Is this system dead?

[LIVAN]

Ok here we go,


I bought a Nforce2 ultra board Dual Channel with a Barton 2500+.

I have been trying to find the best ram for it. I have tried no brand infineon to not Geil ultra 256x2 Dual Channel cas2.

I got the Dual Channel to boot with the Geil and even over clocked to 218 mhz memory at 6-3-3-2.5.

However, when I switched the Cas to 2 from 2.5, I didn't get a post. I cleared Cmos like 5 times , no post. I changed to different ram, no boot, I even took out the mobo battery and no boot.


I don't think I burned the CPU since it's water cooled and it stopped booting when I switched to Cas 2. So I don't think the system is dead.

But what is going on here? I never had a problem I couldn't fix by clearing Cmos.

I have a ECS N2400U-a board.

Help!

 

[LIVAN]

I am figuring that obvious my ram cannot do Cas 2.0 at those speeds but why doesn't boot even after I clear Cmos. Is it possible I killed my ram like this? Or somehow the Ram "remembers" the Cas2 setting even beyond Cmos clear?

I am baffled, someone must know what is happening here! Please help!

 

[LIVAN]

anyone?

 

[rogue1979]

Pull the battery out and put the cmos jumper on clear. Let it sit that way for a couple of hours. Fire it up and it should boot.

Don't worry about running cas2. At 436MHz DDR speeds it won't make a noticable difference over cas2.5.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

DFI motherboards have this common problem, it can be a real pain in the arse to clear the cmos,just give it time.

i have the same ram as you,you definatly didn't kill it. i got that ram to pull 500mhz at 3volts with the following timings:
cas 3 7-4-4-4

 

[LIVAN]

I am getting a couple feedbacks that since I left the PSU plugged in while clearing CMos, I might have possibly killed my CPU/Board. Is this true? I have done this before with other boards, it's been fine.


If the board is "dead" it won't even power up right? Am I wrong?

Mine powers up but just won't post.

 

[Disorganise]

Maybe you've inadvertently knocked the video card.

Get back to basics-remove everything except the cpu, power up to see if it beeps at you (assuming speaker is plugged in) - without RAM you should get a series of long beeps.
Add RAM and switch on - you should get a 'no video' sequence (usually one long beep and 4 short)

good luck!

 

[Soulkeeper]

just remember the the insert key if you get that thing to turn on after some kinda weird lockup
i've fryed and corrupted a few cmos chips (from clearing the cmos too much possibly) in that board and hadtah go through the agony of messing with clearing the cmos 100's of times

like the others suggested sometimes the thing just needs to sit for awhile
i usually took the battery out and let the jumper sit for like 10 to 20 seconds and this seemed to work
unpluggin the psu from the board or wall is also something people like to do
a corrupted bios would be the worst case senario
but it is unlikely that any of yur hardware is damage

good luck

 

[LIVAN]

My speaker in my case doesn't work. So all I am seeing is the power on light. Any suggestions?


I also took out the battery, set the CMOS to clear overnight and still nothing. I also unplugged all drives except the boot,vidoe card and ram. No change. Still powers up but no post.

 

[biofear]

I had almost the same exact thing happen to me last week. The power would come on but there was no beep. I took it to work to see if any of my fellow co-workers could give me anymore ideas. We got to the point where the motherboard was sitting on the table with nothing but the cpu in the motherboard. I put the jumper on the clear cmos pins and turned it on(at this point I was desparate(after 10 hours of trouble shooting)). It beeped one last time (like it took its last breathe) then that was all she wrote for that motherboard. All in all, it sound like you're sitting in the same boat I'm in. (btw this is just the reader's digest version of my story) Time to get a rma # sorry to say my friend.

 

[NbWY1]

I am getting a couple feedbacks that since I left the PSU plugged in while clearing CMos, I might have possibly killed my CPU/Board. Is this true? I have done this before with other boards, it's been fine. If the board is "dead" it won't even power up right? Am I wrong? Mine powers up but just won't post.

I used to reset the CMOS on my Abit-KX7333 like that all the time.. 2.5 years and still running, even killed an XP2000 TBred on it. So no, that's not an issue. As for the board being trashed, it can still power up even if it doesn't work. I've seen many a mobo that'll power up, just never POST, or even give power to IO card.

My speaker in my case doesn't work. So all I am seeing is the power on light. Any suggestions? I also took out the battery, set the CMOS to clear overnight and still nothing. I also unplugged all drives except the boot,vidoe card and ram. No change. Still powers up but no post.

Very, VERY few of my speakers work in computers.. I can't seem to figure out what I do wrong (luckily it's about the only thing )

Im guessing because all you did was change RAM timings.. it could only be a RAM problem. You haven't increased any voltage, and assuming heat isn't an issue.. it would be hard to burn out any other parts of your computer. Have you tried new RAM yet?

If I were you, i'd take the whole thing out and put it on a table with nothing but a montior keyboard and PSU. Amazing the difference that can sometimes make.


My first post, Hello Anandtech Forums!

 

[LIVAN]

Thanks for all teh feedback.

Yes I have tried new ram. 3 times.

So Biofear, after your board took that"last breath" did it still turn on but just no post or is it completely dead?

 

[Soulkeeper]

You can order a replacement bios from excaliberpc.com if the bios is corrupt
it's in the abit gear section

good luck

 

[LIVAN]

Soul, thanks but my bios is soddered in.

UPDATE: I went ahead and got a new MOBO, exact same one. Here is what happened. Bte, I have ruled out video card and Monitor as both works on another mobo.

I plugged in the basics in the new mobo before putting in case. It posted! So I proceeded to put the mobo in the case Here is what is odd. ONce I installed everything, samething happened again!! IN the new board! I quickly disconnected everything to go back to the basics( Video, boot drive, power,cpu) But nothing! so it seems to be GONE again. What is going on here??/??

Can it be the GEIL Ultra PC3200 messing this board up?

 

[biofear]

It would boot up but thats all it would do. The little power light on my monitor would just blink at me, like if the pc was powered off.

 

[NbWY1]

You may want to investigate in another problem LIVAN, as i've never heard of something like that happening.. (RAM killing a motherboard).

 

[LIVAN]

I was switched to a new ,diff brand mobo with new ram and new video card. And with only keyboard plugged in, along with power and boot drive.

GUESS WHAT? Same thing! Only thing left is the CPU, as crazy as it sounds, it seems like I fried this CPU just changing it to CAS2! Because it was working for 3 or 4 days before and was fine!

I have a surge protector so it's not power surge. But I will go get and new CPU and we will see.

This is the 14th computer I have built, never like this!

 

[rogue1979]

Sorry to hear about that. But sometimes things work out great and other times it becomes a complete mess, no matter how much experience or knowledge you have.