Is My Motherboard Dead?

[Adam8281]

I'll try to give a concise explanation of my situation:
*My system:
Antec Sonata w/ 380W Antec True PS
Pentium 2.8C
2x512 Geil Golden Dragon PC3200 RAM
Abit IS7 MoBo
2 HDDs, video card, & video capture card

Last night I powered off my computer, this morning I tried to turn it on and nothing happened. No fans come on, no HDDs spinning, nothing. Thinking the problem might be my PS, I unplugged the ATX connector and shorted the wires, following a tutorial I found online, that "tell" the power supply to turn on. At this point the power supply fan turned on, as did the system fan and the case fan (CPU fan did not, don't know if it was supposed to or not). So, I am figuring that the power supply is OK. Does this seem right?

Thinking the problem might be with the power on switch on the case, I unplugged the pins that are connected to the switch, and instead shorted the power on wires. When I plugged in the power supply, however, the system remained dead, nothing turned on.

I should mention that the green LED on the MoBo, the one near the power on pins, is ON when the comp is plugged in. Also I should mention that for the past 2 weeks or so my computer has been randomly rebooting. Sometimes it won't do it for 2 days, sometimes it will do it 5 times in an hour. I bought the Abit IS7 from newegg, and it is still under warrante. I actually had to RMA my original IS7 3 months ago, and this is the replacement board they sent me. Before deciding that the problem is the mobo and RMAing it again, though I want to gather the wisdom of Anandtech. So tell me, is my motherboard dead? Thanks

 

[awolkoff]

Having suffered though my share of power supply problems of late, I suspect the PS itself. Can you swap with a known good unit?

 

[Adam8281]

I could try another power supply. I don't own one, but CompUSA doesn't charge a restocking fee for electronics under $100, so I could go buy one tomorrow and test it. But if it is a power supply issue, why would the power supply turn on, and power the fans, hard drive, and CD drives when I short the wires (wires 14 & 15)? I'm not at all saying your wrong, but I just don't understand why things would be powering on like this if the ps is shot.

 

[Adam8281]

Anyone?

 

[o1die]

I would remove the mobo out of the case, and place it on a non-conductive surface, such as the box it came in. With just one stick of memory, cpu/heatsink, and video, it should post. If it doesn't, then you'll know for sure.

 

[Adam8281]

Well, it seems that the problem is solved, and o1die, your advice proved helpful. Yesterday I took most of the computer apart. I removed the mobo, checked the spacers, and put the mobo back in the case. I dissconnected all drives, and only had the processor, one stick of ram, and video cards plugged in, and when I tried to power up it failed. Today, as a last ditch before going out and buying a new power supply or RMAing my mobo, I set the mobo up on the cardboard box it came in, put in the processor and one stick of RAM, and attached the power supply. Voila! It worked, it powered up. I then put the mobo back in the case and gradually added back in components. Still worked! Soon the system was complete and working. I do not know why this happened, and if anybody has a good idea, please tell me so I can avoid it in the future.

 

[Kenai]

apparently you must have had a bad ground somewhere, which was not allowing your mobo to fully "kick into gear". When you re-installed the ground connection was never "re-grounded". I have seen similar problems with cat hair, because apparently it can be conductive, and wiggle into bad areas.

anyways gratz on resurecting your machine!

 

[Adam8281]

OK, part 2 of the saga. The computer is randomly restarting A LOT since I got it working again. Like, in the last half hour, I think it's restarted 3 times. How do I check for and locate a short? I can't imagine what it could be. When I reinstalled the mobo I retightened the spacers, cleaned up the case, got cables and wires neatly routed. Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[mechBgon]

Raise the memory voltage to 2.7 volts and set the memory timings manually to 2.5-3-3-7 and see what effect that has. Also, what PCI slot is that video-capture card in?

 

[Adam8281]

Thanks for the response, mechBgon. By the way, your photo guide for 1st time PC builders is the best totorial site of it's kind that I've ever seen. I did what you suggested with the RAM. I raised the voltage from 2.6 to 2.7, and the only timing i changed was the 6 to a 7. So far things are good. Also, my video-capture card is in the topmost of the 5 PCI slots, right under the AGP. Why did you suggest raising the voltage and adjusting the timing? Do you think the RAM is crapping out? Thanks for your help.

 

[Adam8281]

Well, things are working better now. The comp has only restarted once in the past 24 hours, although the time it did restart it gave a message about "page fault in nonpaged area," and I don't know what that points to. Anyway, thanks for the help.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Adam8281
Thanks for the response, mechBgon. By the way, your photo guide for 1st time PC builders is the best totorial site of it's kind that I've ever seen. I did what you suggested with the RAM. I raised the voltage from 2.6 to 2.7, and the only timing i changed was the 6 to a 7. So far things are good. Also, my video-capture card is in the topmost of the 5 PCI slots, right under the AGP. Why did you suggest raising the voltage and adjusting the timing? Do you think the RAM is crapping out? Thanks for your help.

Ooops, sorry I missed this before. The suggestion about memory timings is because the i865/i875 chipsets can have problems with super-tight timings, and the suggestion about memory voltage is because a lot of boards default to 2.5 volts and that's sometimes not enough for PC3200 and higher.

As for the PCI card, you might try changing it to any of the other PCI slots. PCI slot 1 shares its chipset IRQ with the motherboard's own Firewire controller.