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Any suggestions? Motherboard seems to be dead

Z

Zukatah

Senior member
Hi everyone. I currently run a P4 1.6a on an Asus P4s533 motherboard and I used to have 512 megs of Samsung RAM. My computer felt really sluggish, especially when playing World of Warcraft so I decided to buy a new stick of RAM to pair with it. The Samsung stick is a 333mhz one and I bought an Infineon 400 mhz stick to go along (no 333 was available...).

So I shut down the computer, install the RAM in DIMM slot 2, boot up and I hear a strange noise (a bit like a flash or if a plastic piece was stuck in a fan) then I get long beeps comming from the motherboard. When I look in the manual, it says that's because no RAM is currently installed. Now I've tried different solutions like removing the new stick, removing the old one, changing DIMMs but nothing seems to work.

What could possibly have happened and how can I fix that to use my computer soon?

Thanks alot
 
my guess is that you didn't put in the RAM properly and it fried the mobo. if it doesn't even boot up when you leave the new stick out, and you did hear something pop, then that may be the case.
 
Anyway to test that assumption to see if it's the mobo? I don't have any spare computer that I can use for testing...

And if that's really the case, do they still make mobos for those old northwoods or I have to shop for a new one?
 
News flash: after further inspection, I found a small piece of a chip (and it's not the RAM because the sticks are pristine) in the bottom of my case...

Let's transfer this to what can I buy for the least money to get my computer up and running. I currently have P4 1.6a, a GeForce 3 (64 megs) video card, I had integrated sound and LAN. My video card is AGP and everything is ATA (no SATA yet). I could easily ditch the processor to get something faster (everything's faster than that), for the budget I'm looking to spend the least money possible. Like I stated earlier, I have a 512mb stick of 333mhz Samsung and a 400mhz Infineon stick too.

Thank you for looking and helping me to make the right choice!
 
I can't do anything, it powers up, I see the lights comming on, it's searching the HDD and I get no screen, only that beep sound. It's a long beep, then a pause, then the long beep which means according to the manual that no RAM is installed... Tried everything I could and nothing works...
 
My sister's computer uses SDRAM (100 mhz), my father is on RAMBUs and I'm the only one on DDR... I'd be really surprised if both sticks went dead at the same time, my guess is a fried motherboard too!
 
Originally posted by: Zukatah
My sister's computer uses SDRAM (100 mhz), my father is on RAMBUs and I'm the only one on DDR... I'd be really surprised if both sticks went dead at the same time, my guess is a fried motherboard too!
Click to expand...

go over to a friend's place and try the 2 sticks. replacing sticks of fried RAM is a lot cheaper and easier than a mobo so i'd make sure.
 
That means ur board or mem is shot my friend!

Well determine which it is, and replace it. Either way, they cost the same. A mobo maybe 50 bucks, RAM might be more expensive if your replacing 2 sticks.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone!

If the motherboard is fried, I was thinking of getting almost the same configuration as Anandtech's mid-range system:

Processor AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8 GHz 512KB L2 90nm socket 939
Motherboard Chaintech VNF4 Socket 939
Memory My current sticks of RAM which I'd run in dual channel at 333mhz or buy another 400 mhz one and sell that 333 mhz stick
Video Card Leadtek GeForce 6600 128-bit 128MB PCIe 300/550
Hard Drive Seagate 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB SATA
Case Antec I have this Antec Performance Plus case with front USB which I absolutely love
Power Supply Enermax Noisetaker 370W model EG375P-VE-SFMA

Should I skip on something to save some cash or should I spend a little more? Keep in mind that the only cpu intensive thing that I do on my computer is play World of Warcraft, other than that it's mostly web browsing and some microsoft word...
 
I would suggest one last trick. Power off the system, unplug it, and then either reset theBIOS by jumpering the correct pins or removing the battery. I've had that trick work with the same problem you describe.
 
I'll be sure to try that later this evening! Thanks for the comments everyone, it's always a good thing to know you can rely on ATers when the sh*t hits the fan!
 
Here's an update!

I've plugged my speakers to hear what the vocal POST thing on my Asus motherboard had to say since I couldn't hear any beeps after clearing the CMOS. I've tried both my old and my new stick in all three slots and it always say that System failed memory test. Like I said earlier, I found a small chip of silicon on the bottom of my case and I found out where it came from: right next to the DIMMS (DIMM 3) there's a small controller near two capacitors and the Aux 12V EZ Plug connector. I guess it must be related to RAM management... Sadly I couldn't find anyone tonight to test my RAM but seeing that the motherboard is damaged, I can only think that the RAM isn't at fault here (I'm absolutely positive that I installed it correctly, I've done that simple operation dozens of times without any problems, it's idiot-proof). Do you think that if I go to a computer shop tomorrow with my 2 sticks, they could test them for me to see if they work? If they do, I'll try to buy that computer that I listed, only without the Hard Drive (I'll use my IDE ones since that motherboard has two IDE connectors) and I'll probably change the 6600 for an ATi X700 Pro. What do you guys think about that? Should I get a 420 watts powersupply or a 370 would be enough? I already have a 430 watts powersupply in my Antec Performance Plus 880 case, could I save some bucks and use that one instead (even though it doesn't have that 24 pins connector)?

Thanks again!
 
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