Asus P4PE won't Post!

[Nihilistic1]

My brother's computer was having weird video anomalies, so I diagnosed the problem by swapping out parts from my computer. The good news is, I finally fixed his computer! The bad news is, I screwed mine up in the process

I swapped out power supplies and RAM to see if they were the cause of his problems. I tinkered with so many things, I'm not sure what fixed it to be honest, but his machine has been working perfectly for the last three days. I replaced all of my hardware back in my machine, and it booted up fine and ran with no weird symptoms for hours afterwards. I powered my machine down for the night, and the next morning it wouldn't boot up! I get no beeps, and no video signal, but the CPU fan comes on and stays on. I plugged headphones into the onboard sound, and I get the "failed CPU test" verbal POST message everytime I try to boot up.

I've tried unseating and reseating the RAM and the video card. I've reseated the CPU. I tried putting my old CPU back in...no help. I completely disassembled my computer and put only the motherboard, CPU and heatsink/fan, RAM and video card back in...still won't post. I tried pulling the motherboard out of the case and tried to boot it while resting on a nonconductive surface (in case the board was somehow shorting out against the case) and that didn't work. I cleared the CMOS by moving the jumper for several minutes...no good. I popped out the battery and left it for a while and popped it back in...no good. I tried two different fresh batteries...no good. I tried putting in an older power supply I had lying around...no good.

I've read in other forums that many people have this "cold boot issue" with the P4PE motherboard. I've never had the problem until now. There was no thunderstorm last night, so I'm totally bamboozled as to what caused this. I guess I broke something in the process of taking my PSU, RAM, and video card out to test my bro's box. If I cracked something on the motherboard, it isn't visible. I inspected closely for cracks or any scorch marks, and couldn't find anything. Besides, it shouldn't have booted up and ran normally after putting it back together the first time, if it was that.

Are there virii or worms that can destroy the BIOS on a motherboard? Any ideas on what this could be?

I guess it's true what they say, "No good deed goes unpunished"

My system specs are:

Asus P4PE motherboard with onboard LAN
3.06 GHZ P4 (older CPU is a 2.4 GHZ P4)
1GB Gigaram DDR333 (single stick)
Western Digital 200GB SATA hard drive
Nvidia 6800GT video card
Creative Labs Audigy 2 sound card
Happauge video tuner/capture card
Antec Truepower 430 watt PSU (old PSU is a 235 watt AGI)

 

[mechBgon]

First of all, is this cable plugged into the motherboard? And is this cable plugged into the video card (if your model takes one, that is)?

Secondly, clearing the BIOS might require both removing the battery and then moving the CLRTC jumper on some Asus mobos. With the system unplugged. Might try that.

 

[Nihilistic1]

Yes, I've plugged in the four pin ATX +12V connector to the motherboard. I even tried unplugging it and plugging in one of the 4 pin power connectors to the EZ plug-in connector (for power supplies that don't have the 4 pin ATX +12V connector).

I'm also aware that the 6800GT needs to be plugged into the power supply.

Right now I'm trying to boot without the video card in, and I should at least get past the "system failed CPU test" message. I should be getting a "no VGA" error message.

It shouldn't be a power supply issue, because it worked fine when I put it in my bro's computer. Also, both sticks of RAM work fine in his computer.

Could this be a Windows XP activation issue? I'm running XP SP2, by the way...forgot to put that in my specs list.

I'm thinking it's a fried motherboard. Which sucks, because I was planning to get a board with PCI Express slots the next time I upgrade video cards. I was hoping to put that off for a year. The only game that cries out for an upgrade at this point is Call of Duty 2. And according to Firingsquad.com., even current high end cards struggle with this game.

 

[Nihilistic1]

Oh, and I also removed the CMOS battery and jumpered the CMOS to clear. I'll leave it like that overnight and see if the PC gremlins take pity on me

Thanks for trying

 

[mechBgon]

You can rule out the Windows activation issue. That would show up if the system were booting but found lots of unfamiliar hardware. Since (1) the system did work overnight without freaking out about hardware changes, and (2) won't even POST now, and you had your power cables hooked up properly, PLUS you tested with two CPUs, different RAM and a different PSU, my thoughts are these:

1) it might be that your 430W power supply failed (the Antec True430's had a bad batch a couple years ago, capacitor issues) and the little 235W one can't crank over your CPU/GPU combination. Test: if you have any other decent-quality PSUs with enough wattage, you could test with another 350W+ PSU. Or, take out the 6800 and stick a very low-wattage card in there like an old Radeon 7000 or a basic PCI video card, and test using the 235W PSU like that as a fact-finding step.

2) it might be that the motherboard went *poof*, yeah.


You can always just view this as a good excuse to upgrade, of cource

 

[Nihilistic1]

I should be able to get past the "system failed cpu test" with no video card installed, shouldn't I? I really don't think it's the PSU, because I just had it in my bro's computer, and it worked fine. Also, the 235 watt PSU came from my bro's system, and it was driving a 2.4 ghz Celeron on a Biostar U8668-D motherboard, with an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro AIW. We upgraded his PSU to a Diablotek 400 watt (cheap, but better than what was already in it) in the process of fixing his video issues. True, the 235 watter is not enough, but it should at least boot my system. I could yank the Diablotek and try it in mine, but I just got his fixed

 

[Nihilistic1]

Ok, since I buggered up my system helping my bro...it's only right he should take the same risk for me...lol

I tried his Diablotek 400 watter, put my 6800GT back in, and hooked up the HD, put the CMOS battery back in, put the jumper back, etc. It still won't post Same nagging female voice harping "system failed cpu test". *sigh*

 

[boomerang]

It sounds as if his CPU is compatible with your board. Swap it and see what happens. I don't think there's anything wrong with the board as it is able to give out error messages.

You may have zapped the CPU with static.

 

[Nihilistic1]

The PC gremlins apparently have no mercy Still can't boot.

 

[Nihilistic1]

boomerang, I tried my old P4 2.4 ghz and it won't post either. I don't want to put my bro's CPU at risk. It looks like the problem is my motherboard.

Either the BIOS rom is bad, or a connector or something is bad. I don't see how my old 2.4 ghz P4 could have gone bad sitting on a shelf in my closet.

Would installing the CPU and heatsink/fan without thermal paste cause it to not POST? I know it's better to use thermal compound, but I don't have any handy at the momet. I did use thermal compound when I originally installed the 3.06 ghz CPU.

 

[mechBgon]

You want some sort of thermal-interface material to get the heat across the micro-gap between the CPU and the heatsink. Thermal paste, or a phase-change thermal pad, just not bare metal-to-metal contact. If you ran the system overnight with a bare metal-to-metal interface, then that was Not Good For It At All.

The PC gremlins apparently have no mercy Still can't boot.

The PC gremlins now demand monetary sacrifice! :Q

 

[Nihilistic1]

I only tried to boot the system without the use of thermal paste. I never reseated the CPU, or swapped out for the 2.4 ghz P4, until my PC stopped booting. I used thermal paste when I installed both CPU's when I first bought them.

I emailed ASUS tech support, but I doubt they'll be able to suggest anything I haven't already tried. I found a good Gigabyte socket 478 board on Newegg for around $60. I just hope it doesn't turn out that the CPU is also bad. But it seems highly unlikely that the 2.4 P4 is also bad. It was fine when I swapped it out for the 3.06 P4 in search of more speed for the online killing fields of Call of Duty

I'd go ahead and get a socket 939 board and go AMD, and get a 7800GT PCI x16, but I really don't want to drop $600 just to gain an additional 10 FPS in Call of Duty 2 in 1024x768x32. My 6800GT is still playable, and hopefully things will improve with new drivers and the next patch for CoD2. I'm holding out for the next generation of cards, which will bring better bang for the buck, and also force the price down on the 7800GT.