Aopen AK77-333 Startup problem, any ideas?

[russki]

Just got the mobo with athlon xp 1800 and 256mb crucial ram. Installed everything worked great. Installed winxp, played around yesterday everything was excellent. Come back this morning the damn thing wouldnt post. All the fans run, the hd spins up, the cdroms work, but no video. After messing around with it and pressing the power button about 20 times it suddenly woke up and started working. Got into windows no problem. Then shut it down. Try to start up, same thing happens. This is rediculous. Flashed to latest bios, same thing. This mobo only works 1 out of 20 times.. so anyone know what it could be?

 

[Boonesmi]

what powersupply are you using?

the problem your describing sounds a lot like a common problem with the ecs k7s5a when it has a cheap powersupply (ive actually experienced it myself when using a generic 300w powersupply)

 

[russki]

HIPRO model: HP-235ATXAK

235W max power supply... too weak?

 

[russki]

oh and when it wont start the power led isnt lit up

 

[Boonesmi]

im kinda supprised you even get the board to post with a 235w powersupply

can you borrow a powersupply from someone/somewhere to test it on your system?

 

[russki]

Boonesmi I think you're right about it. Seems like the mobo isnt getting enough juice.

I dont know of anyone that could let me borrow a ps
I guess I just have to buy one, damn!

This case had a 1ghz p3 in it, worked beautifully plus the other comp has a 1ghz tbird on a 230watt ps and works great.

So what kind of wattage ps should i get?

 

[Boonesmi]

watts is misleading... a high qualtily 250w might work fine, and a low quality 400w could have problems

but i would go with at least 300w and preferable 350w or higher PS

are you buying locally? or online? if online i can point you to some good stores and maybe a good powersupply

if locally make sure you look at the PS and make sure the 5v line has at least 25amp but really 30amp would be safer (just curious whats the 3v and 5v lines on your current PS?)

 

[russki]

+5v outputs 25A
+3.3v outputs 14A

the +5v and +3.3v combined may not output more than 125watts

Please do recommend some power supplies for me. Thanks

PS. The other ps I have is a 230 watt but has 3.3v/5v at 14A/21A and total wattage on those 2 lines doesnt exceed 105watts

First one is 235 and the second 230 but there's a big difference.

 

[Boonesmi]

the 3v and 5v combined should be at least 165w (in my opinion)

newegg has tons of powersupplies, most are very expensive
the enlight 340w isnt to expensive and its a good PS

i was going to give you a link to a great store to buy PSs from but it looks like its gone out of busniness

 

[russki]

Ordered 350watt sparkle psu, will update on result

thanks for your help.

Funny how it takes about 20 button presses to start the damn thing, but once it starts its stable as a mofo!

 

[mechBgon]

Sparkle is a really good brand too, that should get the job done

 

[russki]

Got the 350watt ps installed, still wont start on the first button press. Drives spin up, fans all work.. leds are all on, except the power led and the video doesnt initialize.. so it just sits there. After I press the reset button it comes to life. I need to rma this pos.

Any thoughts?

 

[Boonesmi]

ouch that sucks....

sorry i suggested you get a new powersupply

 

[russki]

well its not all bad, I got a new 350 watt ps out of it
I'll RMA the mobo at some point, but right now I'm not going to bother with it, too much stuff going on.

 

[russki]

I have found the exact problem and the solution!!!

Problem: The problem lies in having 2 cdrom drives connected to the secondary ide controller. As soon as one of the drives is deactivated the system boots up just fine. If both of the drives are active the system wont start.

Solution: Switched the cables on primary and secondary ide channels. It surprisingly works. Computer now powers up the first time, every time.


I will RMA this board either way, no reason why a mobo should be doing this.

Aopen you suck!

 

[zepper00]

Actually AOpen makes some of the best mobos and add-on cards out there as far as reliability goes. I'd put them right up there with Asus and Gigabyte except for features. Aopen mobos seldom have all the features one might want.
.bh.