[phil1988]

Yesterday I installed another hard drive, it works fine, but i figured while I had the side of my case off, i'll have a bit of a clean out and tidy up the cables in an attempt to sort the airflow out a bit. Anyway, problem is, despite having everything plugged in where it should be, my computer will not turn on now. The only thing it'll do is turn on for a second (not reach post) when I turn it on by the PSU switch (not by the case's switch). Once it has turned itself off, the case's power switch won't do anything. I can't figure out why the PSU switch should spring it into life if the case's button is off. Also, I cannot figure out why it won't stay on to even get to the BIOS or anything.

I have an MSI 7185 motherboard, a Tagan 480Watt PSU. A "D-Bracket" was supplied with the motherboard which connects to it and has 4 lights, each light combination means different things. When I try to turn the power to the computer on (via the PSU switch) the lights tell me that "The system power is on" and then it'll change to "Processor Initialisation" before turning off.

Another observation I just made, I can't see the pattern behind it or what causes it but sometimes it'll beep, just once (which is what it always used to do when it worked)

The motherboard manual can be downloaded here: http://global.msi.co...amp;type=manual

I tried pulling the mobo/ram/cpu out, so no hard drives, graphics etc and the same thing happens. I removed my CPU and the computer stayed on (again, using PSU switch, not case switch). So I put the CPU back in and tried it without the 4-pin power connector that goes to the motherboard (it powers the CPU) and the same thing happened as if there was no CPU, it stayed on.


Has anybody else experienced something like this before or know what could be causing the problem?

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Considering I have knackered either my mobo or my CPU of my old computer, I have decided to take this as an opportunity to upgrade...ish.


Basically, all I want to buy is a motherboard (must support 4 IDE devices), CPU (dual core) and RAM for as cheap as possible (without losing out in quality too much). Here's what I've come up with;

This Foxconn mobo (£29)
This AMD X2 4800+ CPU (£39)
This 2x1GB Dual Channel DDR 2 RAM

I know the RAM is pretty aweful by DDR2 standards...but I am on a very tight budget £100 tops.

Any suggestions, comments? I didn't really want to get new RAM, but my old RAM is DDR and isn't compatible with a DDR2 mobo.

Also, the RAM is Non-ECC, is that compatible with the mobo does anybody know?

[phil1988]

Considering I have knackered either my mobo or my CPU of my old computer, I have decided to take this as an opportunity to upgrade...ish.


Basically, all I want to buy is a motherboard (must support 4 IDE devices), CPU (dual core) and RAM for as cheap as possible (without losing out in quality too much). Here's what I've come up with;

This Foxconn mobo (£29)
This AMD X2 4800+ CPU (£39)
This 2x1GB Dual Channel DDR 2 RAM

I know the RAM is pretty aweful by DDR2 standards...but I am on a very tight budget £100 tops.

Any suggestions, comments? I didn't really want to get new RAM, but my old RAM is DDR and isn't compatible with a DDR2 mobo.

Also, the RAM is Non-ECC, is that compatible with the mobo does anybody know?

[shard92]

personally I'd stay away from foxconn motherboards.... have had quite a few issues with them...

[phil1988]

Really? Such as what? I only chose it because it was the cheapest motherboard that had enough IDE connectors and an AM2 socket, what else would you suggest that is cheap?

[shard92]

well ended up replacing most of the ones I've used as they died within a few months... personally I'd look at msi motherboards... I've had good luck with them... particularly for amd processors.... note... have not done a lot of am2's yet though....

[phil1988]

MSI motherboards are relatively expensive though, unfortunately I do have a really tight budget

[shard92]

Well if personally I wouldn't use anything less.... my prefered boards are MSI, Gigabyte, Asus ( with some research as they have had some lemons lately ) and Abit.... As far as foxconn is concerned... you can get two or three to try and get a good one ( ratio may need to be higher ) or you can get one msi .... which is more expensive... Maybe some of the other guys can give you ideas.... I think I heard of good things on Asrock but have never tried them and my memory isnt' the best.... I did a quick search on newegg and as long as you don't need am-2+ and can use just am-2 foxconn start in around $45us and the msi are around $55US.... About the only other suggestion I can give you is google is your friend.... find a board with the features you like ( including price ) and google it and see if people are complaining about it or not...

[phil1988]

I've managed to find a cheap MSI one, the MSI K9VGM-V. Because of it's price it is really really limited as far as upgrading goes, but I'm ok with that. Anybody know anything about it? Any good for the price?

[Samm]

I agree with shard92 about Foxconn boards. If you want a cheap reliable board, try Asrock.
For a wide selection of Asrock boards, try eclipse computers (they're an online UK reseller. Just google the name & you'll find it straight away)

Edited by Samm, 18 June 2008 - 04:48 PM.

[shard92]

thank you for the assist Samm... I thought I remembered hearing good things about asrock and if you second that.... now if I can just remember that...... I'm really bad with names.... ( except for stuff I deal with all the time like foxconn.... yuk. )

[Samm]

thank you for the assist Samm... I thought I remembered hearing good things about asrock and if you second that.... now if I can just remember that...... I'm really bad with names.... ( except for stuff I deal with all the time like foxconn.... yuk. )

Let's put this way - I have built quite a few systems in the last year or so using a different Asrock board each time (and different sockets, chipsets etc), and so far haven't had a single problem with any of them. I realise now that having said that, they will probably all fall over spectactularly next week......