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Ack! Is mobo dead or CPU? *UPDATE*

M

Mucman

Diamond Member
A computer I built a couple years ago seems to be really flaky. It's at the stage where it won't post (the monitor never gets a signal)

The mobo is an MSI K7T Pro2 and is has 4 hardware diagnostic LED's. The CPU in the machine is a 1GHz TBird. I've disconnected everything and I know the RAM
is good (I've tested it in another computer). When I turn on the power the LEDs all shine red meaning the board has power. It never gets farther than powering on. According to the chart it should then go to Early Chipset Initilization, then Memory Detection Test... and on.

Could a dead CPU cause the motherboard not to bother with the inititial setup or do you think it could be a bad mobo?

Thanks!
 
Even if the cpu is dead, the mobo should post and give an error on the screen, IIRC. I'm guessing the mobo is the culprit.
 
Even though you get power to your motherboard, it could still be the power supply. Test it out with a different power supply first.
 
It's pretty likely that the board is dead and the CPU is fine.

You said you have a Pro2 not a Pro2-A, but it's mostly just a southbridge difference.

Well I've had TWO dead Pro2-As. My original, and the replacement for it died as well. Luckily the replacement was made after Jan 2001, so it had a 3 year warranty. I RMAd it and got a stripped down(no diagnostic led, no thermal sensors) K7T Turbo2 which seems to be running well.

Anyways, I've also seen dozens more die at work.

It tends to be that the 5v value and the vcore value on these motherboards drop slowly over time until one of them or both of them is too low for the board to POST.
 
Vinny_N - 3 year warranty? I am going to have to check that out! I am pretty sure it is just a Pro2, but I will double check and keep you posted on the status.

Telinar - Thanks! I totally forgot about the PS being the culprit. I will try a different one a let you know the status.

ahh General Hardware, the reason why I joined AT 3 years ago 🙂, thanks guys!
 
Originally posted by: Mucman
Vinny_N - 3 year warranty? I am going to have to check that out! I am pretty sure it is just a Pro2, but I will double check and keep you posted on the status.
Click to expand...

If you're pretty sure it was a Pro2, it was probably manufactured before Jan 2001. Check the serial number sticker on the back of the motherboard to be sure, the first 4 numbers will reveal the manufacturing date.

My Pro 2-A only had a 1 year warranty through MWAVE. And when I called because the replacement died, MWAVE no longer warrantied it but told me to call MSI, I read the serial number to the CSR and he told me that it had a 3 year warranty since it was manufactured after Jan 2001.

However, there are reports of some of the Pro2, Pro2-As having 2 year warranties through MSI if they were manufactured before Jan 2001.

Give MSI a call. You'll unfortunately have to take everything apart to get to the back of the motherboard. (if only all cases were made of clear plexiglass 😛)

Here's the number for their RMA department:

626 581 3001

If the warranty is valid, you can use the print out the form on the website, fill it out and fax it to them.

If you don't have access to a fax machine, make sure you ask the CSR to email you the word document version along with instructions.

It took them 4 business days to process my RMA once they received my motherboard. They sent out a replacement that day via Fedex Ground. It took 7 days to get from CA to NY.

Hopefully it's just the power supply. But these boards have a tendency to die...so I hope its under some sort of warranty too.
 
Vinny_N - A different power supply didn't help unfortunately. I took out the mobo and the sticker says (K7T Pro2-A) and the first four figits of the serial number is (0101)! So I am guessing that it was made in January of 2001 🙂. What else do I need before I call the RMA number?
 
I didn't need anything except for the serial number and some packing materials to send the motherboard.

Guess you just need to wait until tomorrow when MSI is open 😉

If you want though, you could download the PDF file, fill it out and fax it to them.

Wait for an RMA #, then pack it up with a copy of the filled out form(plus the rma number filled in), write the RMA number outside of the box on several of its sides and send it out.
 
Sweet! Thanks Vinny_N! For some reason I forget that this is what warranties are for. I can fax them form work first thing tommorrow morning, how soon will they get back to me with an RMA number? Now to find a darn box!
 
I think it only took a day or two for me to get an RMA number, but I did it via e-mail with the word document form. They're pretty slow with email. I think you might actually get one faster since you're using a fax.

It's really too bad that they won't issue one through the phone. It's relatively easy to get a hold of a CSR during their open hours.
 
Ack... The guy is sort of in a rush... I guess I can go and spend $110cdn for a K7T Turbo2 and take the RMA return as payment for fixing the dudes machine then.
 
Well, it looks like I took the 50/50 chance and guessed wrong!

Yesterday I bought a K7T Turbo2 and plopped the 1GHz T-Bird in it and it still would not post. Today I bought a 950 T-Bird and it boots up fine. The guy is willing to buy the motherboard at least, but I am only going to charge $50 for the whole affair since I took so darn long... oh well, you win some, you lose some.
 
I thought most motherboards require working motherboard, CPU, power supply, and memory to POST. If your system won't POST it can be any of them. Some motherboards beep if the CPU or memory is bad or not seated properly, but not all.
 
Originally posted by: TimeKeeper
You do know that MSI is known for is "no battery, no boot up" issue right?
Click to expand...

Considering that I tried the CPU in a different motherboard, that wasn't the issue.

dszd0g - I was not aware memory was a requirement for a POST. I did try a different PS and RAM though...

 
Originally posted by: Mucman
Originally posted by: TimeKeeper
dszd0g - I was not aware memory was a requirement for a POST. I did try a different PS and RAM though...
Click to expand...

I have encountered many systems that would not POST without it, and none that would. They may exist though.

However, to the best of my knowledge there is no SRAM on any BIOS chips I am familiar with. PC processors do not have any embedded SRAM for use as a stack (most embedded processors do). One could put some SRAM on the motherboard to work with if the motherboard manufacturer wanted to design a motherboard that could boot without the memory plugged in, but then you would have to add an address decoding scheme to be able to address it. It would be near-impossible on a CISC processor to write a BIOS without access to a stack, and very difficult with a RISC processor.

On a RISC processor it is not very difficult to add the code to beep, but on a CISC processor even that could be a pain. x86 assembly is pretty stack and heap dependent.

Actually, just to add an example. Here is the beep from the last firmware I wrote (This code is my property and does not belong to any company, so I can do this):

switch .bss
__sbss: ;label to base of bss segment (static, uninit. data)

switch .bss
__sdata: ;label base of data segment (init. data)

;Executable code must begin at the base of the text segment.
switch .text
__stext: ;label to base of text segment (code in rom)
clrb ; b=0
ldy #0 ; y=0

; Initialize SCI
; Set SCP1 and SCP0 to 1 (9600 baud)
ldaa #BRATE
staa BAUD

; Set TE and RE bits (Transmit and Receive)
ldaa #TERE
staa SCCR2

; Enable RTI
; No, we don't want this until main in c.
; ldaa #RTISET
; staa TMSK2

; Poll until ready to send
BEEP:
ldaa SCSR
anda #TDRE
; anda sets Z-bit if TDRE bit is not set
#ifndef SIM
beq BEEP
#endif

#ifdef BEEP
ldaa #07h
#else
ldaa #'B'
#endif
staa SCDR

;####################################################################
; Start Memory Checks
;####################################################################
Click to expand...
 
Wow! An assembly programmer! All I know is a bit of 68k HC11 from one class... Definitely makes you understand how a CPU works 🙂

Thanks for the explanation...
 
Ah... the MSi Pro2a. Hehehehehehe. I had one died on me, got an RMA and it's been sitting at home, haven't found a use for it yet...
 
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