PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Harrison
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 48
  • Views Views 8312
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Cheers. I might get that once from overclock.co.uk.

@JuvUK. I did have a look on ebay and there are definitely quite a few, although most sellers are trying to get close to the original retail price for what is a used second hand board, so they are both a rip off in standard ebay style, and also I don't really like to buy second-hand motherboards from ebay due to them being used and potentially already dead or close to failing. You have no way to know how long they have been running and used, possibly stressed with overclocking too.

Saying that though, when I had a system do a similar thing three years ago I did buy an identical second-hand replacement board from ebay as I needed the same SATA controller to access the raid setup HDs. Worked fine and is actually still being used in my MAME cabinet.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Kin Hell said:
Alot of 939 boards have Bios Issues when the batteries run low, particulary nVidia Chipsets.

If it's a dual channel DDR Ram board, make sure the ram is in the right slots. DFI 939 boards are a nightmare on Dual Channel Ram & DIMM 0 & 2 isn't always the right thing to do. I just serviced a DFI LP nF4 SLI DR Expert board that wont work properly, unless the Ram is in DIMM 1 & 3. Also, 1T Ram Timings are more stable on 939 than 2T Timings. You will need to know exactly what ram is fitted as it might not be suitable for this Mobo/CPU combination.

Kin
Click to expand...

The setup has been working fine for 3 years so it isn't a recent configuraton of change in hardware that is an issue. The system just suddenly died this morning while being used.

However saying that, you are right about the ram slots. This Asus A8N SLI Premium board will only accept a single DIMM if it is in the B1 ram slot, and for dual channel they have to be in A1 and B1 first then B2 and A2 next. I did double check that in the manual this morning when I decided to try a single DIMM in the board to check for ram issues.

It is an nVidia nForce 4 based board though as you mention, and I know nForce chipsets have been known to cause lots of problems with hardware compatibility and ram issues. However I've never had any problems with this board in the past and the Crucial branded ram I'm using has been working fine until now in the board.

I definitely think it is the motherboard that is dead. But I will still be testing with the PCI card when it arrives just to rule that out as a last resort.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Oh, BTW. A trip is now planned for tomorrow to drive to Novatech in Portsmouth and pick up the parts for my new system. So at least the death of my current system has pushed me to build the new one now rather than in a few more weeks. :)

I've spent a bit of time this afternoon stripping down the Thermaltake Tsunami case and cleaning out any dust ready for the new setup. And I've moved the currently dead system into a spare Thermaltake Soprano case. And if the motherboard is dead I will still rebuild that in the same case with a new motherboard.

The final spec of the new system will be pretty much as I listed in the other topic

Q6600 CPU (Go stepping)(already purchased).
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro cooler
Asus P5Q Deluxe (decided to get this due to the much better motherboard headpipe system and 16 phase power system.
Corsair XMS2 8GB Ram
Sapphire 4870 IGB Graphics card
XFi PCI-E x1 soundcard

And I will pick up a new PSU at the same time. I would like a modular PSU. What recommendations around £70-80 would you suggest? The Coolermaster Modular ones for around £75 for a 620W PSU looked a good price. Are they worth it?

Looking forward to buying it all now. :)
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

If it's all the same hardware Harrison, then it could just be a corrupted Bios which nVidia 939 boards suffer badly from. When you pull the CPU, RAM, Battery & place the CMOS reset jumper in place, be sure to do it with your PSU un-plugged from the mains & earth yourself suitably. Likewise, when putting it all back in, do it without the Mains lead in the PSU. This is very important or you won't get the desired results.

The DFI nF4 SLI DR Expert board I fixed this very way only 2 days ago was showing the same symptoms. It would turn itself off when it wanted & sometimes would not turn on without powering off from the mains. Right old perlava to get it running again! :roll:

Kin
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

OK cheers. I will run through the process and try that again either tomorrow or Thursday and let you know what happens. First I'm going to build the new PC tomorrow and get that running so I can get back up and running properly (currently typing this using my MAME cabinet! :lol:).
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Harrison said:
OK cheers. I will run through the process and try that again either tomorrow or Thursday and let you know what happens. First I'm going to build the new PC tomorrow and get that running so I can get back up and running properly (currently typing this using my MAME cabinet! :lol:).
Click to expand...

ah, the joys of a MAME cabinet... I envy you! :o
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

graphics card posted this morning and winging it's way to you as we speak m8


JuvUK
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

That is great. Thank you again. I hope it is the graphics card.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

It's the Mobo / CPU for sure :wink:

TC :mrgreen:
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

@ TC

That would certainly explain no beeps from the bios.....
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Very annoying but I also suspect the same.

It is ashame for another reason. These Asus boards have a cool feature. Instead of beeping when the bios detects a problem they actually output the problem via a voice through the PC's speakers. Things like "Keyboard not detected" or "There is a problem with the CPU". Quite cool, and I've never heard it, which is a little disappointing. Does anyone know if the newer Asus boards have the same feature? You could even record your own messages!

BTW, I've got all the parts for the new system build today. :) Drove to Novatech in Portsmouth and picked them up this morning. And am going to assemble it all tomorrow. Looking forward to this new system. :) Final specs are close to the list I originally gave, but I managed to get an XFX 4870 1GB graphics card, which is the XXX edition, so is pre-overclocked by the maker, meaning it is covered by the warranty at this setting. Plus a thermaltake toughpower modular 750W PSU.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Harrison said:
Does anyone know if the newer Asus boards have the same feature? You could even record your own messages!
Click to expand...

Google!? - Unless it's a bad day for searching of course! :P
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

I couldn't remember what the feature was called, so wondered if anyone here already knew.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Harrison said:
I couldn't remember what the feature was called, so wondered if anyone here already knew.
Click to expand...


Try the ASUS website, I'm sure they would have the feature listed in their product specs.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

"it takes a novel twist this time in the form of a speaking BIOS and Asus call it the POST Reporter.. The P4B has a Winbond voice controller on board that talks to you when something goes wrong like a memory error on POST, CPU fan failure or CPU voltage error. Asus also provide software to change the voices spoken on the errors. Therefore, with a little bit of ingenuity, there is nothing stopping you recording your own vocal POST messages."

there ya go, hope this helps 8)

JuvUK
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

Thanks.

I'm not sure this feature is included in their new boards any more. My new P5Q Deluxe motherboard's manual doesn't give mention of it at all. Strange as I thought that was quite a nice feature.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

JuvUK said:
graphics card posted this morning and winging it's way to you as we speak m8


JuvUK
Click to expand...

The PCI graphics card arrived safely today. Thank you again. :)

I should have time either tomorrow or Monday to test the system with it and see if it fires up.

Some other good news. I build the new system today and it is now fully up and running. Very quiet and very fast. Really nice and I'm very pleased so far. I ended up installing Vista Ultimate on it. And it is a purchased real copy too, but I wasn't mad enough to pay full price. I got it via a friend through his company as he was doing some software and hardware ordering for his company and ordered it with the rest of the stuff. :)

I've not started to overclock it yet as I want to get everything installed first and setup as I wish. Then the fun will begin seeing how far the Q6600 will go. At the moment on stock settings it is idling at the desktop at 21 degrees!

BTW it was a bit fiddly to fit everything into the case. The Arctic Freezer 7 Pro heatsink only just fitted into the CPU area as the P5Q Deluxe motherboard has quite big passive heatsinks around that area. It is sitting just above the fins, and it made it hard to reattach the fan once the heatsink was fitted, but I got it all in. And the graphics card's two PCI-E power connectors were in the way of the HDD drive cage so I've had to install the three HDDs with two at the top of the cage and one at the bottom, so the PCI-E power cables could be threaded through the middle of the cage to the card. Took some fiddling by got there in the end. Oh, and the modular cables on the PSU are bloody stiff! They don't bend much at all without some force. Great PSU though.

I'm now off to push it a bit by trying some DX10 games. :) Far Cry 2 first I think, followed by Fallout 3.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

ooooo ooooo oooooo is it working yet? did you get a chance to test it?

cheers, juvUK
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

I stripped it right back to just the CPU, ram and your PCI card and still nothing.

I then found some more info about the "POST Reporter" feature, where the motherboard would say there was no CPU if you connect it up to the PSU without anything else installed, and speakers connected to the green motherboard speaker output. I tried this and still nothing.

I then noticed one of the capacitors is damaged on the motherboard. It is located below the CPU socket and just above the motherboard heatpipe system. So I think I've finally located the problem. Could the capacitor be replaced? Or is it not worth it in case other things are wrong with the board?

I will take a picture of the capacitor and post it here.
 
Re: PC won't start. Any ideas to get it working?

It's only going to cost pence to find out if it is a blown capacitor; it's not like you would lose more than you stand to gain if it fixes the problem.

Go for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dougal
Help! PC won't start after power cut
Replies
3
Views
980
Trapshot
Trapshot
-Acid-
PC won't power on.... help please!
2
Replies
31
Views
5K
Powerpie5000
Powerpie5000
Back
Top Bottom