Need help, only know a little about mobos, troubleshooting a dead system...

[FingerDemon]

I think I just need someone to tell me some basics here. I am trying to troubleshoot a dead system that I built myself about 3 years ago. At the time I did it, I tried to read up and get familiar with everything. But that has been a while and I am unsure what my options might be.

MB:ASUS A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
PCU: AMD Barton 2500
RAM: Corsair 2 sticks 512 DDR
PSU: Antec SmartPower 400W
Graphics Card: ATI 9500

It was running very reliably until recently. I tried unplugging all CD-Rom drives and hard drives and still just starts to come on then just stops and tries again with no beep no error messages.

From other posts, it seems next I should unplug, unhook Graphics Card, remove the battery, reset CMOS jumpers for a good length of time and see if it gets to POST. If not, then remove the whole board from the case. Is it likely that the board could get a short like that after working for years? Or is that more likely to be something that happens during a build?

What I am really wondering is what my options would be if the board is dead. I really don't have much cash right now. It seems like any new build you would want to get DualCore and PCIe and better RAM than what I have. That sounds pretty expensive.

Is there any way I could buy something to replace this board with that would accept all or some of my PCU/RAM/Graphics Card?

A7N8X was pretty popular at the time, but I haven't kept up with mobo topics. Are they known to be reliable?

Sorry to ask such newbie questions, thanks for any and all replies.

Edit: I forgot to say that I don't have a spare PSU to try out. I hate to buy one unless I have to. Best Buy return policy sucks and I am way on the cheap these days.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

You can try Staples. Look for Antec Earthwatts 500. This PSU is still available at many B&M Frys for $50 out-the-door (10-11-07).

 

[SilentAssassin]

I've been using your same mobo for almost 4 years now and it's overclocked, still running strong. I'm not really sure what the problem is with yours, did you make any changes to the bios before this happened, do your case fans stay spinning when you turn it on? The only thing similir I had happen with that board was when I changed some bios settings the bios actually got currupted and then the fans would spin and it just sits there never making a beep or showing anything on the screen. Had to send in the bios chip to get it reflashed to fix it. You might want to try taking the board out of the case and try it ontop of a box with only the cpu and 1 stick of ram connected. Short the power pins on the mobo with a screw driver to start it. I suppose you culd even start it with only the cpu to take ram out of the possible problems, the mobo should atleast start still and give a beep error code.

Also is the green light on the mobo still lighting up showing it's getting standby power from the PSU? And I believe if the PSU is still good the case fans should keep spinning once the mobo turns on unless the mobo is dead, even when mine had a currupted bios and my monitor never turns on, the case fans still kept spinning. If everything starts but then just stops including the case fans, might need a new PSU.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Originally posted by: FingerDemon
just starts to come on then just stops and tries again with no beep no error messages.

Could you explain exactly what this means?

Also, when I was looking a few months ago, there was a place still selling the OEM version of the A7N8X for $60. If it comes down to that as the problem.

 

[FingerDemon]

Well thanks very much to everyone for replying to this. I will have to try resetting the CMOS. As for a more exact description, I hit the power and it seems to get power and lights and the fans spin. Nothing shows on the screen. When the CDROMs were hooked up the lights on them would flash once or twice before it sounded like the low pop of the sound disconnecting due to the power recycling and it happens again. Pretty quick and no beep from the motherboard at all. I guess I could take my voltmeter and try and see if each plug was putting out a normal amount of power. That happened to the last Antec TruePower PSU I had. One of the rails started dropping in power output. But I had to pay a technician to figure that out for me.

Anyway, if the absolute worst is true and the motherboard is gone and I am looking at a total rebuild, I have some questions.

If I put a totally new board and processor and ram in there but hooked up the old hard drives, is there any chance Windows would still boot up? I mean, assuming of course I got past that activation stuff they put in XP. Is Windows hardware dependent like that? Or would I also be facing a full reinstallation of Windows, or just a repair install? I have never tried anything like this, so I have no idea.

Thanks again for the advice and info.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're probably looking at a repair install of Windows. You might need to re-activate as well.

 

[GullyFoyle]

I did an upgrade of my Mom's PC, went from an Athlon XP on a SiS 735 chipset, to a 64 bit Sempron on a Geforce 6100 chipset MB. Booted up fine. Repair install went smooth as silk. After the basic install, I just had to update a few drivers. This was using XP Home.

 

[FingerDemon]

Just wanted to thank everyone again for replying to this. I did try a CMOS reset with no luck. The standby power light was green on the motherboard itself, so I feared the worst. Still with SerpentRoyal pointing out the deals on Antec Earthwatts Power Supplies, I realized I could try a new power supply for about $30. So, I ordered one on NewEgg. I was busy so I didn't try it right away. When I did I found the connector was 24 pin and I needed 20 pin. I thought of getting an adapter, but I ended up just breaking the last four pin section from the connector. I believe it was designed to let you do that.

And lo and behold it worked. My machine is completely back. So many thanks to you all for helping me save some money when I really needed to.

It took a long time, but it is finally fixed. I jokingly told my wife that this was the problem with building your machine yourself. The tech support sucks! Any fool should have figured this out in a couple of hours. Oh well.

I do have a question about Power Supplies now. I read a thread indicating that most are made by the same manufacturer despite brand labels. This is the second Antec Power Supply I have had in this machine that died. I have the unit on a surge protector, but I do leave it on most of the time. Is that hard on a power supply? When I rebuild this system, I will probably have to get a larger power supply than the 430 I just bought. I guess that will depend on the graphics card. But Antec and the others made by this manufacturer are still considered good ones, right? Is it unusual for a system to go through a few power supplies in a few years?

Thanks again,