sn41g2 - problems starting up

Hi,

I've just bought myself a 2nd hand sn41g2 and am having a problem
whereby after about 20-25 minutes of use it crashes, tries to start up
again but hangs. Neither the reset button or on/off switch work at this
point and the only thing I can do with it is turn the power off at the
mains.

The first couple of times I did this I was able to boot into Windows ok
after turning the power back on, albeit for the problem to return again.
Now however, I can't seem to startup at all. The fan comes on as do the
LEDs for the hard disk, power and CD/DVD drive - all at the same time -
but nothing else happens.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? It seems that one possible
solution might be to replace the memory, but is there anything I can do
in the meantime to enable my machine to startup ok (even accessing the
BIOS settings might be a start!). Or have I simply bought a faulty
machine?

My setup is

SN41G2
AMD AthlonXP PR2400+ Thoroughbred
256Mb DDR (PC2700) 333
80Gb Maxtor D'Max Plus 9
Lite-on Combi DVD/CDRW RTL
Geforce4 440mx integrated graphics
Win XP Pro

Would be really grateful for your responses.

Cheers, Ed

Ed <psyche DeleteThis @dial.pipex.com> wrote in message news:<3F245A2F.7676 DeleteThis @dial.pipex.com>...

 > ... is there anything I can do
 > in the meantime to enable my machine to startup ok (even accessing the
 > BIOS settings might be a start!). Or have I simply bought a faulty
 > machine?

Start by stripping down your machine, leaving just the CPU and the
memory.

Will it get past POST now?

You do not list if you have a diskette drive. If you have, connect it,
get a DR-DOS/MS-DOS boot diskette and see if it will boot from the
drive. Then run MemTest86 for a couple of hours without the cover on.

The mount the case cover, run MemTest86 and see if the case/cooling
makes any difference.

Then add the harddisk. Do something (e.g. install
Linux/Windows/whatever) that execersises the system, with/without the
case cover.

Add your CD-reader. Repeat the test.

Somewhere along the road, you should be able to isolate which part of
the machine that needs attention.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->