GA-SQ800 Confusing Troubleshoot

[lchyi]

I just got one of these motherboards and a P4 2.66ghz processor. When I go to turn on the power it doesn't boot up at all. I get no video signal or system beeps. I have tested all the parts onto my existing computer and they work fine. So it's not a dead processor, it's not a dead video card, and it isn't the others because they do nothing to hinder the motherboard from getting into BIOS. Another troubling fact is that this is my second motherboard because the first did the same thing. Is it likely that I got two defective mobos? Here's another wierd test case: I swapped processors with a P4 1.6A ghz and that didn't work either! So it's not a compatibility issue because I've tried it with two different processors with two different FSBs and clock speeds. Arrrgh, it's frustrating, can anyone give a hint to what is going on? I really don't want to pay restocking a second time to get a third motherboard that probably won't work again...

Is it just the GA-SQ800 that's not compatible with certain things? If any of you have this mobo, can you post what you have on it? Most importantly what processor are you running.

 

[shootinyou]

Have you tried to power up out of the case? (might be a short)

 

[AbsolutDealage]

It is not a mobo compatibility issue. I have built around 5 systems on this board now ranging from 1.6s to 2.66s and have had no problems.

Does your fans start to spin when you turn the system on? If not, are you sure that you have the P4 connector from the power supply connected? Are you sure your power supply is working? Are you sure that your power switch is wired up correctly to the front panel connectors?

Try removing the mobo from the case (place it on a non-conductive surface... like the static bag from the mobo) and stripping down your system to only motherboard/processor/ram. If you don't get any beeps from that, you know that one of those is the culprit. If so, try taking out the RAM. If you don't get beeps from that I would suggest a board replacement.

 

[lchyi]

I was reading up on this motherboard and some people said that they got the same effects but because of the RAM. They said that if you have a CAS2 latency RAM then the timings are set too slow (default) on the motherboard so it won't boot. Though, I thought that the computer is able to get into BIOS or send a video signal without RAM. Is this true? Anyway, I can't really see that it's an electrical problem with the case, I mean, everything (fans, hard drive, cd-rw, and dvd) all work fine and I have never heard a problem from Enermax cases (I have the CS-714 on with the rainbow lights), though thanks a lot for your responses. Any comments about the RAM issue? Do I really need to put a slower stick in there to even give a video signal or system beep?

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Yea, it wouldn't hurt to give the RAM a shot. Just find someone with some generic 2700 or something. You will not be able to get into the BIOS with no RAM installed. Usually you will get a beep code for bad/missing RAM.