Epox 8RDA+ , suddenly won't boot - WORKING

[techwanabe]

Hi,

Seems like I'm having my share of problems the last few months... first my ASUS GF4-ti4200 video card went bad (not all at once)... then today I come home from work and my computer won't boot. I've got the manual here but I can't find anything about the beep codes. When I start it, it sounds like one long beep... or possibly one long and two short... it's hard to tell.

I know the video card is good, Radeon 32DDR cause I put it back in my old faithful Tualy computer and it works fine. I'm thinking my CPU is fried, but I'd like some confirmations from other folks. I was running a AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton (Retail) at factory spec speeds (never overclocked it). Temps always seemed ok - in the 40's. Looks like I may need to RMA the sucker. The LED's on the mother board showed FF, but I think they always showed this. Comments?

 

[pspada]

Try reseating the video card and/or ram. Possibly even try a different slot if you have a free one, or one stick at a time.

 

[techwanabe]

Well, I pulled out the video card and popped it in my trusty old Tually machine and it runs fine. I have only a single stick of Buffalo PC3200 RAM (512 mb) here.

I have some RAM at work I can borrow to swap out and see if that tells me anything.

BTW, I purchased the CPU at Newegg last Aug/Sept 2003. It is a retail box Athlon XP Barton 2500+. Those have a one year warranty right? I just tossed the paperwork that came with the CPU a few weeks ago too. Doesn't that figure! Never had a CPU go bad before. Ran this one at full spec speeds too.

Hopefully Newegg can send me a copy of my invoice cause I have no idea where mine is!

 

[techwanabe]

bump

 

[techwanabe]

The Epox 8RDA+ thread was unstickified so any help from you Epox guys would be great...

I found my Newegg invoice for the CPU and motherboard... hopefully the memory is ok

 

[pspada]

I doubt the CPU has died, retail chips usually run forever - but if it is dead, it has a 3 year warranty, and AMD will provide you with a new one.

by reseating the video card I did not mean to try it in another machine, just that it may not have been fully seated.

but the most likely cause of the problem is one of your ram sticks going bad. If that's the case, running with one stick would show you which one did die, since the board would work with one, and not with the other. I guess it's possible both sticks went bad, but considerably less likely.

 

[techwanabe]

Thanks pspada,

I'll know about the memory soon. I'm going to borrow a stick from work to check that. If thats the case, I'll have to dig out my receipt for my Buffalo ram. We'll see tonight.

 

[P4spooky]

Newegg is very good dealing with less than one year warranty replacements, I just did one.

1. Lookup online your invoice and request online RMA REPAIR option (if purchased less than one year and not a refurb)
2. Send the board
3. Get a replacement
If replacement unavailable they will contact you with options (alternate,refund etc.)

Very simple. If you are lucky you may get a free upgrade.

 

[techwanabe]

P4spooky,

Actually, I couldn't find the invoice for my memory... went to Newegg and found it quickly - great online dealers. I still need to narrow down what has gone bad. I have some memory here to try tonight.

 

[techwanabe]

Well,

After swapping out the old Buffalo for a Kingston DDR memory module, I'm up and running again. Apparently my memory module blew a gasket. Time to RMA the sucker. Before I do that I'll pop the current mem into the same slot, I put it in a different one first.

Well, looks like the mystery is solved. !!!

 

[pspada]

Glad to hear that you are up and running. I've seen this happen several times - and it each case it was someone who lived near the water where the humidity was high. Could just be cowinkydink??

 

[techwanabe]

Interesting... here it is fridgid cold for the last few weeks, with temps in between 30 and -10. Consequently the air is quite dry as is the case for very cold air. (warm air can hold alot more moisture than cold air).

Time to RMA the memory - I'll see if Newegg will do it, if not go to Buffalo (lifetime warranty).