[biyectivo]

Hello all,

After a sudden burned AGP port on my last mobo (!), I went out and bought the following:

Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Silverstone 650W SLI-Ready, Quad 12v rail Power Supply
XFX Geforce 7800 GTX XXX edition, PCI-Express
Coolermaster Wavemaster Case
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

I kept some of my previously working components:

AMD Athlon64 3500+ (do not know the revision)
2 x 1GB Kingston ValueRAM PC3200
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX
Gamepads, USB devices, etc.


I had some pretty noobish mistakes while putting it all together (I've built at least 15 PCs). First, one of the CPU pins bent, so I had to grab a metal file and try to straighten it up. According to me I did it correctly - the pin did not come out and it appeared almost straight.

Then, I installed the PCI-e card and apparently I did not seat it correctly. It appeared fully seated but the very end of the card (right next to the metal slot cover with the DVI connectors) was squashing one of those small black cyllinders (I think they are called capacitors). I did not realize this until later.

I hooked everything up and turned on the power supply. The motherboard has a small led that lighted green, which is great according to the manual. However, when I press the power button, everything appears to be "running" (all fans spin) but I get no video from the card. I get no beeps either. I thought the speaker connector was upside down and changed it to no avail.

I realized the problem with the card, so I carefully straightened the capacitor so the card would not squish it and reseated the card. Nothing. I removed the RAM in hopes that the mobo would beep. Nope.

This motherboard does not have jumpers so I think I cannot select single or dual video with a jumper (thinking perhaps it is preconfigured for SLI - although unlikely in my opinion). I am placing the PCI-e card on the blue slot which is the one you should use in a single display setup.

The mobo also has a system called AI POST Reporter, that streams prerecorded speech sounds through the onboard audio port when posting. However, I hooked some headphones and turned the thing on and I hear nothing.

I can imagine several possible causes:

a) I burned the PCI-e port when the card was squishing the capacitor. I don't think so, I would think this is REALLY REALLY unlikely to happen.

b) The processor was damaged / the pin fell down / the pin is not making contact. Could be, I hope not. In my opinion, not very likely. I will check tonight if the processor still has all pins and everything.

c) There is something I have not hooked. HIGHLY unlikely. There is a connector called EZPlug on the motherboard that is a molex connector, but according to the manual, you should only connect a cable from the PSU to this connector if you are using an SLI setup (obviously the 7800gtx has its own power connector). Other than that I don't know what else could be unhooked.

d) I checked the ASUS webpage for troubleshooting. I found this page.

I haven't done any of the steps on that page (it was VERY late yesterday ) but I would think the only probable one is the Supported CPU List. I don't think I would have to "reset the PSU" since everything is brand new. Also, clearing the CMOS makes no sense to me for the same reason. I will try them though.

I found something odd in the Supported CPU List (see page above). There are five 3500+ processors listed. Of those, there is one that requires the 1009 BIOS, another that requires 1006 BIOS and all others require 1004 BIOS. I do not know what version of the BIOS I have, would I be sooo unlucky that I have a certain processor version and that my motherboard is not flashed to the latest BIOS?


I don't know what else to do. I don't think the mobo is shorting, the case is really good and I placed all the risers and everything. I could try with a different processor/ram/video card but guess what, I don't have any of those to spare

I really want to put all this together soon and I would like to try everything before having to return the mobo, card or buy a new processor (I hope not! ).

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Edited by biyectivo, 28 December 2005 - 08:37 AM.

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Hi,

You should clear the cmos on any new board but that ain't the problem, as you stated this could be any number of things. The fact that there are no beeps with the ram removed and AI does not say anything is a bad sign. I am thinking bad/damaged mobo.

Strip the system down and take the board out of the case, install only cpu with hsf, video card, 1 stick of ram, psu, keyboard, monitor, mouse.

If the system still won't post and you have a old pci video card laying around I would try it, this could narow it down to a bad video card or slot, remember the video card possibly shorted against the capacitor so you should try another card either way.

If that fails pull the ram and video card and see if you can get AI to say anything, if it reports nothing pull the cpu out this means a bare board, and try and power it on, AI should say no cpu installed if not the only other thing would be the psu and you should try another to be sure.

If after all this it could be the cpu but my money would on bad motherboard because the lack of beeps and AI not reporting anything.

Rick

[Doby]

Hi,

You should clear the cmos on any new board but that ain't the problem, as you stated this could be any number of things. The fact that there are no beeps with the ram removed and AI does not say anything is a bad sign. I am thinking bad/damaged mobo.

Strip the system down and take the board out of the case, install only cpu with hsf, video card, 1 stick of ram, psu, keyboard, monitor, mouse.

If the system still won't post and you have a old pci video card laying around I would try it, this could narow it down to a bad video card or slot, remember the video card possibly shorted against the capacitor so you should try another card either way.

If that fails pull the ram and video card and see if you can get AI to say anything, if it reports nothing pull the cpu out this means a bare board, and try and power it on, AI should say no cpu installed if not the only other thing would be the psu and you should try another to be sure.

If after all this it could be the cpu but my money would on bad motherboard because the lack of beeps and AI not reporting anything.

Rick

[biyectivo]

Thank you for your help.

It turned out to be a loose CMOS battery, I figured this out when I reset the CMOS
For people who run into the same problem, also check that you make sure the ATX 12v 4-pin cable coming from your PSU is securely connected to the mobo, I found my ATX 12v connector to be just a tad loose.

Thanks again, trusted techs

[Doby]

good job finding that, sometimes its the little things that get us, I once had a jumper cap not making contact, repalced the jumper and everthing was fine, that system drove me nuts for 2 days till I found it.

Your welcome

Rick

[disko555]

I have the same problem you were, except I double-checked the CMOS battery as well as the +12V connections, and both are solid. This is the 2nd board I've tried now, and still no luck - so I'm wondering if I screwed up something else. The odd thing is on this 2nd replacement board I got, when I first got it, to see if it was working I put in just CPU, RAM and video card while outside the case, and actually got video on monitor, so I was stoked. However, I then proceeded to turn off the computer and put everything in the case, and then turned on, and same problem as I originally had - no video, no beeps/error messages - the fans just run but nothing really happens.

[Doz]

Hi
Just putting together a new PC (first for a while) and failed.
Anyone care to advise would be so good.
Started by not putting in all componets.
Relevant ones are:
case: Antext P160W
PSU: Hiper Power 580W
MB: Asus AN8 premium SLI (socket 939)
CPU: AMD 64 4000
Memory: Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT matched pair - total 1 Gb
GPU: XFX 7800GT Sli (only one for now)

Power comes on fine: PSU fans start up
CPU fan starts up
GPU fan starts up
Monitor says 'no input'
Re-check all the connections - no diff
remove 1 memory stick - no diff
take away 1 memory stick - no diff
disconnect everything and reconnect - no diff

I don't really understand how to tell if the motherboard is POSTing
It has a voice active POST - but I don't know how to use it
I've tried to connect my speakers to the onboard sound but I hear nothing
I can't even get a PC speaker Beep because I don't know what to connect to the MB

I've contacted the supplier (bought online in the UK - Ebuyer) but I thought I would see if anyone could recommend any other tests first. I don't have any other GPU etc. to try (i.e a PCI-E one) to see if it is that etc.

I don't have any USB or firewire connected at this stage. Just the CPU, memory, and graphics and the power connectors (as defined in the manual).
Also, since the above, I have reset the CMOS, and also tried a new CMOS battery and made sure it was connected properly.
I've also taken the motherboard out of the case and tried it again to remove the likelihood of it being a shorting issue. Again, nothing on the screen and no BEEPs.
I guess I am thinking now that it is likely to be the motherboard or the Graphics card, so I think I may need to send those back under RMA.
However, the processor is now connected to the MBd.
So if they want me to remove this again, when I get my new bits, I will have to reconnect it, which would mean cleaning the existing CPU of thermal paste and applying new stuff, which I am not sure what that will do to warranty etc.

I've looked through the motherboard manual in detail and can find no other clues.
Interestingly there seem to be a lot of people who have had the same problem with this board. Some sort it out, and some don't.

[disko555]

Sorry, this is a bit late, but I had this page bookmarked in my favorites, and stumbled upon it again. So just in case anyone ever looks here in the future, I'll tell my fix...

Anyhow, I figured out the solution to my problem was the RAM timings for some reason were apparently being set too aggressively by the board, and therefore wouldn't post. After speaking to several tech support guys at Asus, I finally got one who figured out what was wrong. He basically said if I leave in the CPU and RAM, and take out the VGA card, and still don't get a voice error "No VGA installed" then it narrowed the problem down to the RAM, because the order of Post check goes CPU, RAM, then video card. Since I didn't get an error message regardless of whether I had a video card inserted or not, he said it was 'stuck' on the RAM check and that it was bad. What was confusing was that I tried the RAM sticks in a different Pentium 4 system, and they worked just fine.

For reference, I originally had Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x512mb) sticks installed, which were the ones that wouldn't Post. So I switched out that RAM with Corsair Value series RAM from another system, and sure enough, it worked perfectly. Oddly enough, once I had it up and running, and made some changes in the BIOS (to 2.5-3-3-6 for RAM settings), I was able to switch back to the TWINX1024-3200C2PT and now it works fine with any of the memory. Hopefully this helps someone in the future! I wish all the Asus tech support people knew of this problem, it would have saved me a lot of time and headaches!

[SleekGeek]

For reference, I originally had Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x512mb) sticks installed, which were the ones that wouldn't Post. So I switched out that RAM with Corsair Value series RAM from another system, and sure enough, it worked perfectly. Oddly enough, once I had it up and running, and made some changes in the BIOS (to 2.5-3-3-6 for RAM settings), I was able to switch back to the TWINX1024-3200C2PT and now it works fine with any of the memory. Hopefully this helps someone in the future! I wish all the Asus tech support people knew of this problem, it would have saved me a lot of time and headaches!

Thanks so much for that tip.
I've been struggling for weeks with hardware combinations that wouldn't POST or beep. Changed everything except brand new RAM. I had a pair of Corsair Valueselect DDR2 DIMMS, and by removing one (luckily the right one) it did boot. I swapped the DIMMS and no boot again. So one of them was faulty.
I probably had CPU compatability issues with other CPU & mainboard combinations, but in this case is was faulty RAM. THanks!

[Stlode]

I have a similar situation, with a similar card, and wanted to know if anyone else had some other suggestions:

My A7N8X mobo has a Athlon XP 3000+ CPU with a Scythe Katana heatsink. I recently moved, and at the end of the move, I found that the heatsink had unseated itself. Careful inspection of the CPU and mobo looked like everything was okay.

First, I attempted to reattach the heatsink. The computer would boot, sometimes POST, but then shut down very quickly afterwards, never getting anywhere near loading windows. I finally gave up and reattached the stock coolmaster heatsink (using Arctic Silver compound). The computer booted fine and ran normally. I believe the reason the computer kept shutting down was because there was a poor interface between the Scythe and the CPU, resulting in high CPU temps which then immediate resulted in safety shutdowns. Again, after putting on the stock heatsink, everything worked perfectly (no damage at this point as far as I can tell).

The next day, I decided to give the Scythe another attempt. This is a home DVR and the stock heatsink is simply too loud! My first attempt resulted in it posting, getting to the VGA BIOS screen, and then freezing. I decided at this point the Scythe attachments were too far gone, so I resorted back to the stock heatsink.

Upon reinstalling the stock heatsink is where the major trouble begins. The computer will turn on, but there is no BIOS posting. No error messages at all. No beeps. No voice POST warnings (if I remove the CPU, there will be an "Install CPU" warning though). I've reset the CMOS but nothing different happens. The computer remains on after turning on--does not shut itself down (as would happen with temperature overheating).

Anyway to effectively determine what part is defective here? I was assuming the mobo was, since there is no BIOS or warning messages. Given the high degree of manipulation and physical force in putting the heatsinks on/off, it is possible that the mobo was damaged.

Would a damaged mobo still be able to give voice-POST messages regarding a missing CPU?

If I remove the RAM completely, there is no voice-POST message regarding that.

[Stlode]

Thanks for the plethora of replies. NOT.

Turns out it was the CPU. So, now we know that even a mobo with multiple system checks and voice POST can get 'stuck' on the CPU check without activating any 'bad CPU' alerts.

[stettybet0]

Sorry that you didn't receive any replies Stlode, but since you posted in someone else's topic, it appeared as if the topic was being helped already (especially when "SOLVED" is in the topic title). This is why we always recommend that you start a new topic, and don't bump it, as we typically look for topics with no replies first. But anyways, I'm glad you managed to solve your issue.

Edited by stettybet0, 23 August 2008 - 12:00 AM.

[Stlode]

Sorry, you are right. Should have started a new thread. Just seemed so relevant. Next time, will do.

[morkor]

thanks millions for this tip
putting back in the vga, I pushed one ear of a ram bank and released one ram chip just a bit so that the sys wouldn't boot - and no beep.
Fixed now
thx!!!

[John Reev]

Hi,
I had same problem as well.I have tried everything unplug power cable,remove ram, vga,but no beep no post.Finally what I found was remove the CPU and clean heatsink and CPU with paint thinner.Then apply thermal paste on CPU with credit card or plastic card and reseat it.When I power on, it went beep and post came straight away.My motherboard is ASUS P5DL2 and P4,2.8Ghz,4GB RAM.

Thanks

I hope this will help.

Edited by John Reev, 01 February 2012 - 06:09 PM.