Hi Russ;
I agree with you that the motherboard is a likely culprit and whatever
stresses it may be feeling while upright. However, you might also want to
consider your power supply. They can be finicky and inconsistent in the
difficulties they cause. I also see that you don't mention having replaced
it, and it too has a circuit board that could be responding to stresses, or
loose connections, or cold solders.
Also, have you tested the system without the hard drive and corresponding
cables to see if it consistently POSTs? I think, from your description, that
you are consistently getting past that and into the OS but I was wondering
if there is ever any issue when powering just the MB and video card. Good
luck.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Russ Cox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 3:02 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] lazy computer!!
> This is way wierd to me. I have an HP7955, 16.GHz P4, 512 MB RAM running
> Win XP Home. It has an NVIDIA video card, no other expansion cards.
> It locks up during startup. No response to mouse or keyboard and the time
> doesn not change. But when I set on its side, it works just fine almost
> every time.
> I have:
> replaced memory several times, using different DIMM sockets
> replaced the hard drive
> removed the extra expansion cards - modem, IEEE1394 card
> swapped the video card for another similar card and updated the video
> driver
> all connectors are tight
>
> It has on occasion, locked up during boot, during startup, even in safe
> mode. It sometimes fails to boot at all. HDD LED comes on but nothing
> starts.
> I have removed everything I can from the startup list, leaving only those
> programs that look like basic Win system programs.
>
> The most consistent item is that it works reliably when on its side, most
> often locks up when upright. Nothing is moving that I can see.
> My best guess now is that there must be some stress on the motherboard
> that changes when it's on its side.
> I have been struggling with this machine for several weeks now, and can
> think of nothing else to try. Othe than replacing the whole machine.
> Any other ideas?
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