Dead motherboard? Looks like it.

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi folks,
I came across this older AM2 computer, which completely refuses to boot.

The fans spin, but nothing happens. No POST, no beep. No keyboard LEDs coming on, either. Nothing on the monitor screen.

After stripping it out, and leaving only the motherboard and the CPU connected to each other, I tried:

- Different (known to work) PSU: nothing.
- Different CPU (Athlon 64 AM2, known as good): nothing.
- One (known as good) stick of RAM in any of the four slots (starting with the one closest to the CPU socket): nothing.
- On-board video and add-on card (known to be good): nothing.

Moreover, sometimes the power button is not recognized when pressed. Have to unplug the PSU, wait a few moments, then retry.

Of course, at each step I checked to make sure sll the contacts are properly made , and that the cables and CPU are correctly seated.

At this point, though, unless there's anything I'm missing, I think the motherboard is toast.

Any suggestions?

 

[richaron]

I got to the same stage with my rebuild a couple of days ago. Sounds like you've got a pretty good grasp of troubleshooting so you could well be correct.

In the end I only had CPU, 1 stick of ram, power button and power cables connected. But mine came alive after reattaching (and wiggling) the power cables, so crisis averted.

My next step would probably have been to remove the mobo from the chassis in case of a short. Has the motherboard been working as it's currently mounted? Do you have a little dinky speaker attached to hear the beeps? And I assume you've reset the CMOS by removing the battery and/or using a jumper (and then removing reset jumper after..)?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Yes, you're right - I didn't mention it, but I DID take out the motherboard from the case, just to make sure it's not a short. Also made sure the speaker works, and is attached to the motherboard properly.

I removed the battery and put it back after 30 seconds. Also cleared the BIOS with the jumpers.

But I didn't think about changing the battery, though... I must see if I have a fresh CR2032 available.

But would a dead battery prevent the machine from booting?

 

[richaron]

Well I don't have any more ideas. But I did mention my power cable fix since old equipment can get gunked up or oxidise on the pins/connections (hence the wiggling).

From my experience a dead battery wont stop the system from POST/boot-ing, it will just mess with saving the BIOS settings (ymmv). A jumper left on the reset pins will stop the POST but it seems you've covered that as well as most other potential problems...

 

[lakedude]

It looks like you are already doing a fine job. You don't mention when this rig last worked or if it ever worked with the current specific combination of hardware.

While it does seem most likely that the MB is bad, is it possible that both CPUs are much newer and need a bios update to boot? If that is a possibility you might need to find an older CPU to boot from.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

No idea when this worked last.
That's a downside of having all your friends and family bring you stuff to fix.
The CPU installed on the machine was Athlon 64 X2 2007; the one I tried was 2006.
But at this point I'm ready to state the board has had it. Occam's razor and all.
Thank you all for contributing!