motherboard problem

[krptodr]

hi guys I duno if this is the right forum but i'll find that out I guess.

Im working on this computer and restoring some files that were deleted.
When im halfway through the computer crashes and gives a loud beep and shuts down after a few seconds. to fix this I removed the ram and figured it out that it was a stick of ram causing this problem... But really the ram I removed allowed the computer to stay on for a few minutes now before it crashes. Also when it loads I can get it to the boot screen where it asks if you want to load windows in safe mode or normal. when I choose any of those options on that screen the computer crashes. so now I have a combonation of hardware and software issues. please can anyone help. what started out as recovering data turned into a HUGE problem.

the motherboard is a Abit AA8 Duramax. has two sticks of 512mb running a 2.8ghz pentium 4 processor.

i've read in another forum that on an Abit A7 seris motherboard a guy was having this same problem where it crashes and they suggested it being a powersupply.

 

[PC eye]

Being that you were running the system for a lenthy period of time and heard a loud beep it could be an overheating problem where the overheat protection circuit kicked in or the cpu is on the way out. You wouldn't hear any beep codes if a supply goes.

 

[krptodr]

yeah, I know. I realized why it was happening... the beeping im still unsure of. but I originally thought the processor fan wasn't working because when i'd turn the comp on it would spin the fan. but after I removed the ram it started coming on again... also... this guy's motherboard requires a 24-pin connector from the powersupply. this guy has a 20 pin connector hooked up. those extra four pins aren't powering the motherboard how it should and to my assumption it is causing parts to go bad over a period of time and now I believe it's shot completely.

what are your suggestions?

 

[PC eye]

Some of the older boards seeing 24pin main connectors cound still run with a 20pin supply while being limited on options for sure. Socket 754s saw 20pin with still needing the new at the time separate 12v cpu feed.

The exact model number of the board in that system would be needed for looking over specifications to see the bios used and then referring to the bios error code charts to see exactly what that points to whether cpu, cpu fan failure from too low a fan speed, cpu temp, etc. there.