Need some help--motherboard won't POST.

[Anarchist420]

Everything seems to work--the D2X's lights are all on, the motherboard's light is green, and all the fans are on and working. I installed a second harddrive and new CPU. I put the old CPU back in and the computer still wouldn't show the BIOS splash screen.

Also, would a small loose chip of plastic floating around in the case hurt anything as long as it doesn't get into any fans? A plastic piece of the SATA cable's connector chipped and I don't want to have to take everything apart and reassemble just to get a small piece of loose plastic out. If it gets under the motherboard it won't damage it will it?

 

[taltamir]

unplug everything except 1 stick of ram, cpu, power, video card. Reset CMOS (remove battery and unplug from wall for a minute). Then move the single stick of ram around, try the other stick of ram as well.

A loose piece of plastic does nothing.

 

[Anarchist420]

Okay thanks I'll try when I get home.

 

[taltamir]

Just today I upgraded my mobo, it wouldn't work with any stick of ram in the leftmost slot.
It would make nonstop short beeps, which the mobo manual says was a "power error". After booting it for the first time by moving the ram I updated the firmware and tried again... instead of repeating short beeps it would simple power cycle every few seconds (with the fans turning off for a second then back on again)...

odd, but it works now that I have the ram sticks placed in other slots.

My previous mobo stopped booting with my intel SSD plugged into SATA0 after the last firmware update... it would boot fine if I moved it to another SATA port.

I had seen iPods cause the system to hang on boot if they were plugged into the USB port on the outside...

I have seen cases where a specific AGP video card AND a creative soundblaster PCI card both in the same system would cause it to hang...

Basically you never know exactly what it is, you want to unplug everything, reset the CMOS (very important! ALWAYS reset the CMOS on a new machine, or the chances of it working are very very low), and shuffle things around.

 

[Anarchist420]

Nope it still doesn't work. It's unusual that the green light on the mb is on, and all the fans spin up and the audio card lights up, but no display, at all. I would expect at least garbled screen or an error message if the motherboard was defective. One thing to note is that the keyboard doesn't light up and the laser under the mouse isn't on. I even tried my monitor with another PC and it works perfectly.

Could the motherboard have somehow died when I installed the new CPU? it seems unlikely, but that's the only thing I can think would be dead. It was an M4N72-E and it worked perfectly for the past 8 months right up until I installed the new CPU and the new HDD.

Another question so I don't have to open another thread: Do any non-Asus motherboards have the insulated (padded and fingerless) I/O shield? Was wondering in case I have to buy a new motherboard.

 

[Anarchist420]

I ordered another motherboard, but what does the motherboard's green light indicate? It stays on and doesn't blink. Since it stays on does that mean the motherboard can't be dead?

Also, for a Phenom II X2, does it matter which 2 slots the 2 memory sticks are in? Do they have to be in the same color slot?

 

[Anarchist420]

Also, how long are you supposed to keep the CMOS battery before putting it back in? Is one minute enough, or should I wait more like 5?

 

[taltamir]

1. did you plug in the speaker to the case speaker?
2. what kind of beeps does the speaker make when you turn it on?

 

[Anarchist420]

Okay I'll try that.

 

[Anarchist420]

it works, i had the same problem you did--a RAM slot one.

 

[Anarchist420]

Thanks

 

[taltamir]

congrats. Glad it was solved.