[ravenatic20]

Hello, I need help getting my computer powered up. I have had this computer for about one week, all was going well hardware wise, execpt for my microphone. I couldnt get my mic to work on the front or rear ports, so I thought I may have wired it wrong on the Mother Board. I removed the front audio cables, and went to put the jumpers on the MB, I put one on, and couldnt find the second jumper. I took a small wire, wraped it around the two pins, put was worried it wouldn't stay so i removed it and the other jumper. Yes, that was stupid, but I never powered it up with the wire on. I decided to forget doing that, and just turned it on. The fans came on for about one second, and then nothing, nothing happened. CRAP!, I said to myself, so I put the rear USB port back on (had to remove it to get to the audio stuff), put on all front audio cables. So I powered up the Power Supply, hit the power button, and again, nothing! What is going on? I removed the CMOS Battery for like 30mins, but nothing. I reseated everything, nothing. I get 5V coming off the PS. What could be wrong? I put everything back where it was. Please help!

Moter Board Model Name : GA-8IP775-G
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VGA Brand : MSI Model : nx6600
CPU Brand : Intel Model : BX80547PG3200EJ Speed : 3.2GHz
Operation System : Win XP SP : 2
Memory Brand : Corsair Type : DDR
Memory Size : 1GB (2x512) Speed : 400DDR
Power Supply : 450 W

I hope I didn't blow the Mother Board. But if you think that is the problem, let me know. Can someone please help!?

Thank you!!!

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I removed the front audio cables, and went to put the jumpers on the MB, I put one on, and couldnt find the second jumper. I took a small wire, wraped it around the two pins

MacGyver my honest advice is to put the cover back on and take it to a tech.


With out knowing what you jumped or unjumped while unplugging your audio jacks I can’t really say what you did... Thou I get even more scared when you are talking about measuring the voltage... You should be seeing several voltages. Plus depending on what you what using to check the volts. Older non-digtal multi-meter can bleed ground back into a probe point. Also improper use of any multi-meter will smoke a board. Also the jumper point was holding some sort of voltage. If your wire even so much of tapped a trace or component of the mobo you could have smoked it.


-Ryan

[ryanmills]

I removed the front audio cables, and went to put the jumpers on the MB, I put one on, and couldnt find the second jumper. I took a small wire, wraped it around the two pins

MacGyver my honest advice is to put the cover back on and take it to a tech.


With out knowing what you jumped or unjumped while unplugging your audio jacks I can’t really say what you did... Thou I get even more scared when you are talking about measuring the voltage... You should be seeing several voltages. Plus depending on what you what using to check the volts. Older non-digtal multi-meter can bleed ground back into a probe point. Also improper use of any multi-meter will smoke a board. Also the jumper point was holding some sort of voltage. If your wire even so much of tapped a trace or component of the mobo you could have smoked it.


-Ryan

[ravenatic20]

The power supply was off and unpluged, so I doubt I fried anything doing that. I ordered a new power supply. I ran two test on the PS, and both of the results were that it just wasnt working. I'll let you know if the new PS works. Thanks!

[Hawker]

you only need to have the cmos battery out for 30 seconds, really. if you have a spare HDD lying around, use the jumpers off of it if you are missing some, dont ever use wire. try opening up your psu (carefully) and checking to see if you blew its fuse.

[ravenatic20]

The fuse was not blown, I checked. I thought about where I might have an extra jumper, but nothing came to mind. The wire was only going to be used for temorary use, just to see if that would fix my mic problem. The wire was only on for like 5 seconds, and the power supply was unlpuged. I'm not seeing how I fried the power supply, it was a cheap one though. What are the chances that I fried the power supply and the mother board? Also, when I tried to power it up after the whole jumper thing, it came on for 1 second, and then went out. Would that indicate its a power supply problem? Thank You!

Edited by ravenatic20, 19 June 2005 - 07:47 PM.

[Hawker]

it really sounds to me like you shorted something out on your motherboard....i have seen PCs that have the caps blown off their regulators/capacitord (little cylinder looking things on mobo) so you might want to check for any visible damage....chances are, you wont see anything. even with the PC powered off, a static shock can still fry it, which is why you want to wear a wristband or hold the case to ground yourself. if you have another PC, try the psu in it, see what happens....but i think this is a motherboard issue

[ravenatic20]

I hope I didn't fry the MB. What are the chances of the CPU and RAM also being fried? I have 20/20 vision, and a nice bright flashlight, but didn't notice any damage on the MB. All the capacitors looked OK, as well as the regulators. I probably looked at all the solder joints , but it all looked OK. I'll try to find another, older, power supply and see if that works. When I tried to power it up after I decided not to use the wire, it came on for 1 second fans light and all, and then went out. Would that indicate its a power supply problem? Thanks!

Edited by ravenatic20, 20 June 2005 - 05:00 AM.

[Hawker]

like i said, the chances of having visable damage arent great...

this is a long shot, but try taking everything out..ram, cpu, any pci cards/agp , unplug power supply, (from mobo) and let it sit for a minute. reseat and re-plug everything and see what happens.

You might want to check your power/reset buttons' connection to the motherboard. with all the unplugging you did, you could have simply unplugged the LEDs and buttons.

[ravenatic20]

Ill try that, thanks! All the wires were pluged into where they needed to be. But when I tried to power it up after I decided not to use the wire, it came on for 1 second fans, lights and all, and then went out. Would that indicate its a power supply problem? Or, when I try my new power supply, will that blow out because the mother board is bad? Don't what to blow two power supplys in the same week. Thanks!

[Hawker]

putting a new PSU in shouldnt be a problem....if the mobo is fried, it wont work. if you have another PC you could crack open, try plugging your power supply into the motherboard and wall only, and see if it works....that would rule out a bad PSU and you could move on from there.

[ravenatic20]

OK, thanks again! I looked at sevral PCs, They all had the standard 20 pin plug, but then they also had a 6 pin plug, wich was not the square 4 pin plug I need. So I'll wait two more days for the PSU, NewEgg is fast! I have yet to try taking out the mother board, and trying it with nothing on it, but I'll let you know when I do. Thanks!

[ravenatic20]

Hi again. I set my multimeter to beep as long as there was continuity beetween the two wires coming off the meter. I put the negative wire on the case, for ground, and my other wire on different solder joints to check for shorts. I didn't notice any shorts, however, when I stick the wire on the CPU heatsink, I get 7 beeps (from my meter), and then a pause. This would repeat. So what does all this mean? Im almost certain my PSU is fried, but I hope the MB isn't. Thanks Hawker!!!

[ryanmills]

When it comes to metering the board. I'm not sure what you where probing for. Board shorts would not really go to "ground". More likely you would light up a trace on the board. As for as looking for damage. If you light up a "cap" you will smell it. If anything smell the PS. Also damage to the mother board you don’t smell or see is most likely a transistor (they are of various sizes and of various types and with out metering each one you cant always tell if they are blown unless you smoke a large one). One of their usages is in step-down and logic gates. Blow one for a step-down and the board is done. A blown logic gate might still fire… but don’t expect it to run for long.

It’s really hard to say its PS for sure. Sounds like it kicks over and during the pre-fire check (checks things like power, memory ect) then it dies. You said that the fans kind of "kicked" over for a sec. If you can get it do it again. It’s less likely your PS and either a setting on or hardware failure (smoked CPU, louse memmery ect)

A few notes about metering a PS.

The following is only if you know what your doing.

You said you metered the PS before. But to be honest, with out doing the following its not possible. It is possible to check voltage but not amperage(at least not easily) on the PS with out it being plugged into the motherboard. Use this magical tool to find the wiring info on the power supply. If you look its going to give you the colors for the volt wires and also either a loop back or a trigger wire (takes either - or + voltage) to fire up the PS. There are a lot of ways to jump the wires need to fire it up. A cheap way is to hit an auto motive store and ask for "T-Taps" or "Scoch Locks" and a few male spade butt connectors. Both can put on using reg pliers and crimpers. I would just cut both wires and use a wire nut for now. But to properly fix the wires you will need a soldering iron and shrink tubing. After you get it fired up check to see what wires should have what voltage and proceed with checking them (use the ground wires not the case to get a ground). Keep in mind a wire can show 12, 5.5, ect but still not be able to produce enough amperage. But if you find a wire that suppose to have 12 volts only pushing 2 toss it and move on.

As far as your meter beeping. Your fan is mounted right to the die of CPU. I have no idea if that is grounded or not. But say it is. There is also a (should be anyway) a very thin layer thermal paste or a pad. If it’s a paste. It is conductive I don’t know about the pads for sure. On most meters (at least all the ones I have used) when checking for continuity it will give a steady beep. When it beeps off and on it’s either a bad lead/probe or a high resistance return path.


Further more I can not stress how sensitive CPU's are. Simply touching one even when grounded to the case can easily smoke it. I would advise against probing it or the motherboard in any way. Even with the power supply off.


One last note. DO NOT TRY TO MESSURE AMPRAGE with a MM on a mobo. To do so while plugged into a motherboard is just dumb. And you will probably light something up.


-Ryan

[Hawker]

so the other computers had an AT connection or something? why couldnt you plug the psu in?

and yeah, i wouldnt be using a multi on your CPU...

when you get the new PSU and install it, you will be able to rule it out if it works.

check and make sure your RAM is seated too..

[ravenatic20]

I'm almoist certain I blew my power supply, but I think I might have blown my mother board too. I'll find out tommorow, untill then, I'm not touching anything. I reseated everything, except the CPU, don't want to risk anything there, its the most expensive part on my computer. Thanks!