ECS K7VZM and Duron 800 - system will not power up

[kaldor01]

Installed new board into a new case with only VGA and FLOPPY, and
the system will not power up. its totaly dead.
ATX power cable is in place, and power switch is also connected.
How can I narrow down the problem ? Is it the MB or the case ?

The board is ECS K7VZM, and the case is generic 300W ATX.

I need major help here.

 

[DDad]

I assume you've got memory installed. First thing I would try is removing and reseating everything

 

[magicslax]

did you set the clear cmos jumper to off? i believe it is on by default and looks like a dead start.

 

[kaldor01]

Removed and reset everything. Now I see a green light lit on the board
itself, and when I press the power button, I breifly see the first
screen where it displays the CPU type, and RAM size.
The cpu I have installed is ATHLON 900MHZ.

After 3 seconds the screen starts to blink, and I noticed the CPU gets
very hot.
can this type of CPU even boot into the BIOS setup, without a cooling
fan ?
I was planning to install the fan later, once I see that it powers up
and I can get into BIOS setup.

 

[zippy]

Install the fan immediately. Thunderbirds and Durons can burn up in seconds without appropriate cooling. That is your problem, the motherboard might have some protection in place that doesn't let the machine boot without a fan on the CPU Fan header.

 

[kaldor01]

How do I know then if I have damaged the CPU or not ?

 

[dkozloski]

If you have had the power on for more than about 10-12 seconds you have done serious damage to your chip. Even if it still works it will be degraded from what might have been. Live and learn!!

 

[MrBond]

Look at the CPU. If its damaged, there will be burn marks on the core (the little metal square in the center). Even if there aren't any, you may have shortened the life of the chip significantly.

 

[zippy]

Just slap a fan on the heatsink and see if it boots up, then report back here!

 

[kaldor01]

I went out and bought a new ATHLON cooling fan + heatsink, and now the
system powers up and I can get into the BIOS setup.
I was able to isolate the reason for not being able to power up at all.
If I connect a USB bracket into USB 3/4 head on the MB, the system will
not power up.
Does it make sense ?