

I'm pretty upset the Abit IP35 made the recommended list here at SPCR. I think this problem exist just a few months ago with no bios fix. Hard to imagine how it was recommended.

JoeWPgh · Post by **JoeWPgh** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:33 pm

Clearing the CMOS is an important aspect to a BIOS flash. Usually, a good BIOS flash routine will do this on it's own - but not always.

So, enquiring minds want to know - is it working?

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:32 am

It does appear to be working now but I keep holding my breath. It's been a strange install because on the one hand it went very smooth for all the parts together and installing XP, and then fell apart after that. The fact that Puppy and Ubuntu didn't work without tweaks also threw me.

Now I'm a bit in limbo on the install. This is a replacement build for a current system and I'm trying to figure out the best way to transfer all the data and programs from the old to the new. I'm using the same XP license so I can't activate it yet until I'm ready to switch. Until you activate you can't patch so I'm nervous connecting the new one to the internet without all the patches.

Hardware wise it appears stable for now.

murtoz · Post by **murtoz** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:05 am

JoeWPgh wrote:The fact that you system shuts down on boot up suggests a hardware failure.

Not necessarily... I've seen several boards in the past where this was normal behaviour, after the power cord was plugged in. I believe the reason was they systems needed to check whether to boot after AC power loss, but could not read this setting without booting (at least a little bit). After determining they did not need to boot, they would shut themselves off.
Never seen the reboot on shutdown behaviour though. Apart from that, to my mind it is good practice to update to the latest BIOS when you build a new system.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:30 am

murtoz wrote:Apart from that, to my mind it is good practice to update to the latest BIOS when you build a new system.

I used to think this too but from the glances I took in the Abit forum it appeared that the double boot problem was actually introduced with one of the bios upgrades. To make matters worse it appeared to hang around for a few months. So someone who happened to buy the board at the wrong time could upgrade the bios and give themselves this problem right from the start.

I prefer the method of not touching the bios until you find a reason that maybe an upgrade can fix. At least now I know to flash the CMOS at the same time.

Scoop · Post by **Scoop** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:16 am

I have a question related to this subject that's been bugging me for some time.

I'm picking pieces for my first build and I'm a little scared because I've been reading something good about the Abit IP35-E and it's at a very nice price, but the BIOS seemed to be a prick when it released.

So my question is does the IP35-E board STILL ship with the same half-ass bios that came with the board half a year ago or do they ship with the latest?

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:56 pm

Wish I could help you but I really have no clue which bios came with the board since I didn't take note of it before I upgraded. Based on my experience I would say the first step with the Abit IP35 board would be to upgrade the bios and flash the CMOS.