I challenge thee to figure this one out!

[DarkKnight69]

Ok, Lets seeif you tech savvy people can help me out with this.

Keep in mind I am A+ certified and I cannot fix this.

Ok, so I go out and buy a new mobo. Bring it home, install it, put everything in and press the power. Wont boot. The computer restarts constantly 1 second after the system is turned on. I initially though, ok, so we have a power issue. I grabbed a spare PSU, installed it...same issue. Hmm, i thought. decided well, on the outside chance 2 PSU's are dead, I went to the ol computer store and bought a Enermax 485 Watt Noisetaker. Great I though, will work now. Nope.

Not i have tried 4 different modules of ram, 3 CPU's, 2 cases, 2 keyboards, 2 monitors, 3 different power cables, different heatsink fan, different PSU's. I am booting the computer with nothing but onboard vid, 1 stick of ram, and a processor (Nothing IDE, nothing PCI). So I figure, ok, this mobo is FUBAR. I pack it up and take it to the store I bought it at. They plug it in and it bootsfirst try. Since it boots, they will not give me a new one and i cannot return it.

So, I bring the unite home, thinking ok, maybe i have a riser in wrong spot or something of the sorts. Reset all the risers, plunk the computer down into the case...No boot. OMGWTF!!! now I am pissed. I pull the mobo out and put it on a peice of styrofoam with the PSU plugged into it and the ram...still no ****** boot.

I leave the unit over night come down the next day, press my power button with my foot and viola, it boots. I am figuring great, cant be better. Shut the thing off and plug in an IDE drive. push power...no boot.

Symtoms:

Resets before reached bios. About 1 second. Keyboard lights stay on 24/7 even if the system is powered off. No beeps.

If I remove the Ram and start it, it will give the no-ram warning beep.

This is so weird.

 

[themusgrat]

What different kinds of PSUs are you running? Your house's power may be the problem. Do other PCs do well on the same outlet? If you can get one, see what a battery backup (UPS) does when connected. Usually, on the better ones, they beep if the outlet is underpowered and switch to battery power. Also, if it would boot with the minimum hardware, and not with any added, that is a good sign of a power related issue.

 

[mechBgon]

1) Please post full specs in detail. The :evil:'s in the details sometimes...

2) If you have a PS/2 keyboard (round plug), then make sure it's in the mobo's keyboard hole, and not the mouse hole. Keyboard = purple, mouse = green.

 

[tangotracker]

Um, well from what you wrote it gives the impression that with the Video Card, CPU, Fan, and RAM, installed... it booted.


Then you connected an IDE drive and it wouldn't boot.


So if you remove the IDE cable from the board does it boot again?

 

[DarkKnight69]

ok, answer questions...

1. tried 4 outlets in house. Including one that was on a monster cable noise reduction system!

2. the one time it booted, there was nothing but a ram, cpu and mobo. When it booted i turned it off and plugged IDE in. It again didnt boot...I pulled the IDE out but it has not booted since.

3. Power was (first PSU was 380 Watt true power) second (485Watt enermax noisetaker)

Mother board-http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6449&SID=
ram 1-http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=2785&SID=
ram 2-http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...rchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=669365
ram 3-http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=5645&SID=
ram 4-http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...m-details.asp?EdpNo=1558747&CatId=1085
processor-
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6247&SID=
case-http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=5665&SID=

200 GB ATA Seagate HDD
Benq Dual Layer DVD burner

 

[Malak]

Try a different HD?

 

[tangotracker]

Another hard drive wouldn't matter, because it doesn't boot with no IDE cable connected.

Basically you have to focus on this one from a minimalist perspective.

Do you have another PC to test the video card, RAM, and CPU on? Or some if not all of these?

I mean that is the basics required to get the machine to POST.

If all of these things are known good, or you have replacements of all these to try, it really narrows it down.

It will either have to be a bad board or a bad CPU.

When you took the board back and it booted I assume they weren't using your CPU. But you said you'd tried three different CPUs.

Have you tried booting with only one stick of RAM and swaping that one stick out with another?

I really don't think a PSU has anything to do with this. Any PSU that isn't just flat out bad could drive the board, RAM, Video, and CPU through POST.

It is possible that there is a broken trace on the motherboard, either a manufacturing defect, or possibly due to motherboard flex and when you got it to boot and the shop got it to boot, the trace happened to be making connection.

 

[evilphantomx]

I think tangotracker hit it dead on with"It is possible that there is a broken trace on the motherboard, either a manufacturing defect, or possibly due to motherboard flex and when you got it to boot and the shop got it to boot, the trace happened to be making connection."

I have seen the damndest things when it comes to those traces...and a hairline crack in a solder joint may work for 100 years and never show ot it will/can/has/does cause the damndest wierd intermittent problems...just a few degrees in temp change can cause it to suddenly work or fail.....a nice 10X jeweler's loop and some excellent lighting mixed with large doses of eyestrain could reveal a very simple fix or after many hours ya might find it's something that is almost impossable to get at or fix......the voice of exp. here....so far almost 50/50 chance to save one ....but as always YMMV....G/L

 

[Agamar]

Sounds like you have a bad capacitor on the motherboard. Since leaving it off for an extended period of time will discharge the cap, allowing it to boot the next time around. Not a real good fix for this unless you want to test every cap on the board.

 

[montag451]

Just to check - is the power button on your case working properly?
Disconnect all the wires going to the mobo header.
Trip the power switch with a screwdriver.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: montag451
Just to check - is the power button on your case working properly?
Disconnect all the wires going to the mobo header.
Trip the power switch with a screwdriver.

That would be what I would try. If that doesn't work, I would take it all in setup to the place and have them figure it out for you (ie force the issue to get an RMA on the board).

 

[ThePiston]

I'm in with the power button crew... are you 100% positive you are putting the leads into the mobo correctly? Also, try doing a minimalist boot with the mobo out of the case... sounds weird but I've had cases short my mobo in some weird waythatI could never find. I know you used 2 cases, but I've had some mobos start only out of a case... I guess the flexure of certain cases shorted it out. triple check your power/HD led cables and pins

 

[DarkKnight69]

lol, i have done all that, in case, out of case, cover on, cover off, trip the power with jumper...This is so fvcking gay. I am gonna take it in and have them fix it, omg! They can give me a new damned mobo!

 

[ThePiston]

i think you need a priest at this point

 

[montag451]

Have you wired up the cpu fan correctly? (yeah, i know)
Have you plugged in the cpu (4 pin) power to mobo from cpu? (yeah, i know)

 

[DarkKnight69]

uugh, why didnt i think of the priest.

lol, the cpu fan makes no difference...tried 2 diff coolers...

yes 4 pin plug is in...

 

[montag451]

Did you see the ppl in the shop boot the mobo?

What cpu/ram did they use? Did they do it in your case?
It seems that the only things that are the locally possible cause are your case and your mobo -
I wanna be there to play.

 

[GreyMittens]

You in Calgary or Edmonton? If you bought the stuff from their Edmonton location - that is why - everything there sucks If it was from the Calgary shop, you are doing something wrong <g>

Just take it back to them and pay the $60 or them to test and fix / replace all the parts. As much I love working with hardware sometimes i just don't have the tools (ie. inventory) to keep trying out things and sometimes I must swallow my pride and just have the dudes there do it.

gm

 

[DarkKnight69]

I am not gonna pay those fucktards 60$. I will ask for a new mobo first...

And yes this is the edmonton store. I spent $25k there is last 6 months, they better not charge me 60$.

 

[montag451]

How did they boot the system?
Was it using your cpu/ram psu etc?

 

[GreyMittens]

Originally posted by: DarkKnight69
I am not gonna pay those fucktards 60$. I will ask for a new mobo first...

And yes this is the edmonton store. I spent $25k there is last 6 months, they better not charge me 60$.

I guess it depends on what value you put on your own time. Though doing things out of spite is ok I suppose.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: evilphantomx
I think tangotracker hit it dead on with"It is possible that there is a broken trace on the motherboard, either a manufacturing defect, or possibly due to motherboard flex and when you got it to boot and the shop got it to boot, the trace happened to be making connection."

I had that happen to me with an ECS S370 mobo. In one case, the Reset button just wouldn't work. In a different case, it would. I swapped switch leads, tested them with a DVM - nothing strange at all about them - it was the board. Considering how thin the PCB was, it didn't surprise me that it might have some issues with flex. Even tightening the mounting screws the wrong way could cause problem with a cheap board.

Don't discount the CPU fan though, some boards require the tach signal to boot, otherwise they auto-power-off within a second or so.