Hey everyone, (Relevant history)About 2 months ago my computer started shutting down randomly, this progressed within a few days to booting but with no screen and random shutdowns. After sending away to an IT company, motherboard was narrowed down as problem. So i replaced motherboard, but more problems. First, when I would turn computer on, the fans would spin for about a second then computer would die. First semi-succesfull boot I got a POST error (though i dont think it got to the post)and it restarted itself.This has not repeated. Then suddenly it started staying on for longer and it would sometimes get to the post screen, sometimes not. I can access the bios, for about 3 seconds before it dies. Have tried swapping memory, disconnecting HD's and other perheprials, doesnt make a difference. Post has completed succesfully on a couple occasions, gets through to either "BOOTMGR not found" (cus my disks f****d) or "NO SYSTEM DISK DETECTED" depending whether the drives are connected (drives are SATA). Any help would be much appreciated, ive gone thru 2 months of hell with this machine and had enough. Thanks, Matt

"After sending away to an IT company" Does this mean a computer repair company looked at your complete computer? If so, I assume you paid for thier services in addition to the MBoard. Don't you think you should be talking to this company? When swapping out the MBoard was an identical board installed? If not, you need to re-install WinXP. It is meant to run only on the hardware it was installed to by design. What steps did you take when "About 2 months ago my computer started shutting down randomly"? If the computer won't POST after installing a new compatible MBoard there are only a few items to look at. The PSU, RAM, or graphics card. The previous list covers the most likely hardware to be faulty. I would suspect the PSU first. The IT company you used should have checked that component. Run memtest86 from a bootable floppy or CD to check the RAM. PSU needs to be tested on equipment or swapped out using a known good unit of suffiecent wattage. Graphics card the same as the PSU.

You need at least a 425 Watt standard ATX Intel/Mac power supply to feed properly a P4 3.0 GHz.Check if you happen to have an old 300 Watt power supply installed and change it.Get a new one to solve the unstable conditions you have.

The IT company was Path IT of aberdeen, they were awful, all they did was confirm it was the motherboard (a slightly older gigabyte model) and then go on holiday. So i got the machine back without paying anything. I got it back about 3 weeks ago but have been on holiday till yesterday. I installed a shiny new motherboard, also gigabyte but a newer model, namely the GA-P35C-DS3R. Also i cant get far enough to re-install XP because the thing dies in about 10 seconds after turning on. It does this with or without HD's connected so that rules out XP as the problem. I initially suspected the PSU as the problem for the issues i had 2 months ago so i swapped that out with a new Jeantech 650W. Just to make sure I used the old PSU as well, which wasnt faulty anyway, and same problems. I have tried it with a variety of GFX cards to no avail, my main one being an EVGA 8800GTS which okay is a power hog and requires the 6-pin, I have also tried an X800 which does not and this has not affected the issue it still doesnt boot. RAM i have already tried swapping out and mucking around with no known configuration seems to work (and yes the RAM is compatible). I cant run memtest as it doesnt last nearly long enough, the machine simply isnt stable enough to do anything.

I'll just correct a misunderstanding that you have about POST. The Power On Self Test is succesful when you get the inital single beep. After that, the Bios starts displaying system information on the screen, that is not part of the POST.

Have you watched inside the case when attempting the boot? Is the HS fan turning? Do you have the square 4 pin power connection plugged into the MBoard? Did you clear the CMOS on the MBoard before attempting to boot the first time? Verify the clrCMOS jumper is set to the run position. I am assumming when you installed the P4 onto the MBoard you used a small amount of thermal paste, and installed the HS/fan correctly? It sounds like your issue is with the CPU/HS/fan installation. Are you sure the MBoard and processor are compatible?

Ah i see. Well i do get the single beep, only once had that error. Thanks.