Do I have a Motherboard problem?

Question

I have an Octek Rhino VA694T-ACP Motherboard with Chipsets VIA Apollo Pro 133A (694T + 686B)
CPU Socket Socket 370.
The problem is my system Stops responding or restarts immedietly after booting is complete.

I've checked all other hardware to be okay.I've tried windows XP, windows 2003 server, Winme.but the problem is same.

But the system runs well enough with Live linux(Knoppix 4).tested for 2 hours.

I've noticed 2 of the capacitors of motherboard are getting more hot than other.

Plz help me out.

Answer 1

That is a capacitor problem. capacitor unlike any other component in the mother board is usually used for power refinement and if you have a damage capacitor you can still somehow boot your computer but it ewill eventually crash.compare the physical characteristics to the other capacitor. not any bulging on the top and in the botto of the capacitor. note any leakage of capacitor oil.

Answer 2

In my experience, 2 things will cause that the constant rebooting. One is a newly installed piece of hardware (modem, sound card, etc) that isnt compatible or with the wrong driver installed.

Just a couple of months ago I had a problem to where the system would boot up as it should and then the Starting Windows (Win2k) would appear correctly. Then the normal blue screen with the Windows is starting up message would continue. But as soon as it would get to the part where it would ask you to login, it would just reboot on its own, everytime.

I found the problem to be where I had messed with BIOS and tried to squeeze every last piece of speed out of the memory (CAS latency, PC Clock Timing, etc). Its been a while and I can't remember the exact thing I eventually found to be causing that, but to at least go that route and see if its a BIOS problem, you could try to enter the BIOS and reset to Fail Safe setup and see how that goes. But when I had that problem, choosing the Fail Safe setting immediately corrected it. From there I would just adjust other settings in the BIOS, one at a time, until I figured out the culprit.

One last thing to not ignore is a hard drive going bad. Typically when a hard drive is going bad, you get the Blue screen of Death frequently, I dont recall too many rebooting issues with a bad drives.

Answer 3

Many times we will condemn a part that actually works, but the cost to diagnose it cost more than the part. judging but what you have done that is the case, i would test the power supply most computer stores will do it free or a tester is only $10, I had a similar problem wasted many many hours and finally found the powewr supply to be bad, i also bought a new $1100 dell which was crap when a $40 power supply was the problem, since it works with linux i would say test the power supply first before you condemn the motherboard.

Answer 4

you may be having a problem with a driver that Windows uses to recognize either your board or device attached to it like a CD, floppy, etc. Maybe there is a jumper setting on the board or device that is the problem.

I had this same issue a couple of weeks ago on a client's server. Disconnected everything and connected each device one at a time to isolate the problem.

Answer 5

install one addiitonal cooling fan in ur computer if ur computer is too hot..u can check the CPU temperature in CMOs setting..

do check that the connection wire of harddisk ...is propers..do recheck connection of wires..on every side..
and try it agian ..