New system power-up problem!

Hi everyone
A mate's son has just built his first PC and it's a pretty potent box -
trouble is, it won't boot up so he's asked me to have a look at it!
I've got a feeling it's a dodgy mobo but I could be wrong, just wondering
if you could give another possibility that it could be!

Basically, it's an Athlon 2600 (I think) in an Asus A7N8X deluxe mobo, 1
gig ram and a Radeon 9700...

Right, when I powered it up, everything sprang into life for 2-3 secs
(nothing on the monitor though - plus no beeps or anything) then just died
and switched itself off.
The same thing happens every time - though once it did stay powered up
somehow but there was nothing on the monitor - just a blank black screen!

Anyone got experience with this board - it's been 2-3 yrs since I last
built my PC and I'm a tad green with the latest mobo technology.

Any suggestions would be very welcome

TIA

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 04:12:09 -0600, PhilM
wrote:

Hi everyone
A mate's son has just built his first PC and it's a pretty potent box -
trouble is, it won't boot up so he's asked me to have a look at it!
I've got a feeling it's a dodgy mobo but I could be wrong, just wondering
if you could give another possibility that it could be!

Basically, it's an Athlon 2600 (I think) in an Asus A7N8X deluxe mobo, 1
gig ram and a Radeon 9700...

Right, when I powered it up, everything sprang into life for 2-3 secs
(nothing on the monitor though - plus no beeps or anything) then just died
and switched itself off.
The same thing happens every time - though once it did stay powered up
somehow but there was nothing on the monitor - just a blank black screen!

Anyone got experience with this board - it's been 2-3 yrs since I last
built my PC and I'm a tad green with the latest mobo technology.

Any suggestions would be very welcome

TIA

That combo would require a fairly beefy power supply, it will draw
most power from 3V & 5V rails. Is it using a good name-brand with at
least 200W combined 3V + 5V rating?

Did it work previously, and if so, what's changed since then?
Putting in a different video card and underclocking it (clear CMOS or
jumper for FSB rate reduction to 100 or 133MHz) temporarily might
reduce power consumption enough to see if it'll POST/run.

Asus boards often have so many options that they're more difficult for
less-experienced users to set up, you might go though the manual and
verify all settings are correct.



Dave

PhilM wrote:

Hi everyone
A mate's son has just built his first PC and it's a pretty potent box -
trouble is, it won't boot up so he's asked me to have a look at it!
I've got a feeling it's a dodgy mobo but I could be wrong, just wondering
if you could give another possibility that it could be!

Basically, it's an Athlon 2600 (I think) in an Asus A7N8X deluxe mobo, 1
gig ram and a Radeon 9700...

Right, when I powered it up, everything sprang into life for 2-3 secs
(nothing on the monitor though - plus no beeps or anything) then just died
and switched itself off.
The same thing happens every time - though once it did stay powered up
somehow but there was nothing on the monitor - just a blank black screen!

Anyone got experience with this board - it's been 2-3 yrs since I last
built my PC and I'm a tad green with the latest mobo technology.

Any suggestions would be very welcome

TIA

As Kony suggested, it might well be an inadequate power supply. If you
were to remove ALL accessories such as hard drives, floppy drives,
CDROMs, and any plug in cards except a video card, it might have enough
wattage to determine if your MB etc. are good. If you received error
messages on the monitor, it would tell you that your RAM, MB, and
processor were probably good. Results like this would almost certainly
tell you a better PS was in order.
Finally, make SURE your processor fan is wired and working. Many MBs
require a sense lead for the fan or they will shut the PS down.

Thanks for the quick replies

I thought it might be the PSU but it's a QTEC 450W Dual Fan
In any case I removed the DVD + CDRW plus put a normal 32mb AGP card in but
still got the same result - it powers up for 2-3 secs then switches off ...

Which goes to my next point ---- are there any thermal protections that
operate on this board (or newer boards of today) that prevent boot up...
Maybe the CPU hasn't been fitted properly and it's detecting the heat
rising too quickly ..... just a thought, or have you never heard of this
feature!!

Short of that, maybe it IS a faulty board ....?

TIA

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 07:06:21 -0600, PhilM
wrote:

Thanks for the quick replies

I thought it might be the PSU but it's a QTEC 450W Dual Fan

Not worth it's labeled capacity, maybe close to 300W but I've seen
better 300W. I would unplug it from AC for a few minutes and open it,
inspect it internally. Some power supplies are so horribly made that
they actually have load resistors cemented to an output capacitor...
could fail in relatively short period of time even if it was an
otherwise decent power supply.

In any case I removed the DVD + CDRW plus put a normal 32mb AGP card in but
still got the same result - it powers up for 2-3 secs then switches off ...

Could be a short, of the motherboard as Trent suggested, or anthing
else. Check all cabling, loose components, and if all else fails,
remove the motherboard to confirm that there aren't any standoffs
behind the board where they shouldn't be... you might be able to check
the front of the motherboard, noting hole count and location, then
take off the right-side case cover and see where the motherboard
standoffs are... the most common incorrect standoff placement is on
the left side, about 2/3 of the way down... that is where most mATX
boards have a mounting hole but many full-sized ATX do not.


Which goes to my next point ---- are there any thermal protections that
operate on this board (or newer boards of today) that prevent boot up...
Maybe the CPU hasn't been fitted properly and it's detecting the heat
rising too quickly ..... just a thought, or have you never heard of this
feature!!

There is a thermal protection for the CPU. Examine the CPU heatsink
carefully, and if you have any doubts then remove it, put on a fresh
coat of thermal compound and reinstall. If the heatsink is mounted
properly it's impossible for the CPU to overheat in 3 seconds, even
with a very small heatsink and the fan not working it'd take much
longer than that.

If the motherboard "needs" a CPU fan with RPM signal output, you might
need to change a BIOS setting. Often if this is needed, there will be
a warning on the POST screen, and an option to disable the feature in
the BIOS.



Short of that, maybe it IS a faulty board ....?

TIA

Could be, but the odds are in favor it being somthing else since it
did "try" to turn on but then shut off the power.


Dave

Hey - thanks for help and suggestions - they're very much appreciated!

I've just been speaking to the lad who put it together and we've decided it
looks as though he might not have put the CPU/HSF in properly .... I've got
work commitments for the next few days so he's goint to start from scratch
.....
If you're interested I'll post the findings when everythings sorted.

Trent© wrote:
On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 07:06:21 -0600, PhilM
wrote:

Maybe the CPU hasn't been fitted properly and it's detecting the heat
rising too quickly ..... just a thought, or have you never heard of
this feature!!

No. lol

My Soltek nForce2 board will turn itself off if the CPU diode temp goes
above 85°C. *If* that feature is activated in the BIOS and it is by default.
--
~misfit~

PhilM wrote:
Hey - thanks for help and suggestions - they're very much appreciated!

I've just been speaking to the lad who put it together and we've
decided it looks as though he might not have put the CPU/HSF in
properly .... I've got work commitments for the next few days so he's
goint to start from scratch ....
If you're interested I'll post the findings when everythings sorted.

Please do, under the same thread if possible.

Thanks,
--
~misfit~

Trent© wrote:
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 13:10:32 +1300, "~misfit~"
wrote:

Trent© wrote:
On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 07:06:21 -0600, PhilM
wrote:

Maybe the CPU hasn't been fitted properly and it's detecting the
heat rising too quickly ..... just a thought, or have you never
heard of this feature!!

No. lol

My Soltek nForce2 board will turn itself off if the CPU diode temp
goes above 85°C. *If* that feature is activated in the BIOS and it
is by default.

I was responding specifically to his question...which started out...

Maybe the CPU hasn't been fitted properly...

I've never seen an over-heating problem if the CPU itself is not
seated properly.

Ok, I decided to take the less literal route and assume he meant the CPU
HSF. It's pretty damn hard to fit a CPU itself incorrectly and close the
lever. It's called reading between the lines.
--
~misfit~

ANother thing you might want to check is the capacitors on the board. I had
a sys I built with an Asus board that had a very similar problem. One of
the capacitor leads was broken going to the board. I had to get a new one.
Just a thought.