Pentium 4 1,5 Ghz on ASUS P4T-F won't start!

[gertvangaever]

Hello,

I have here a socket 423 1,5 Ghz pentium 4. First I put it on an ASUS P4T. Suddenly the motherboard gave up, it seems.
The PC really didn't do anything anymore (no beeps, no fans, nothing)
After some time I received a new motherboard, an ASUS P4T-F.
Of course I thought the pc would word again!
It didn't!
These are the thing the pc does:
- sysfan & prcessor cooler work
- hard disks spin
- the light on the motherbord lights
- speaker does nothing

That's all, no image on the screen!
I also tried other VGA cards, also a PCI card
What could this be? I would think it isn't the motherboard, as it's brandnew and it does SOME things...

Maybe the processor? Could it be that there's not enough cooling paste? If it's broke, I would think the PC doesn't do ANYTHING anymore! (and surely not let the harddisk spin)

The memory? This seems to be the most logical explanation, but I want to be sure! I don't have any othe RDRAM memory to try it!
It's been packed in plastic the whole time, so??

Any idea, someone?
Only serious answers please!!

Tnx
Gert

 

[Clevor]

I've got the same problem with a P4T-E, it boots up with a 1.6a Northwood but there is no display on the screen. The same case, power supply, hard drive and peripherals all work with other motherboards. It won't shut off when I press the power button for a couple of seconds so I have to disconnect the power to shut it off.

Did you do any vid pin trick on the CPU? I did but I'm pretty sure I put the wire in the right holes. I don't know if it's my CPU since I don't have another one to check.

I tried known working RDRAM to no avail. All I can do is RMA the board.

 

[lil al]

try resetting the cmos,or taking the battery out for a coupla minutes then reinst~~~ing it.if it boots,go into cmos and set it up.

 

[Drsignguy]

With The P4T-E You have to have duel memory, and the C-RIMMS in place to make sure the continuity is correct. If you dont have the this in the correct spots, or the exact ram, ie, samsung, etc....it will NOT boot up. That seems like the most logical thing I can think of. If you have the the exact Ram and its in place, then check on your processor on another board to see if it works...I could be wrong but I think its your Ram. Thease types of boards are very finicky. Trust me, I have one! But to let you know, when it is setup right, It ROCKS!
My Rigs AnAndTechFaq

 

[Clevor]

Well I got a reply from Asus, and from what a local computer shop here in Japan did with an A7V133, I am getting very unhappy with first run boards from Asus not being compatible with later CPUs.

Asus told me that with the P4T-E and my Northwood, to set the thing manually to 100 FSB, then when it boots, update to the latest BIOS they supplied.

On the A7V133, rumors are it is not compatible with XPs. Well I have a Rev. 1.05 board which is supposed to be, and yet I had the exact same problem with an XP. No display on the screen on boot. The local computer shop stuck in a Thunderbird, which allowed them to boot up, then flashed to the 1.008 BIOS from the 1.004 that was in there. Actually the board is still not running right with an XP and it's back at the shop.

Well, guess I'll give it a try. I got one of the early P4T-Es with ICS-13 chips , so I sure hope it ain't dead (I tried clearing the CMOS by sorting the points on the board, but it didn't work).

 

[AndyHui]

Clevor, the situation for the P4T-E is explained in the latest FAQ.

 

[gertvangaever]

The processor is an original socket 423 1,5 Ghz Pentium 4 (no Northwood of course)

BTW the motherboard is ASUS P4T-F, Nót P4T-E

 

[Clevor]

Hey Andy, thanks for the info. It's the first time I used the Anandtech FAQs; I didn't know about them. It's nice to know my ICS-13 board isn't dead. It's a used board I bought back in Jan., so that explains the situation. I know they test used boards to at least boot here in Japan so I couldn't figure out what's wrong.

 

[AndyHui]

Clevor: onegai.... do check out the FAQs...there's lots in there that you will find useful, ii desuka? Arigatou gozaimasu.

gertvangaever: I know your board is the P4T-F. I suggest you try out the solution outlined in the P4T-E FAQ, as it is possible that the BIOS on your motherboard does not support the stepping that your 1.5GHz processor is.

Also, make sure that you have your RDRAM inserted in the correct RIMMs as described in the manual, along with the CRIMMs in empty slots. Usually however, silence (no beeps) on power up and no display indicates a processor problem on ASUS motherboards.

If you have a problem with RAM, the motherboard will emit 3 beeps.

 

[Clevor]

UPDATE: It works!!!!

I set my PT4-E board to jumper mode and 100 FSB and I got it to boot the second try. Scary though as it wouldn't boot the first time. I then updated the BIOS to 1.005 (man, it still had the 1.003 in there).

Three hours later, I'm at 140 FSB, RDRAM at 4X133=536, but not sure of stability in 3D. So got the 1.6a at 2.24 now, and I'm pretty happy since I am running 2 sticks 256-MB Samsung, not the 128-MB sticks. I'm shooting for 2.4 gig at 4x but I think I have to drop down to two 128-MB sticks.

I tried 150 FSB but all I got was a beeep, pause, beeeep, pause. At 144 and RDRAM at 4x I posted but had all kinds of memory problems booting into Win98SE. At RDRAM set to 3x I got farther but still no go (I couldn't repair the registry). At 140/4X I could repair the registry and boot into Win98SE, but in VGA mode of course. I had the forethought to make a DriveImage copy of my baseline install, so tonight after I reinstall all my drivers I'll be sure to make an image of that, than check for stability in 3D.

For sure I can do 133 FSB with RDRAM at PC1066, since I was able to complete 3DMark2001 no problem, and with my PNY Ti 4600 pegged at 320/740 to boot.

I really like this P4T-E board. I must have rebooted 30 times last night during testing and it never protested. I have a digital temp probe on my 1.6a Northwood and it is running cool: 33 C idle and up to 40.1 stress, with a Nidec (Japanese version of a Sunflower). It was pretty chilly last night, though. I may not even need the Alpha 8042 I picked up until summer. But I got three 120-mm Sankyo Denki case fans in my 10-bay server case.

I did the vid pin trick (dropped a horseshoe shaped copper wire in the pin holes) and it worked like a charm. I am seeing 1.68-1.70 VCORE in the BIOS. And it takes but a minute to set the jumpers using the chart from the P4T manual.

So in one night I went from what I thought was a dead board to knocking on the door at 140 FSB, 512 MB ram at PC1066! If I bought a 1.8a I would be at 2.4 now at just 133 FSB, but I'd prefer to hit that with a better FSB.