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What can I do about my dead mobo?



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 3rd 04, 02:54 PM
Zenobia
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Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old January 3rd 04, 04:59 PM
philo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old January 4th 04, 06:01 PM
Tj
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Posts: n/a
Default

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  
Old January 5th 04, 10:30 PM
TW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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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