please help me... board wont stay on

[naldo]

please help me, im desperate
Well, Finally after saving up my money I Got my new motherboard. Well, it aint working and I need help.

Heres the details:
I install the mobo and everything, triple check all connections, everything seems peachy. I press the power button and it turns on, fans start spinning and I can hear the HDD working, but only for about 2 seconds, then the entire system just cuts off. I start unplugging componenets 1 by 1, trying to see whats wrong. I try running the system outdside of the case, same thing happens, so its not a standoff issue. when only the CPU & vid card are plugged in it stays on (but I get no video, im guessing thats because Im using a PCI video card), when its just CPU and RAM it stays on, but if I try to put in the CPU, the RAM, and the vid card It shuts off. Its not a thermal issue, Im sure of that since the CPU will stay on. I plugged in a speaker and I got no beeps at all regardless of the situation. I tried resetting the CMOS and all that jazz, but it didnt help. I've triple checked all the jumpers ans stuff as well. I know the board is getting power and everything, but I dont know why it just shuts off like that.

What could it possibly be?

 

[naldo]

Oh, almost forgot, heres the specs (the important ones atleast)

motherboard: Biostar M7VIT PRO
CPU: AMD Duron 1200
RAM: 512mb DDR2700 crucial
Video card: ATI Radeon 9000

 

[anglo]

The only time I've had a system shut down shortly after turning on is when I had no CPU fan hooked up. It SOUNDS like a heat issue.

Of course, it could be one of several thihgs, INCLUDING a bad MB.

If you have a different video card try that. Same with known good memory. I notice that your board autosenses the memory type and switches the voltage accordingly.

Is it possible to get into the CMOS and check the settings?

Probably not.

 

[snidy1]

I agree with the heat issue.

 

[mechBgon]

Most likely a backwards heatsink. Look at the bottom of the heatsink... hey, it's got a step cut into it. :Q Look at the CPU socket, hey, it's got a raised solid-plastic end to it. Match those up and see what happens. Good luck naldo and welcome to the Forums!

 

[techietam]

I am prety sure it's an Athlon mobo. Set BUS speed to 100, get it to post
and then set it back to 133. If you have a heatsink with a thermal pad and
it's installed correctly, you might wonna let it run without a video card for
a minute, so that the pad melts properly and then reinstall the video card.
I've ran into this quite a few times.

 

[naldo]

I figured out its a bad board. I knew it definatly could not be a heat issue (im using AS3, and a volcano 11 w/ Tornado fan). Turns out something is wrong with the boards interface with the CPU socket, we tried 4 different CPu's at my friends house and the board did the same thing each time. I think im gonna stick with a abit or a shuttle next time instead of taking the cheap road.

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, and you're putting the heatsink on in the right direction, right? In this photo of the heatsink/fan unit, you can juuuuust see the step cut into the bottom of the heatsink. That end must face the DIMM slots on your motherboard. I also hope you didn't put the thermal probe between the heatsink and the CPU

 

[naldo]

Yeah, im pretty sure the HSF is on right. Its gotta be a power handling issue by the motherboard. Im using the exact same cooling setup as im typing (and its keeping my duron art a nice cool 28C). It cant be a heat issue becasue the if the CPU w/HSF is the only thing plugged in that board, it turns on and stas on, but if I try to plug in the RAM and vid card, it shuts off.

 

[Peter]

Note that the CPU fan must be plugged into the CPU FAN header on the mainboard. Else the mainboard will shut down because of suspected fan failure.

Oh, and your observation of it staying on without the RAM ... that's quite a bit of misinterpretation of what's going on. Main BIOS can't even start without RAM - and thus the software doesn't even get to the point where it'd check for a spinning CPU fan. So in fact, it just gets stuck even earlier.