Hello,

I have been troubleshooting my computer on and off for the past few weeks, and narrowed the problem to either being the cpu or motherboard (unless I am missing something...)

I just reformatted my hd with windows XP, and I can only get the computer working under safemode. I took my hd out, and swapped it with a friends hd, and it still only boots up during safemode.

If I try to do a regular boot, it just loops back to the start.

I have swapped ram, taken out graphics cards, the only thing I have not done is take out the cpu.

Does this sound like a motherboard issue? Is there anything else I can check?

Thank you in advance

It could be the power supply. Did you check to make sure that your ram matches & matches the mb? You have to be careful with ram. Did you do any hardware changes before you started having problems with it? How old is it?

The parts are all less than 6 months old. I was using an older PSU, but bought a new one that I think should have fixed the problem.

When using the older psu, the computer stopped booting properly, so I bought a new one, and it seemed to work after that.

However, when I did use the new psu, there is a whirling noise (like something is caught inside the fan...) for about a minute.

Could the PSU still be the problem? Would it make sense that the PSU is the fault in letting the comp boot up in safe mode but not in normal?

As for the ram sticks, I bought normal quality DDR2 ram sticks (the mobo had capatibility with better quality DDR2 ram) ... but as long as I used DDR2 it should not have mattered, right?

Sorry its been so long but the last few days have been crazy with it being the end of the school semester. The DDR type is not all that needs to be considered when buying memory so it is best to go by what the manual says is required. The manual might even list qualifing manufacturer models. Not only does the ram have to match what the MB requires but each has to match each other in specs. Consult your manual or other documentation on this. For clarification, you said that your HDD works in another computer or have you even tried this?To ensure that you don't have any kind of weird formating issues from repeated installs I suggest that you do a low level format of your hard drive. This will erase everything on that drive so it'll take a few hours; how long depends on the size & speed of the drive. This will also wipe out the file system so you'll need to repartition & reformat the drive when you reinstall xp. When you try to boot up normally do you get any kind of error message? With the hardware still being so new you might have gotten bad parts so you might consider talking with the manufacturers' techs for further troubleshooting & if need be replacement.

No worries with the delay, thank you for helping me at all

The ram I will look into when I get back to the states. As for the HDD, I reformatted one to a clean copy of xp, put it into my friends computer, it worked perfectly. When I put it into my own machine, it would only start up on safe mode.... if I tried a normal boot, I wouldn't get any error message, it would just reset to the beginning of the boot sequence.

I did the same test with my friends HDD. His HDD worked fine on his computer, but would only start on safe mode on my machine...

Could this be a PSU issue? Would buying a 1000W PSU be a waste? My current PSU is about 550W, and it will be supporting my mobo, 3 HDDs, and 2 GFX Cards...

I trouble shot most of the computer, PSU I didnt trouble shoot, and Mobo I can;t really trouble shoot (besides getting a 2nd copy...)

Now when you put it back in your computer (or put your friend's drive in yours) did you reinstall xp? You could have strange results without a complete reinstall when you put a drive with an installation of windows on it into another computer. Are you sure that your MB/graphics drivers are up to date? If you have 2 graphics cards why don't you try using just one at a time. that is a way to test both the wattage & the cards themselves. To determine what wattage that you need you should use the power supply calculator. Also check out this thread on picking out a PSU however please don't post on it. They don't like it when someone hijacks someone else's post. My thought was that the PSU could be faulty or putting out bad power but I'm not a expert on power supplies. You could have a problem with your motherboard but I believe that that would cause the computer to crash or not boot even in safe mode however I could be wrong. The same thing goes for the hard drive especially with the troubleshooting that you've done. If you aren't giving the graphic cards enough power that might explain when you can run your computer in safe mode because of the minimal use of hardware while in safe mode. Using one card at a time is a good way to test that. It could also be your installs of xp. Do you get any errors while insalling xp? Again it would be good to know if you get an error when booting up normally & if so what. You could try another install without installing anything else (no updates, drivers, etc) & see if that install works. You'll get limited functionality but its something to test. Also can you try an install with another xp disk? I know this is a lot. I would start with checking the graphics cards. Again with the computer being so new you might need to contact the manufacturers. Their specialists are trained throughly on their product & they can also set you up for an RMA if need be. I think that we can rule out the hard drive for sure but at this point that is all. Has this computer ever worked for you? If so had you made any hardware changes before you started having your problem?

The computer did work for me for a few months.... but would shut off if I moved my mouse too suddenly (or a window), or if the computer simply did not like me at a particular point in time.

I think its fair to rule out the HDD as the source of the problem. The graphics card may be an issue... when I have been trouble shooting it I have only had 1. When I get back to the states I will ask to borrow my friends graphics cards to test that. The PSU I have a weird feeling may be an issue.... and last but not least the mobo may be an issue as well.

Aye, I'll definitely look at the graphics cards again. Thank you for your help.

I forgot to mention, I am using a quad-core cpu. Does this mean I need to have a "quad-core compatible" psu?

I was looking on New Egg and came across Newegg.com - Thermaltake Toughpower W0156RU 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies ... which mentioned "quad-core companitible"

I don't know about that because I've never dealt with a quad core cpu. Have you looked at the power supply calculator? What is your wattage? My guess is that they are just doing all they can to sell that expensive PSU. Getting that powerful of a PSU for anything other than a server is probably just overkill.