Bad Asus K8N-E Deluxe MOBO?

[storminnorm80]

My original post was "Can't Boot from CD-ROM" Here is what I've found;

My HardDrive and CD-ROM are showing correctly in BIOS .
HD is connected to SATA1, and shows as 3rd Master in BIOS. Jumper is on factory setting, pins 1&2.
HD type device is set to "AUTO" in BIOS.
CD-ROM is connected to Primary IDE, and shows same as Master. Jumper set to Master.
CD-ROM type device has been tried as "Auto", and "CD-ROM" in BIOS.
Windows Home Edition XP w/ SP1a included, Retail installation CD.
Boot Device Priority - 1. CD-ROM 2. FLOPPY 3. HD
F10-save & exit, system does not boot. Black screen w/ cursor blinking. Re-boot, and get black screen with message, "Reboot and select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key." I push the button on the CD-ROM, the green light on it blinks, and the tray opens, I slightly move the CD in the tray, and re-insert. Press a key, and nothing happens. I don't hear, or feel the CD-ROM spinning up. I re-boot and verify in BIOS that the ROM is being seen, and it is. Try to boot again and nothing. I tried two more CD-ROM's, Ribbon Cables, and a friend brings one of his over too. They all show up in BIOS, I select them as 1st in Boot order, try to boot, and nothing. I tried the 6 Floppy boot disks installation, put the CD in when prompted, and the CD-ROM does not read. I checked the XP install disk in the PC I am using at the moment, and it is bootable. My friend brought his XP install disk, but the CD-ROM's never spun-up. Both XP install CD's are retail and they are bootable.
I then tried using the Second IDE on the CD-ROMs. All are seen, chosen as 1st in Boot order, and will not read.
I thought that maybe there is a conflict with the SATA HD and the IDE busses, so I then disconnected the SATA1 HD connection, and installed a Maxtor IDE HD, connected to Primary IDE, and the CD-ROM to Secondary IDE. Both show up on BIOS correctly. I made sure the CD-ROM is still set to 1st boot device, and try to boot, and same message, "Reboot and select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key." While trying all of this, I am making sure all cables are seated properly and looking for bent pins. I reset the CMOS and tried again with no luck. I am thoroughly stumpped! Any help will be greatly appreciated.

here are my system specs;

Asus K8N-E Deluxe ver. 1.04
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 2X512
Raptor 10,000 rpm Western Digital SATA 74GB HD
Plextor 712A DVD/CD-R/RW-ROM
PNY Verto nVidia GeForce 6800GT VGA video card
ThermalTake Silent Purepower 480 watt power supply
Sony floppy drive

other CD-ROM's that were tried;
Creative 52X
40X not sure of brand, model #BCD E520C
Phillips model #CDD3610/01

Sorry for the book, just wanted to give as much info as possible.

Best Regards,
Norm

 

[mechBgon]

Try removing the floppy drive from the list of boot devices completely, and disable Boot Other Device. Heck, remove the floppy's data and power cable for good measure :evil:

Also, what jumper setting did you use for the optical drives, and is the blue end of the IDE cable plugged into the motherboard like it ought to be?

There really should be no rigamarole required at all, so a bad board is one possibility.

 

[storminnorm80]

I disabled the floppy drive and the hard drive from the boot list, and made sure the CD-ROM is the only boot device selected and set to 1st. F10 and get the same message at black screen "Reboot and select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key." I shut down the system and removed the floppys data and power cable, reboot, check the BIOS and make sure the CD-ROM is still the only boot device. Black screen message again.
The jumper settings on all the optical drives were set to MASTER.
I tried each CD-ROM seperately, one at a time, in each configuration.
The blue end of the IDE cable has a square plug that fits the notch on the mobo, and is seated completely.
This is my first PC build from completely new components. I hope its not always like this!
I have never returned anything (RMA) before, is this a long drawn out process?
Thanks for the help.

 

[mechBgon]

Does it also do that if you hit F8 and manually select the optical drive?

 

[storminnorm80]

Yes, same black screen message, "Reboot and select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key." :frown:

 

[mechBgon]

Huh. See if the store where you bought it will set you up with an RMA, that ought to be faster than RMA'ing it to Asus. It's not like you've abused it or anything.

BTW, did you try testing it outside the case on cardboard yet? I think you might've said, but I forgot

 

[storminnorm80]

I am not familiar with that procedure. Testing outside the case on cardboard? Please enlighten me. I'm close to sacrificing the dog at midnight and chanting...:laugh:

 

[mechBgon]

Sure thing, go here and click on the fourth photo there This eliminates the case as a source of short circuits.

 

[storminnorm80]

OK, thanks. I'll try that tomorrow. Just connect the optical and see if it works, or the whole mess, HD, CD-ROM, & FLOPPY? The case I have is made of clear plexi-glass with brass inserts to off-set the mobo. I was wondering about grounding, or the lack thereof.

 

[mechBgon]

I'd start with just the optical drive. If you can get the Press Any Key To Boot From CD... prompt and hit Enter and go into Windows Setup, then add your hard drive on one of the native nVidia SATA plugs up by the AGP card, and try again.

 

[storminnorm80]

Well, I did as you suggested, and I still get the same black screen message about Rebooting with proper device. However, I noticed something odd. When I turned the power on, the system fans sounded more like they started and stayed at the same rpm. Before, they sounded like they had a surge before running up to full rpm. I took an extra case fan, and connected it to each power dongle, and discovered that two entire strings of them are dead. I'm thinking that it might be the power supply now. However the dongle that the CD-Rom and video card are connected to works, that is the only one. I'm thinking that the power supply may not be putting out what it should be for a CD-ROM to run. Any suggestions? My power supply is a ThermalTake Silent Purepower 480watt. I may stop by the local Best Buy and see what they want for a comparable supply source. Any brand name recommendations?

 

[mechBgon]

Enermax and Antec are good, and you can find Antec all over the place. I bet you've hit the problem on the head there, good work on the troubleshooting

 

[mavzx]

Hey, I have the exact same problem as you strominnorm80 and was wondering if you ever found a solution. My system is very similar to yours K8N-E MOBO, AMD Athalon 64 3700, WD 250GB 10,000rpm, Lite-on DVDRW and CDRW reg 1.44 3.5 floppy. Anyways i really hope you were able to find a solution to this problem because im pretty stumped. It is a brand new system just got it today and got the msg first thing when i booted it up. Bois registers the same as yours. The only thing left i can think of is to clear the CMOS but i dont particulary wont to do that. Hope you can help. thanks, J

 

[storminnorm80]

Well when it was all said and done I had three problem components.
1. The mobo was crap.
2. The power supply was crap.
3. The Plextor DVD/CD-R/RW was crap.

I bought all three of these items from zipzoomfly.com.
I'm thinking that their stuff is returned crap that didn't work for someone else. The mobo was version 1.04 (old)

I bought a new mobo from newegg, it was verision 1.05 btw.
I bought a new power supply, an Antec Trueblue 480Watt.
I bought an Asus CD-ROM.

The three defective things are RMA'd.

When I recieved the new mobo, connected everything and powered up, the BIOS detected everything, but the Plextor DVD would not open, but the CD-ROM would open, but not read. I took the Plextor out of the loop, and the CD-ROM reads! I then installed the OS. While installing updates I noticed that three of the case fans were not running, and then the monitor screen flickered and I had no mouse control. Rebooted and everything seemed fine, then the power "spiked" again. Ripped out the PS and got a new one. All is well now. I guess I'll build a PC for my kids whenever I get the mobo & ps back from the manufacturer. I will add the Plextor to my system when it gets here.

lesson learned: I will not buy components from zipzoomfly EVER again.

mechBgon has a very nice, user friendly guide that has helped me enormously. He includes links to just about any problem you experience. NICE JOB mechBgon & thanks.

A system with all new components really shouldn't have any problems, as long as you connected everything properly.

Good luck with your build mavzx.

Best Regards,

Norm

My system specs:

Asus K8N-E Deluxe ver.1.05
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 2X512MB memory
Asus CD-ROM 52X
Raptor 10,000rpm WesternDigital SATA 74.3GB Hd
PNY Verto nVidia GeForce 6800GT VGA
Antec Trueblue 480watt power supply
Windows XP Home w/service pack 1a CD retail.

Plextor 712A DVD/CD-R/RW-ROM(not installed)