I tried to reboot earlier today, and got power for about a second, then nothing. This isn't unusual, so I shorted a couple of the pins on my motherboard with my swisstool, which usually works. Instead of booting, I got power for about a second, then nothing.
Examining my motherboard, I noticed some of the capcitors were bulging. This led me to believe that I'd blown the motherboard, shorting out pins once too often. So, I trundled down to my local computer store, where I let the guy talk me into a Gigabyte K7 Triton. Their selection wasn't very good, no MSI, only really expensive Abit boards. I also had to get DDR RAM, since my old PC133 wouldn't work on any of their boards (save one that wouldn't take my Athlon XP 1800+ chip).
Got home, put it all together, got no sign of power. I read the instructions, all of them, pulled cards, move the RAM around, pulled one RAM chip, swapped RAM chips, moved IDE cables around, and got no sign of power. I swapped out my power supply for an Antac 350. No joy.
I went back, and swapped for another Gigabyte K7 Triton. Same story, except that the CPU fan briefly goes on now when I first switch it on. I did all the stuff I did above, except swapping out the power supply.
Am I missing some other troubleshooting step? Did I possibly kill my CPU, also?
Sounds possible. A flaky CPU would definitely do what you're seeing.
Now this part may sound like your Momma talking (if your Momma was an EE), but bear with me. It's VERY, VERY IMPORTANT to only change one (1) variable at a time. FoBoT will be right there with me on this, 'cause he and I do this for a living.Make a change, test. Make another change, test.
In this case, I'd say try another CPU. But one change at a time!
HOME: A physical construct for keeping rain off your computers.
^^^
and go minimal configuration, that is, put only the minimum parts need to boot the system, one ram stick, no extra cards, just a video card
no hard drive, no cdrom, no floppy
if the board doesn't boot without all the extra crap, it probably won't boot with the full load
good luck!
Use the right tool for the right job!
Man, this is getting expensive. Ok, I'll try to pick up a new CPU soon. Looks like I'll be down for a few days, though.
I tried to change only one thing, Paratima. Really. I didn't want to change RAM, too. But my only alternative was to mail order a new mobo, and I get excessively grumpy when my main system is down. As it is, my partner is staying away until she gets an e-mail from me saying it is safe.
As for the other testing I did, it was all one variable at a time. That's why it took 4 hours <g>. I only swapped out the power supply as a last resort, and because I know this house has dirty power (hence the UPS glut around here).
Thanks, Paratima.
Did that, Fobot. No joy. Even took out the Radeon card, and put in a known good Voodoo 3000. I should have been more clear. Was trying to keep the post below 5 screens <g>.
Either I got 2 bad mobos in a row (possible, not probable) or I've fried my CPU, I guess.
Good luck! To your Sig-Other, also.
HOME: A physical construct for keeping rain off your computers.
yeah, sounds like a dead cpu
i keep an old duron socket A around to test with, they go for under $20 used , nice testing tool
Use the right tool for the right job!
Thanks, Fobot. Good tip. I had one, but gave it to a friend. Will have to try to find one. I don't think popping my old K6 333 in would be useful.
I wanted a Barton, anyway. This upgrade was scheduled for summer, so I guess I'm just early.
The Barton came in. With just one hard drive (pulled the power cables but not the IDE cables from the other stuff), video card and one stick of RAM, I'm seeing the same thing - fan powers briefly once after I plug in the power supply and turn it on, then nothing.
One more reality check before I go return the mobo. I can't think of any way my case could be affecting this. Right? By now, that is about all I haven't replaced, except the drives of various sorts.
I had this problem with a case one time. Brand new mobo, with exactly the symptoms you're speaking of. Went through 3 RMAs before I tried it outside of the case. Worked beautifully. Likely, there's some contact between the mobo and the case shorting it out.
DP, that was a great idea. Shorts are always possible.
Doesn't appear to be the problem, though. I pulled the mobo out, put in 1 stick of RAM, video card, attached one hard drive on IDE 1, plugged the power supply into the mobo and then plugged the power into the power supply. Same behaviour - second or two of CPU fan spin, then dead halt. Swapped sticks of RAM, tried again, same result. Not sure if that hard drive has a MBR on it, but I'm not getting far enough for that to be an issue.
I'll package the mobo and RAM up, and head back to the computer store. I should have time after my side job to get yet another mobo. Maybe I should RMA the RAM, too, or at least insist they test the stuff. They have for me before when they haven't been too busy.
Thanks, gang.
Check the manual for the triton and look for AGP voltage.
Modern MB's only support 1.5v AGP video cards.
The Voodoo 3 is a 3 volt card.
This would stop the MB posting.
You might also try booting with nothing on the board other than the processor and the ram. Then, start adding things one by one. My guess is a flaky video card at this point...
You guys rock, you know.
Using stock heat sink and fan. Even with only CPU and RAM, I only get a brief fan CPU fan whirl, if anything.
Tried plugging in the keyboard and pressing insert, no change.
Put the Radeon 7000 back in, same.
The Radeon is a AGP 2 and AGP 4 card. There is no jumper to force which is seen. It is possible it is being seen as an AGP 2 card. Since I've switched power cords, power supplies and where I'm plugging it in, either the video card or the CPU are the problem. Have ruled out case shorts, too.
PCZ, I didn't know the Voodoo 3000 was that obsolete. Good to know. Thanks.
So, I think my options now are;
1) RMA the CPU. It came from New Egg, so that would take time.
2) Go down to the local computer store, and get another Barton, which I could only return if it were defective, so I risk eating $100 (or being tempted to build a second box).
3) Go down to the local computer store, and get another video card.
I'm leaning towards the new video card. Of course, advice is appreciated. I haven't had this much trouble building a comp since the 386 that would only boot when the new hard drive was master, and it took me 2 days to figure that out (had to build a hard drive cradle out of popsicle sticks, too).
Thanks.
Tried another video card, a Chaintech GeForce FX 5200. No joy.
I think this pretty much narrows it down to the CPU or me being incredibly incompetant (the latter has already been proven, I think).
The K7 MB has a 4 pin 12v power input which must be connected.
There should be a 4 pin plug {2 yellow 2 black wires} on one of the leads from your power supply. Make sure it is plugged into the MB.
Have you completely removed the PSU from the case ?
If it is still in your case do you have the power lead to the floppy drive attached ?
I spent a couple of hours trying to diagnose a fault very similar to yours, and it turned out to be the power lead to the floppy was only connected to 3 of the 4 pins and was shorting the 5v to ground.
Found the 4 pin plug. Can't find a place to plug it in. Even got out the manual, mb diagram and quick start guide. Perhaps I have a different model of K7 board?The K7 MB has a 4 pin 12v power input which must be connected.
There should be a 4 pin plug {2 yellow 2 black wires} on one of the leads from your power supply. Make sure it is plugged into the MB.
Right now, all I've got on the board are the CPU (with stock heatsink and fan), 2 sticks of RAM and a video card (which I take out when testing, then replace and test again). No drives of any kind are connected. The power supply is in the case, but the mb isn't. I've also tried it with another power supply that isn't in a case. No ribbon cables are attached to the board.
The tech at the store where I got the motherboard and RAM tested them last night, and showed me that they work.
I appreciate you, PCZ and the others giving me stuff to try. I'll admit, I'm getting close to the end of my rope on this one.
In case anyone was curious, it turned out to be a combination of a twiddly sound card (needs several whacks before each boot) and a fiddly power switch.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I now have yet more steps to add to my troubleshooting.
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