New system won't start POST...it's DOA?

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New system won't start POST...it's DOA?

2006-05-11 23:18:50

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra: Alright, you're good to go!; +124|7022|Honolulu, HI

First off, I know there are all kinds of tech websites out there where I could have put this up, but the bf2s community seems more helpful than those other sites, so I'm trying my luck here.

This new computer of mine has given me nothing but heartache. Here are the components,

ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Socket 939)
XFX GeForce 7900GT 256MB PCI-e graphics card

DDR RAM, as listed below:
1x Centeon 512MB PC3200 DIMM
1x Centeon 512MB PC2700 DIMM
1x Smart Technologies 256MB PC2100 DIMM

Samsung 300GB SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
hp dvd-635 16x DVD±R/RW (IDE)
Generic 48/24/48 CD-RW (IDE)
Iomega Zip 100 (IDE)
3.5" floppy
Generic 480W power supply

Now I put all this together yesterday, plugged it all in, got ready to turn it on. I hit the power button, the PSU makes a weird sort of exploding noise and the power fails immediately. The smell of burning-something fills the air. I take the PSU back and get it exchanged for a new one, which I plugged in today.

So I expected everything to work fine. Nope. When I hit the power button, all the drives spin, all the fans work, it even sounds like the system is trying to read off the (blank) hard drive. But on the monitor, nothing. My mobo user's guide says to unplug all PCI cards so I did (there was one, a 3-port IEEE 1394 card). Then once I did that, the power button simply stopped working.

Now when I press it, the fans spin and the red (decorative) lights on my case turn on--for less than half a second (literally) before stopping dead. Further pressing of the power button does nothing. If I totally disconnect the unit from power (unplug) and re-plug, the same thing happens--power for less than a second, then nothing at all.

There are really so many things that could have gone wrong with this. I'm afraid that the El Cheapo power supply that blew on me shorted out my motherboard or something. It really fucking sucks to spend a year's savings on a new system only to find you can't even get to the goddamn BIOS, much less BF2.

Any suggestions as to what I should do now are greatly appreciated, guys. I'm pretty noob at this roll-your-own-computer stuff, so don't be afraid of sounding condescending--I just want this problem fixed. Thanks. (If no one here can help me, fuck it--I'm selling these parts on ebay to at least get something back.)

2006-05-11 23:39:50

Bilco: Member; +3|6968|Northamptonshire UK

Sounds like the first PSU has blown the motherboard and / or the rest of the stuff in your new 'PC'.
Although not keen on your RAM setup mixing all those speeds makes it work at the lowest (PC2100).

Might be worth taking out a few things to minimise what you got in the PC, take it to a bare minimum and then test it. Try with 1 stick of memory and loose the Imega Zip until you can get something working.

I got the same MB and Processor as you but with 2 7900GT's in it, with 4GB of RAM, BF2 loads super fast and spawning, i can sometimes steal the other sides plane or chopper before any of them spawn! :-)

Best of luck sounds like you might need it!

Jealousy is the best thing for people to give you -1 karma, thanx for the parentage question who ever it was (yes i do have parents dickweed!)

Last edited by Bilco (2006-05-14 14:13:12)

2006-05-11 23:48:38

oberst_enzian: Member; +234|7037|melb.au

Well dude, I don't know jack about shit, but when I had these exact symptoms...

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:
When I hit the power button, all the drives spin, all the fans work, it even sounds like the system is trying to read off the (blank) hard drive. But on the monitor, nothing. My mobo user's guide says to unplug all PCI cards so I did (there was one, a 3-port IEEE 1394 card). Then once I did that, the power button simply stopped working.

...everything was fixed when i put a new mobo in.

Good Luck!

Last edited by oberst_enzian (2006-05-11 23:48:53)

2006-05-11 23:49:20

JahManRed: wank; +646|6922|IRELAND

Yup i agree with Bilco, sounds like you might have fried your MOBO. Strip it back to 1 stick ram, and the bare bones and if it boots up, work up from there. Sorry dosent sound good tho.

2006-05-11 23:49:58

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra: Alright, you're good to go!; +124|7022|Honolulu, HI

Thanks for the luck, I have been running extremely short of it these past couple days.

I think I will try the minimalist approach tomorrow (at the moment I'm cramming/writing papers for two finals tomorrow morning). Just the motherboard, an old PCI graphics card, and a single stick of PC3200, and see if I POST (the RAM by the way was a working pull from my old computer, i.e. the one I'm typing on right now so it can't be that). Also the 7900GT fan works, if nothing else on it, so over the weekend my friend has offered to let me test it (and the AMD proc) on his PCI-e mobo.

If the video card and CPU in particular work, that's a good sign that I fried the motherboard.

Anyone think the flaky power-on that lasts for under a second is a BIOS problem, bad PSU, or just a sign of a totaled mobo?

Luckily I found this out now and not after newegg's 7 day RMA offer ran out. You know, silver lining of the cloud and all.

2006-05-12 00:04:14

JahManRed: wank; +646|6922|IRELAND

Its combining different speads of RAM. This shouldnt be a problem, but I have found that it is sometimes.

2006-05-12 00:11:54

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra: Alright, you're good to go!; +124|7022|Honolulu, HI

Really? I've been told it just forces the north bridge to transfer at the lowest common denominator (266 MHz in this case); in any case (update!!) here's what I tried once the entire system appeared dead:

*Resetting the CMOS, both by unplugging the unit and by switching the CMOS jumper block. Repeated 3 times. System still failed to power on for longer than half a second.
*I then tried booting with (a) the 3 sticks of RAM I mentioned in the first post; (b) just one stick (the PC3200 one) in slot A1; and (c) no RAM at all and headphones in the sound-out jack, to listen for BIOS beeps. In all 3 cases the result was the same.

But thanks for all the input so far. +1s for anything at all that contributes to this thread!

2006-05-12 00:15:31

slicknic: Member; +145|6920

Rofl... are u people kidding me? ONLY USE ONE TYPE OF RAM!!@#LJK!@#JK!J!LK# thats your problem. i didnt even read ev1 elses post but gd...

just put in 1 stick... and if the mb supports (which it should support most of those) itll work fine..

U CANT MIXMATCH SPEEDS OF RAM

seriously.. it hurts me to hear that lol... that should be your only problem unless it somehow blew somethin else up but in the future dont mix ram speeds

please xfire me if any problems... i dont tknow that i can find this forum again -- slicknic85

Last edited by slicknic (2006-05-12 00:20:09)

2006-05-12 01:05:02

[CANADA]_Zenmaster: Pope Picard II; +473|7039

You can mix and match ram, but all motherboards will clock down to the lowest timings, e.g. your pc2100, so it was not a good idea to gimp your main 512 pc3200 sticks down to pc2100 just for 256mb more ram.

That said, mix and matched ram will sometimes stop you from getting into your respective operating system, but usually the machine will POST or flash some text and reset itself if their is a conflict. If you are getting less then one second, sounds like something is toast or the mobo is hardware resetting itself from bad voltage levels etc.

Not much you can test unless you have another computer to swap components into. I'd suggest trying to get in on one stick of ram for starters, and minimalizing any additional shit. Turn off firewire, usb, gigabit lan, extra hd's, onboard sound etc. in your bios.

Disable everything you can and you can minimize some sources of conflicts. Unplug any PCI devices, sound card etc, ethernet lan.

If you have another power supply in another machine, you could temporarily hook it up to this new machine and swap and see that your new powersupply you just got (2nd one) is ok too or perhaps the mobo is burned out and both supplies are ok.

Really the only way to test devices is to have two computers you can change parts into, otherwise you are just SOL and have to buy the likely broken candidate. You got the second power supply, next you would have to spring for a new motherboard. If you saved for a year though, you should do some research to get the best bang for your buck and also in doing research you can avoid the thousands of compatibility problems that crop up.

Anyways, never buy a cheap powersupply, or a cheap motherboard. Both of those components are vital, and getting a shitty mobo does you no performance favors, nevermind bells and whistles, and a bad powersupply is just bad all around. I've had 3 cheap powersupplies at work go up in smoke (the inductors melted and smoldered) all from generic machines in under a year of life. I've also seen another place I worked had all their hardrives fail within a year of eachother (like 20 desktop drives for the employees) resulting in total data loss. Cheap shit is just that!

2006-05-12 06:43:48

Slayer: ---hates you; +1,137|7050|Hell, p.o box 666

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:
*Resetting the CMOS, both by unplugging the unit and by switching the CMOS jumper block. Repeated 3 times. System still failed to power on for longer than half a second.
*I then tried booting with (a) the 3 sticks of RAM I mentioned in the first post; (b) just one stick (the PC3200 one) in slot A1; and (c) no RAM at all and headphones in the sound-out jack, to listen for BIOS beeps. In all 3 cases the result was the same.

But thanks for all the input so far. +1s for anything at all that contributes to this thread!

Capt_Kefra: your mainboard is screwed. I have had the same issues like you with A8N-SLI. No POST no BIOS beeps and stuff. Get yourself a new board (watch out for those screws, they killed mine) and I guess everything will work fine, as long your first PSU hasnt killed GFX and RAMs.

You can use every speed of RAM on this board (everybody who says not is talking BS), but they will speed down to the slowest of them. 3 sticks arent a good solution, because you´re not able to use dualchannel.

When you get a new board, only install one RAM (and of course the 3200) in DIMM_B1 (the 2nd blue away from CPU) because ASUS BIOS has some issues with diffrent timings on two or three DIMMs.

2006-05-12 07:20:03

AT3am_Murd0ch: Member; +15|6874

fon|sl4y3r wrote:
You can use every speed of RAM on this board (everybody who says not is talking BS), but they will speed down to the slowest of them. 3 sticks arent a good solution, because you´re not able to use dualchannel.

You can use any type of RAM, but Windows doesn't like it. At all. It will most likely cause sporadic crashing - and it means, and as been said before, that you lose the speed of the better ram and the advantages of dual channel memory.

And yeah, its most likely your motherboard is blown - but try booting with just a HDD + mem and see what happens - sometimes a broken CD/DVD drive or other IDE-connected component can prevent booting...

2006-05-12 07:57:27

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|7010

could be ram. a couple of weeks ago my pc wont post as well... went to local pc shop, and they said its the ram, so if u got spare ram around, try to see if thats the problem

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2006-05-12 08:03:11

Agent_Dung_Bomb: Member; +302|7030|Salt Lake City

He's already tried a single stick of the RAM. Because of the pop and burning smell, I'm going to say something blew. Chances are very high the mobo has to the great silicon heaven. Get the board RMA'd and make sure you have the stand-offs for the board in the right place, and no extras...especially if your case uses the brass stand-offs.

2006-05-12 08:05:37

IBKCKNURASS: Corrosion Inhibitor; +172|7031

95 % of the time if u blow the chip u blew the board. If u dont see any scorch marks get a meter and start checking contacts. changed out ur ram one by one. pull unnecessary components(usb headers, addiotinal drive headers, ECT)check ur fan plugs for scorch marks. basically you will be checking contacts for a half hour. Personally i have never had that happen to me but someone i know seems to do it every month. Good luck chief.

may the schwartz be with u.

2006-05-12 21:35:42

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra: Alright, you're good to go!; +124|7022|Honolulu, HI

Thanks, everyone, this has been really helpful. By Monday at the latest my friend will be bringing over a working Socket 939/PCI-e system so I can check the components and make sure they're okay. The RAM hasn't been shot (I put it back in this comp and it's working alright at the moment), so I hope that's a good sign the other peripherals are okay as well.

I think I'll sell something on eBay (a BF2 account with 71,000 points perhaps? ) and spend the $60 or so on a quality, brand-name power supply. Zenmaster (and anyone else who might have mentioned it) was right, you get what you pay for, and there's no sense in using a $20 power supply with a $300 graphics card, $125 worth of RAM, a $150 motherboard and a $140 hard drive. Ehh...you live, you learn, you RMA motherboards. Right?

Thanks again folks.

2006-05-12 21:44:00

TrollmeaT: Aspiring Objectivist; +492|6966|Colorado

https://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/coreimages/clipart/114/1148748.jpg

I hate computer drama, reminds me of work.

Last edited by TrollmeaT (2006-05-12 21:44:23)

2006-05-12 22:06:16

{M5}Sniper3: Typical white person.; +389|7054|San Antonio, Texas

Well, I think you DID fry you motherboard. I hate when it happens, but it does.

Try this to see if it helps... It's not in english, but I don't think the language matters here...

2006-05-13 00:21:35

Slayer: ---hates you; +1,137|7050|Hell, p.o box 666

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:
I think I'll sell something on eBay (a BF2 account with 71,000 points perhaps? ) and spend the $60 or so on a quality, brand-name power supply.

Go for Enermax Liberty EL500W PCI-E. Should be around 100€ (~130US$). I bought this one and it´s awesome.

2006-05-13 06:19:14

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra: Alright, you're good to go!; +124|7022|Honolulu, HI

Just found out I've got another $750 US check in the mail today! Apparently there was a mix-up at my university's Financial Aid Office and they didn't allot me enough aid for the past semester. All those nights of ramen and eraser-less #2 pencils are finally paying off!

On the downside this still means that in the very best scenario (mobo is fried but the other components are OK) I'll be without the new rig for another week as Newegg gives me the RMA number, receives the dead mobo, processes the transaction and sends me a replacement. Money won't speed that process up.

But it does make the downtime a lot more bearable. Gimme my $750 in ones, I'm going to live the next week in a strip joint!

2006-05-13 09:10:04

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,058|7066|PNW

Key phrase in building computers:

"Generic power supply"

Avoid like the plague. I don't care if it's 700W and only $20. Do you seriously want to risk plugging an unknown quantity in the form of a toaster-in-wait into your fancy new parts? I've always said it...if you must skimp, leave the skimping out of your PSU choice. Get a good quality unit and an uninterruptable power supply besides, and your computer will sing sweet nothings into your ears for as long as you keep it.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-05-13 09:12:06)

2006-05-13 17:51:54

.ACB|_Cutthroat1: No place like 127.0.0.1; +76|6990|Gold Coast,QLD,Australia

Get an Antec truepower 2.0, there really good PSU's o and bl2u about oyur mobo

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[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:

fon|sl4y3r wrote:

[QXJZ]Capt_Kefra wrote:

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