My dualie done died I think

[M_Six]

My Dual PIII 733 recently started rebooting about every 10 minutes. Event viewer says ACPI attempted to write to an illegal address, yada, yada, yada. Tried disabling ACPI in the BIOS, but that caused it to not load Windows after the boot.

I've been having other issues with software and with my Radeon 7000 AIW card (no TV), so I had been planning on a reinstall anyway. I figured this was a good time. Should have figured differently. Now it won't even make it through the install. Crashes at the same point every time, just after I give the machine a name and set the password, it starts to load networking and then reboots. I've tried stripping it down to hard drive (brand new, just in case), CDROM, vid card, and one stick of 256MB RAM. I've even tried a different stick and in a different slot. It still crashes at the same point.

Specs: Dual PIII 733MHz, 4x256MB PC133 CL2 Crucial RAM (Matched set), New Maxtor 30GB hard drive, 52x CDROM, Radeon 7000 AIW AGP.

I'm beginning to suspect the mobo. Maybe the BIOS got corrupted somehow? Any other ideas?

[Sixpac_XP]

Sounds like your memory is faulting...

you can go here http://www.memtest86.com/ and download a free memory testing utility.. runs from dos on a boot disk..

[Sixpac_XP]

BTW... what motherboard are you running? have you installed the latest bios? sometimes the bios gets corrupted and you need to flash it again.

another thing you can try is unplug the computer and pull the backup battery out of the motherboard and leave it overnight. This is may clear some problems. One thing to note though that it will reset your bios to its default settings but worth a shot.

[M_Six]

Thanks. I doubt it's the memory since I have 4 sticks and I've tried them all. Still crashes in the same place. But I may try the battery pull idea. Forgot about that one. As a last resort, I may try flashing the BIOS also. I normally avoid doing that like the plague. If anything goes wrong, your mobo is toast.

[Sixpac_XP]

Which motherboard are you running?

[M_Six]

Tyan S2507T I believe. I'll have to check it again later. I've been working with it for hours now and I need to step away and take a break. When I get frustrated I usually do something stupid, so I find it's best to walk away and come at it again tomorrow. This PC has been running virtually non-stop for two years here and two more before I moved out here. It's my main UD cruncher.

I've been debating whether or not to sink some bucks into a new box, but this one's been so solid I never saw the need.

Thanks for the help, Sixpac_XP. I'll tackle it again tomorrow. I'll try your battery-pull idea and then see if I can download a BIOS flash for it.

[Sixpac_XP]

No prob M_Six.. never give up on a good dualie board! Any more questions let me know.. my PM is open.

Check for swolen capacitors especially around the CPU and the voltage regulator circuit.

[imac9556]

Hey,
Did you try to use a different video card? You described that you were having software issues and the ATI Radeon 7500.... So, maybe the videocard is causing all your troubles?
Just a suggestion.. thanks

[nukes]

Are all the fans going ok? Overheating could cause this sort of thing, and the errors may not be related to the actual problem, just from electron bleed in the chip itself.
Just a thought. If you're popping the case off anyway, just grab the heatsinks and see if they're warm and try checking the temp in the BIOS if it supports it.