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#1
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What can I do about my dead mobo?
I have an ASUS A7A 133 mobo; ALiMaGiK 1 chipset. This is in a generic
case with an Althon 1500 and a Maxtor 80G HD. It's broke. (1) When I switch the computer on the green and red front panel lights flash once but nothing happens. (2) Prior to this the machine would sometimes spontaneously reboot itself (over about once per day over several previous months). This last fault (1) developed after I removed the HD over Christmas (while I was away) because I was worried about it getting stolen during a Christmas burglary. I don't think the fault manifested itself immediately as the machine started to boot but I didn't see what happened when it died as I went to watch TV and found it dead when I got back. Perhaps the fault was caused by the machine being switched off for a week while I was away? [I normally leave my machines on 24h per day] I have another, better, machine as well. Same case but it has an A7N266-VM mobo, an Althon 2000 and a bigger HD. I've tried switching PSUs and HDs but the fault is still there. Should I also try switching memory modules? If, after switching CPUs, should I assume a mobo failure if the machine continues to do nothing? Is there anything I can do to boot my hard disk? (The one from the broken machine) It has WinXP pro installed on it. There's a lot of work on it I don't want to loose. Can I boot this HD with a new mobo (ideally better than the A7A) or even with a new or S/H A7A mobo? Is there anything I can try to do to fix the A7A - if it is the culprit (such as changing mobo capacitors)? I've had lots of ASUS mobos and this is the first one that has given me a problem. Is it worth switching the case as well (in case the fault lies with the front panel switch)? |
#2
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"Zenobia" wrote in message ... I have an ASUS A7A 133 mobo; ALiMaGiK 1 chipset. This is in a generic case with an Althon 1500 and a Maxtor 80G HD. It's broke. (1) When I switch the computer on the green and red front panel lights flash once but nothing happens. (2) Prior to this the machine would sometimes spontaneously reboot itself (over about once per day over several previous months). snip first off, I'd try resetting the bios... there is usually a jumper next to it that will enable you to return the machine to it's original factory defaults. If, after substituting parts, you determine the the motherboard is bad, you can always slave the harddrive into another machine and retrieve your data... assuming your drive is NTFS, you can read it from any win2k or XP machine |
#3
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You can reseat all of you cards and check for a loose cable. Also try
reseating your ram. And processor. It sounds like you had a heat problem. I had a sililar problem and it was a dead processor. I would think that before a MB. "Zenobia" wrote in message ... I have an ASUS A7A 133 mobo; ALiMaGiK 1 chipset. This is in a generic case with an Althon 1500 and a Maxtor 80G HD. It's broke. (1) When I switch the computer on the green and red front panel lights flash once but nothing happens. (2) Prior to this the machine would sometimes spontaneously reboot itself (over about once per day over several previous months). This last fault (1) developed after I removed the HD over Christmas (while I was away) because I was worried about it getting stolen during a Christmas burglary. I don't think the fault manifested itself immediately as the machine started to boot but I didn't see what happened when it died as I went to watch TV and found it dead when I got back. Perhaps the fault was caused by the machine being switched off for a week while I was away? [I normally leave my machines on 24h per day] I have another, better, machine as well. Same case but it has an A7N266-VM mobo, an Althon 2000 and a bigger HD. I've tried switching PSUs and HDs but the fault is still there. Should I also try switching memory modules? If, after switching CPUs, should I assume a mobo failure if the machine continues to do nothing? Is there anything I can do to boot my hard disk? (The one from the broken machine) It has WinXP pro installed on it. There's a lot of work on it I don't want to loose. Can I boot this HD with a new mobo (ideally better than the A7A) or even with a new or S/H A7A mobo? Is there anything I can try to do to fix the A7A - if it is the culprit (such as changing mobo capacitors)? I've had lots of ASUS mobos and this is the first one that has given me a problem. Is it worth switching the case as well (in case the fault lies with the front panel switch)? |
#4
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Symptom #1 sounds exactly like the "power good" signal (feature of the
motherboard) is signaling the power circuitry to shut down; i.e, power not good. I've seen that on an ATX mobo that I picked up from a salvage shop. Symptom #2 could be a failing hard drive. Being shut down for any length of time should not affect it. Actually there is an ongoing debate over whether or not one should shut the drive down every day or leave it running. I leave my computers on 24X7. Rough handling or bumping the drive against the case while removing it could damage a platter by momentarily crashing a head; however, modern drives are not as susceptible to head crashes as in the old days. They are sample-tested to pretty high levels of G- shock forces. If the case were to be bumped around while the machine is powered up it will increase the probability of failure a lot. Last month I had to remove a 40GB Maxtor (not my boot drive, only data). I ran the Maxtor HD test (on the floppy that came with the HD) that Maxtor requires prior to your returning a hard drive under warranty. It failed the tests. Had that been my boot drive, it would no doubt have intermittently failed and rebooted. If you can put the Maxtor 80 Gig drive in a working computer as a slave, try the Maxtor floppy test. If it fails, you can get an RMA for warranty repair or replacement. Look on the Maxtor site. As best I can recall, their warranty status is based on information on the label, including the model information, date of manufacture and serial number. By the way, my 40GB Maxtor is apparently (so their site says) under warranty until 2005. About failing to complete booting: In December I did a cleaning job on my primary PC, including removal of the heat sink and fan on the Athlon 1600. My case manufacturer had all of the fans blowing in, with only some slots on the outer perimeter of the case top for exhaust. The insides looked like a vacuum cleaner bag had been dumped in there. I know that those Athlon CPUs have a reputation for fragility, but I was very careful. Apparently, not careful enough, and the computer would not boot. I bought a retail 2400XP from NewEgg. That heatsink/fan assembly comes with 6 snaps instead of the usual 2. It took me 45 minutes to get the assembly on, application of much pressure, and I was afraid that I had cracked the new CPU. But, no problem. And I've corrected the flow of my fans and have put foam filters on the intakes. One more thing - since my Maxtor was failing only about once or twice a day, I was able to copy my files over to a Maxtor 80GB slave. I have since replaced the old boot drive, which was 9GB or so, with a Western Digital 120GB, 8MB buffer that has a 3 year warranty. Got it for $79 after rebates from Circuit City. Hope this helps. On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 13:54:36 +0000, Zenobia wrote: I have an ASUS A7A 133 mobo; ALiMaGiK 1 chipset. This is in a generic case with an Althon 1500 and a Maxtor 80G HD. It's broke. (1) When I switch the computer on the green and red front panel lights flash once but nothing happens. (2) Prior to this the machine would sometimes spontaneously reboot itself (over about once per day over several previous months). This last fault (1) developed after I removed the HD over Christmas (while I was away) because I was worried about it getting stolen during a Christmas burglary. I don't think the fault manifested itself immediately as the machine started to boot but I didn't see what happened when it died as I went to watch TV and found it dead when I got back. Perhaps the fault was caused by the machine being switched off for a week while I was away? [I normally leave my machines on 24h per day] --snip-- e-mail modified, take the ** out to reply! Regards, TW |
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