No Boot Trouble Shooting

[Clocker]

I don't do this very often anymore so give me some hints if you have any.

I think my Father-in-law's system (based on the GA-7s748 I got from Merc.) gave up the ghost.

He said for a while it was doing some odd things during boot, and now it does not boot at all. I have it here, and when I turn it on, there is no video and disk does not seek as it if it's booting after I turn it on.

I've pulled the RAM, swapped in a different video card, and plugged in a different PSU . Nothing has changed. This board has no clear CMOS jumper so I have pulled the battery for about a 1/2 hour with no change as well. Is there anything else I should check before I try to find a replacement Socket A SiS chipset motherboard? Other than not working right now, the system does everything he needs just fine...

XP 2400+
1GB DDR 266 (2x512)
Geforce4 mx440 64mb
Newer 80GB Samsung HDD

Thanks,
C

 

[ddrueding]

Sounds like you covered most of it. A replacement motherboard shouldn't be too hard to find, and it shouldn't be too expensive, so don't kill yourself trying to diagnose the issue.

 

[Clocker]

Not too hard to find on eBay, unfortunately, most look like crap. Wish I had another of this Gigabytes...

 

[Clocker]

Help me pick my poison:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180106674676

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190094926175

or

??

 

[Mercutio]

That's pretty typical of how that particular board fails. I believe it's technically still under warranty if you want to try to RMA it.

Newegg's option.

Socket A stuff is getting hard to come by.

 

[Clocker]

IS PC Chips as bad as I have heard? Or is that Newegg board worth a try?

I might RMA the gigabyte, but only after I replace the board and get him up and running...

 

[Buck]

IS PC Chips as bad as I have heard?

Yup.

 

[Clocker]

I have someone on AT offering to sell me a used Gigabyte identical to the one I have (except for it also has onboard LAN) for $45 shipped.

Would you take that or a new PCChips from Newegg?

 

[Mercutio]

PCChips is so crappy that it is staggering how crappy it is.
However, the board from Newegg is *new* and the Gigabyte one is used and at this point is probably a couple years old besides.

That's a tough call.

 

[Clocker]

I decided to give the Gigabyte a try. If it does soon, maybe I'll have the RMA board back from Gigabyte when it does.

I think I'd rather have a used Gigabyte rather than a new POS.

 

[ddrueding]

I decided to give the Gigabyte a try. If it does soon, maybe I'll have the RMA board back from Gigabyte when it does.

I think I'd rather have a used Gigabyte rather than a new POS.

Good call.

 

[Clocker]

Do I just start here to do an RMA with Gigabyte or do I need to contact support first?

http://rma.gigabyte-usa.com/

 

[ddrueding]

Do I just start here to do an RMA with Gigabyte or do I need to contact support first?

http://rma.gigabyte-usa.com/

For faster and more efficient service, GIGABYTE recommends for users to troubleshoot with support technicians prior to requesting for RMA. This may save time and costs for unnecessary shipping of products.

 

[Clocker]

Based on the S/N sticker by the cpu socket ( 308406 03278 ) , looks like the board was manufactured in 2003. Guess I'm SOL. :-( I was going to make a file server or something out of the replacement.

 

[Clocker]

NOW I'M AT A LOSS.

I replaced the motherboard with another one. I have no reason to believe the 2nd board is bad. But I have the exact same problem with the system.

Can a defective CPU cause the system to be totally dead (i.e. no video signal). Drives spin up and fans go but that's it. I've tried a 2nd different power supply and the problem persists. This would be the first CPU to go dead on me if that's what happened...

If it could be the problem, anybody have a cheap S462 333Mhz FSB CPU they want to sell me?

C

 

[Clocker]

Actually, ANY Socket A CPU will do I guess. I just don't think the memory I have in the board is DDR400.

 

[LunarMist]

I had an XP 2400 (266) that died after two months for no apparent reason. The replacement CPU lasted a few years.

 

[ddrueding]

The only time I had a CPU go bad was when I put a 486 in a socket 7 backwards (motherboard supported 486 & Pentium). And that went bad in a smoky/melting kind of way.

Actually, I have destroyed CPUs by having them yanked out of the socket by HSF suction...but both required intervention...

 

[Clocker]

I supposed it's possible this CPU burned up or something. The HS was all gummed up with greasy dust bunnies. It was gross. My father-in-law cooks alot and the computer is near the kitchen & their house is dusty. Freaking nasty in that computer...

Merc has got to have some old 462 CPUs around!!

my memory is PC2100, BTW.

 

[ddrueding]

The greasiest computer I ever worked on was that of a chain-smoker. So nasty.

 

[Chewy509]

The greasiest computer I ever worked on was that of a chain-smoker. So nasty.

The best one I had was from a seaside property, rusted out in 9mths! Sorry dude, no warranty on that sucker!

The PSU, gfx card and HS and most of the mobo had a fine layer of salt across them.

But I too have heard of horror stories from PCs kept in less than ideal conditions, eg pet hair, and one time a dead pet lizard found in a case... (the case apparently had no PCI slot backing plates installed for "extra" ventilation).

 

[Mercutio]

Be glad you didn't buy that PC Chips board, Clocker.
One of my students brought me one today. It is mysteriously locking up.

The temp sensors on the board are all reporting temps around 130C, and I suspect the board thinks its about to melt down. An IR thermometer shows temps between 40 and 55 C everyplace I can read them. There's no BIOS option I can change that stops the thing from going into thermal shutdown.

That's the kind of thing that makes us love PC Chips in just the way that we do.

 

[Clocker]

The Gigabyte is working great! I just wish I would have kept the new(used) -L version for myself but I was too lazy to swap out the board (again) after I learned that the CPU was actually the culpret.

 

[time]

Hmmm, I've always harboured suspicions that XP2400 CPUs were somewhat marginal thermally. I actually run one here and have another sitting in a drawer. The active one has been in at least three motherboards - subjectively, I've had less and less problems as overall cooling (motherboard and CPU) has impoved. In fact, the current incarnation is our most reliable computer.

It's unproven, but I think you should keep it as clean (and cool) as is feasible.