A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » General Hardware & Peripherals » Homebuilt PC's
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

PSU problems with motherboard



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 19th 04, 03:38 AM
BillyR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default PSU problems with motherboard

I built a system a couple of months ago with an MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R
motherboard and an Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU.

The system would turn on, but it would never boot up at all. The Neo2's
four diagnostic LED lights all hung on solid red, indicating that the
processor was damaged. However, the processor (a P4 2.8GHz CPU) was not
damaged. I eventually went to CompUSA and bought one of their store-brand
300W PSUs, installed it in place of the Antec PSU, and sure enough the
system then booted up and worked like a charm. (I didn't have many
components installed anyway, so a 300W PSU was sufficient anyway.)

I presumed the Antec's PSU power cable was bad, and got a refund on the
unit. (I had purchased by mail order from a retailer in another part of the
country.)

Since then, I hadn't had any problems with the system. Except that on three
or four occasions, when I turned on the PC, it would power on but not boot
up. I simply turned it off and back on again, and the next time it booted
up properly. I wasn't too worried about this since I intended to eventually
upgrade the PSU.

Then, last Wednesday, I attempted to install SP2 for Windows XP. (WinXP is
the only OS installed on the system). The installation of SP2 seemed
successful, except that when I rebooted, WinXP stayed stuck on the bootup
screen with the Windows logo and black background. Only one block of the
progress bar would appear at the bottom, and it would stay stuck on that one
block without any sign of activity. Doing a hard shutdown and booting back
up again got the same result. So I let Windows stay on that screen
overnight, thinking maybe it needed a long time to boot up the first time
after installing SP2. The next morning, it was still stuck on that same
screen with only one block of the progress bar, so I did another hard
shutdown.

I had a .GHO file of WinXP on a storage partition, and I decided it was
time to restore the ghost image of XP (pre-SP2 install attempt). However,
when I booted into the Ghost 2003 diskette, it would always get stuck while
loading the GUI, just as WinXP always got stuck while loading. I shut down
the PC and started it back up again and retried loading Ghost a few times,
but it kept freezing while loading the GUI.

Even though WinXP and Ghost always froze while loading, I could boot into
the Neo2's BIOS and never have any problems with it. All the BIOS's setting
(including the power levels) were normal.

Then it got to the point that holding down the PC's power button would not
force a hard shutdown, so I had to remove the power cord from the back of
the PC to do this. And as soon as I plugged the power cord back in, the PC
started up on its own automatically without me hitting the button. I
unplugged everything from the system a let it set and "cool down" overnight,
but when I plugged in the power cord the next morning, the exact same thing
happened again.

Since the generic 300W PSU was apparently not working properly, I went back
to CompUSA today and bought another Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU, since I needed
a new PSU and this was the one that I had wanted in the first place.
However, after I installed the Antec PSU and powered on the system, the
exact same thing happened that had happened with the other one befo the
PC would power on, but the system never booted up at all. Just like before,
the Neo2's four diagnostic LED lights all hung on solid red. I did a Google
search but found no issues with the the Antec TrueBlue and the MSI 865PE
Neo2. (And keep in mind that the other Antec TrueBlue was bought in another
part of the country, so it's doubtful that the two would be from a same "bad
batch".)

I found that if I reconnected the generic CompUSA-brand 300W PSU back to the
motherboard, it would boot up, but the OS would still always get stuck.
Then I set the Antec PSU's switch from 115 to 230, connected it to the Neo2,
turned it on ... and everything was dead. When that happened, I unplugged
the Antec immediately. I don't think I had it powered on at 230 for more
than five seconds, but now when I try to power on the Neo2, even with
the generic CompUSA PSU reconnected back to it, it stays dead. So I guess I
fried it. (I thought the 115/230 selector was for the input power only and
wouldn't have any affect on the PSU's output to the mobo.)

So why will my Neo2 mobo not boot up with a PSU as reputable as the Antec
TrueBlue 480W? (I've verified that my Antec PSU works fine on other
systems.) Can a bad power supply (the generic 300w PSU) cause an OS to
freeze up during boot, but cause no other apparent problems? Is there a
certain amount of time I can wait to see if the motherboard will boot up
again? Or is it fried for sure?

I've been having all kinds of crazy stuff going on since the start, and this
experience has been hellish to say the least. I'm just trying to get a
handle on what's going on. TIA


  #2  
Old September 19th 04, 04:11 AM
David Maynard
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

BillyR wrote:

I built a system a couple of months ago with an MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R
motherboard and an Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU.

The system would turn on, but it would never boot up at all. The Neo2's
four diagnostic LED lights all hung on solid red, indicating that the
processor was damaged. However, the processor (a P4 2.8GHz CPU) was not
damaged. I eventually went to CompUSA and bought one of their store-brand
300W PSUs, installed it in place of the Antec PSU, and sure enough the
system then booted up and worked like a charm. (I didn't have many
components installed anyway, so a 300W PSU was sufficient anyway.)

I presumed the Antec's PSU power cable was bad, and got a refund on the
unit. (I had purchased by mail order from a retailer in another part of the
country.)

Since then, I hadn't had any problems with the system. Except that on three
or four occasions, when I turned on the PC, it would power on but not boot
up. I simply turned it off and back on again, and the next time it booted
up properly. I wasn't too worried about this since I intended to eventually
upgrade the PSU.

Then, last Wednesday, I attempted to install SP2 for Windows XP. (WinXP is
the only OS installed on the system). The installation of SP2 seemed
successful, except that when I rebooted, WinXP stayed stuck on the bootup
screen with the Windows logo and black background. Only one block of the
progress bar would appear at the bottom, and it would stay stuck on that one
block without any sign of activity. Doing a hard shutdown and booting back
up again got the same result. So I let Windows stay on that screen
overnight, thinking maybe it needed a long time to boot up the first time
after installing SP2. The next morning, it was still stuck on that same
screen with only one block of the progress bar, so I did another hard
shutdown.

I had a .GHO file of WinXP on a storage partition, and I decided it was
time to restore the ghost image of XP (pre-SP2 install attempt). However,
when I booted into the Ghost 2003 diskette, it would always get stuck while
loading the GUI, just as WinXP always got stuck while loading. I shut down
the PC and started it back up again and retried loading Ghost a few times,
but it kept freezing while loading the GUI.

Even though WinXP and Ghost always froze while loading, I could boot into
the Neo2's BIOS and never have any problems with it. All the BIOS's setting
(including the power levels) were normal.

Then it got to the point that holding down the PC's power button would not
force a hard shutdown, so I had to remove the power cord from the back of
the PC to do this. And as soon as I plugged the power cord back in, the PC
started up on its own automatically without me hitting the button. I
unplugged everything from the system a let it set and "cool down" overnight,
but when I plugged in the power cord the next morning, the exact same thing
happened again.

Since the generic 300W PSU was apparently not working properly, I went back
to CompUSA today and bought another Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU, since I needed
a new PSU and this was the one that I had wanted in the first place.
However, after I installed the Antec PSU and powered on the system, the
exact same thing happened that had happened with the other one befo the
PC would power on, but the system never booted up at all. Just like before,
the Neo2's four diagnostic LED lights all hung on solid red. I did a Google
search but found no issues with the the Antec TrueBlue and the MSI 865PE
Neo2. (And keep in mind that the other Antec TrueBlue was bought in another
part of the country, so it's doubtful that the two would be from a same "bad
batch".)

I found that if I reconnected the generic CompUSA-brand 300W PSU back to the
motherboard, it would boot up, but the OS would still always get stuck.
Then I set the Antec PSU's switch from 115 to 230, connected it to the Neo2,
turned it on ... and everything was dead. When that happened, I unplugged
the Antec immediately. I don't think I had it powered on at 230 for more
than five seconds, but now when I try to power on the Neo2, even with
the generic CompUSA PSU reconnected back to it, it stays dead. So I guess I
fried it. (I thought the 115/230 selector was for the input power only and
wouldn't have any affect on the PSU's output to the mobo.)

So why will my Neo2 mobo not boot up with a PSU as reputable as the Antec
TrueBlue 480W? (I've verified that my Antec PSU works fine on other
systems.) Can a bad power supply (the generic 300w PSU) cause an OS to
freeze up during boot, but cause no other apparent problems? Is there a
certain amount of time I can wait to see if the motherboard will boot up
again? Or is it fried for sure?

I've been having all kinds of crazy stuff going on since the start, and this
experience has been hellish to say the least. I'm just trying to get a
handle on what's going on. TIA



Seems you had multiple issues and that complicates things as one might
affect/cause another.

I don't know why your board has problems with the Antec PSU but, since it
does, it makes one wonder what else the board has problems with.

As for the 115/230 switch, yes, it's for the 'input' but if the 'input' is
wrong it's rather problematic what the output will be. Who knows what
voltages were produced.

The windows hang was probably a simpler problem. Windows XP SP2 is known to
hang on boot with some systems running C stepping P4 Prescotts (and Celeron
D) when the BIOS doesn't have the proper microcode update and I'd suspect
that was your problem.

MS has released a patch for that, here...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en


  #3  
Old September 19th 04, 04:16 AM
Blinky the Shark
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

BillyR wrote:

snip

Intermittents are tough to diagnose, but I notice two things about the
antics (no Antec pun intended) you describe in detail: the motherboard
has remained a constant and it's had problems (if different) with both
the Antec and the Brand-X power supply. Do you think there's an
implication, there...?

--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263

Go Blue
  #4  
Old September 19th 04, 07:27 AM
Inglo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 9/18/2004 7:38 PM BillyR brightened our day with:

I built a system a couple of months ago with an MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R
motherboard and an Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU.


How well is everything grounded, is there a possibility something is
shorting the motherboard somewhere inside the case?
When this kind of stuff happens take everything, I mean everything that
unscrews easily (don't take the PSU apart), apart and check that there's
nothing connected wrong.

8 months of weird strange glitchy problems with an MSI board and an
Antec PSU, when I got a new case 4 months ago I discovered a leftover
(from an older motherboard) metal stand-off between the mobo and the old
case. Since its been in the new case with no extraneous crap, zero
problems.

--
Lo, brethren, within the doom 3/base folder there is but one folder structure.
That is the way it has always been, is now and ever shall be.

Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
www.inglostadt.com
  #5  
Old September 19th 04, 02:58 PM
Mike
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On the same line of thinking of a ground issue. Take the Mainboard out
of the case and run it on a bench. In some case rather than an extra
stand-off, one might not be center right and causing a problem. As
far as the board, I have the same board (no Prescott) and an Antec
Trus Control 550. Works like a charm. If you can get in to the BOIS,
try increasing the RAM voltage to 2.7 volts. Some have had issues
booting at the default voltage.

Inglo wrote:
On 9/18/2004 7:38 PM BillyR brightened our day with:

I built a system a couple of months ago with an MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R
motherboard and an Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU.


How well is everything grounded, is there a possibility something is
shorting the motherboard somewhere inside the case?
When this kind of stuff happens take everything, I mean everything that
unscrews easily (don't take the PSU apart), apart and check that there's
nothing connected wrong.

8 months of weird strange glitchy problems with an MSI board and an
Antec PSU, when I got a new case 4 months ago I discovered a leftover
(from an older motherboard) metal stand-off between the mobo and the old
case. Since its been in the new case with no extraneous crap, zero
problems.

  #6  
Old September 19th 04, 04:16 PM
Buffalo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"BillyR"
[snip]
Then I set the Antec PSU's switch from 115 to 230, connected it to

the Neo2,
turned it on ... and everything was dead. When that happened, I

unplugged
the Antec immediately. I don't think I had it powered on at 230 for

more
than five seconds, but now when I try to power on the Neo2, even

with
the generic CompUSA PSU reconnected back to it, it stays dead. So I

guess I
fried it. (I thought the 115/230 selector was for the input power

only and
wouldn't have any affect on the PSU's output to the mobo.)

[snip]

I really don't think you fried it by switching it to 230v.
Reason being that the output voltages should be about 1/2 of what they
would be at 115v, I believe.
Now if your power at the wall was 230v and you had the PSU switch at
115v, then I believe you would have fried it instantly.
Make sure , as others suggested. that your wall outlet is properly
grounded and that your power cord to your PC is not damaged and that
is its carrying a good ground.
Taking the MB out of the case to see if it is being grounded by a
screw or other item is also a good idea.
Buffalo


  #7  
Old September 20th 04, 12:40 AM
David Maynard
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Buffalo wrote:

"BillyR"
[snip]

Then I set the Antec PSU's switch from 115 to 230, connected it to


the Neo2,

turned it on ... and everything was dead. When that happened, I


unplugged

the Antec immediately. I don't think I had it powered on at 230 for


more

than five seconds, but now when I try to power on the Neo2, even


with

the generic CompUSA PSU reconnected back to it, it stays dead. So I


guess I

fried it. (I thought the 115/230 selector was for the input power


only and

wouldn't have any affect on the PSU's output to the mobo.)


[snip]

I really don't think you fried it by switching it to 230v.
Reason being that the output voltages should be about 1/2 of what they
would be at 115v, I believe.


Switching power supplies don't work like that. With an improper input, what
happens to the internal circuitry as it tries to do the 'right thing' with
the 'wrong stuff' is indeterminate, except that it certainly won't be
anything so simple as '1/2'.

Now if your power at the wall was 230v and you had the PSU switch at
115v, then I believe you would have fried it instantly.
Make sure , as others suggested. that your wall outlet is properly
grounded and that your power cord to your PC is not damaged and that
is its carrying a good ground.
Taking the MB out of the case to see if it is being grounded by a
screw or other item is also a good idea.
Buffalo



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Athlon XP Mobile Question - What motherboard? Post Replies Here Please Overclocking AMD Processors 9 August 16th 04 12:33 AM
Chip fan doesn't run on Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 motherboard Luke General 13 February 8th 04 01:12 AM
MSI K7 motherboard problems Peter Werner General 1 January 22nd 04 03:42 PM
AOPEN AX4BS-V MOTHERBOARD - won't boot - won't POST - help please!! lucy Homebuilt PC's 3 November 29th 03 06:21 AM
Major Computer Problems Toronto Garage Door Company General 20 November 13th 03 10:41 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:47 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.