"Erratic" Power Led = Dead Mobo?

[Biggs]

My old, trusty Supermicro P6SBA(i440BX) mobo suddenly just hanged in Windows, thus I turned-off the power a few seconds then restarted it. However, the system wouldn't even beep now and I get a message on the monitor, "Please check your CPU and cables. Monitor is working fine.". I've done the whole nine yards of stripping everything to basics, removing this and that, reseating this and that, clearing the CMOS, fiddling the jumpers, you name it. However, the system LED either just lights up a couple of seconds then shut's off for about 5 seconds, lights up again and so on. I also know the speaker is working because if I remove the memory completely and restart, the system would beep continuously -- indicating a memory error. The bottom line, my friends, is my mobo dead? Thanks.

 

[pspada]

I had a similar problem, turned ou to be the power supply.

 

[stevennoland]

Ditto on the power supply. If you can get a good known working spare power supply, try that. If to no avail, try another. If that one fails, it's probably time for a new mobo.

 

[Biggs]

I just tried using 2 PSU's and still nada. I guess my ever reliable BX finally croaked. 🙁

 

[pspada]

Could be the dreaded "cap death". Check the capacitors on the mobo for buldging or leakage.

 

[Biggs]

I did and all of them looked fine. Funny thing is, the first time I turn on the PC, the power led would exhibit the "erratic" behaviour mentioned above. However, after I've turned it off then turn it on back again, the power led wouldn't light up anymore.