A7N8X-E Deluxe problem in new case

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sam
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Sam

I had a perfectly fine working system until yesterday (Athlon XP3200+ with
2-512meg sticks of Crucial RAM and ATI Radeon 9500). I took out my
motherboard and installed it in a new all-aluminum case. Now it won't boot
past the opening splash screen.

I've tried the following:

Swapping the motherboard for another identical one, changing the video
card, changing the cables and the power supply. I've disconnected all my
optical drives and the floppy, leaving nothing in the machine but the video
card and my primary hard-drive. I reset the CMOS, and tried booting with
only one of my memory modules at a time. Finally, I put my hard-drive in
another machine and it booted just fine.

The only thing left is the CPU... is this possible? If the CPU fried, I
wouldn't expect to see anything at all. But I"m open to ideas. Is there
anything different in an all aluminum case that would be different than the
standard ones? I sort of doubt that, since I tried to put everything back
into the original case too.

Nothing I've tried works... I've built about 12-15 computers before and
never had this much trouble before. Thanks for any help.

Sam
 
Sam said:
I had a perfectly fine working system until yesterday (Athlon XP3200+ with
2-512meg sticks of Crucial RAM and ATI Radeon 9500). I took out my
motherboard and installed it in a new all-aluminum case. Now it won't boot
past the opening splash screen.

I've tried the following:

Swapping the motherboard for another identical one, changing the video
card, changing the cables and the power supply. I've disconnected all my
optical drives and the floppy, leaving nothing in the machine but the
video
card and my primary hard-drive. I reset the CMOS, and tried booting with
only one of my memory modules at a time. Finally, I put my hard-drive in
another machine and it booted just fine.

The only thing left is the CPU... is this possible? If the CPU fried, I
wouldn't expect to see anything at all. But I"m open to ideas. Is there
anything different in an all aluminum case that would be different than
the
standard ones? I sort of doubt that, since I tried to put everything back
into the original case too.

Nothing I've tried works... I've built about 12-15 computers before and
never had this much trouble before. Thanks for any help.

Sam
Click to expand...

If the CPU does the same in both boards I would suspect it. I fried a PIII
once. It does a POST and halts when it should boot from the HD. The board is
fine as it runs with another CPU.
 
Sam said:
I had a perfectly fine working system until yesterday (Athlon XP3200+ with
2-512meg sticks of Crucial RAM and ATI Radeon 9500). I took out my
motherboard and installed it in a new all-aluminum case. Now it won't boot
past the opening splash screen.

I've tried the following:

Swapping the motherboard for another identical one, changing the video
card, changing the cables and the power supply. I've disconnected all my
optical drives and the floppy, leaving nothing in the machine but the video
card and my primary hard-drive. I reset the CMOS, and tried booting with
only one of my memory modules at a time. Finally, I put my hard-drive in
another machine and it booted just fine.

The only thing left is the CPU... is this possible? If the CPU fried, I
wouldn't expect to see anything at all. But I"m open to ideas. Is there
anything different in an all aluminum case that would be different than the
standard ones? I sort of doubt that, since I tried to put everything back
into the original case too.

Nothing I've tried works... I've built about 12-15 computers before and
never had this much trouble before. Thanks for any help.

Sam
Click to expand...

I'm putting my A7N8X-E into an old case right now. One thing I
noticed, before bolting the motherboard down, is I had ten brass
standoffs screwed into the motherboard tray, but the A7N8X-E
only has nine holes. I had to take the motherboard back out and
remove the extra standoff - fortunately before applying power.

As for the hardware, it is probably time for a cardboard test.
Assemble the system outside the case, like on a table top, with
an insulating object (cardboard or a large book) to support the
motherboard while you are plugging stuff into it.

Try plugging amplified speakers into the lime colored Lineout
connector on the motherboard. That is where the Voice POST
(a.k.a vocal post in the manual) is permanently wired - it
doesn't matter if you have a soundblaster plugged into the
motherboard, the Voice POST will always be on the Lineout
connector on the motherboard. The Voice POST messages are
listed in the manual, and you have to listen carefully and
compare what you hear to the potential messages in the list,
as the voice fidelity is terrible (over-compressed).

As for the processor, the AthlonXP has that bare silicon die,
and it is easy to crack the thing. Perhaps you chipped it,
while putting the heatsink on ? Maybe the power supply chose
now to die ? The power supply should be able to supply around
25 amps on +5V, for a board like that (AthlonXP boards draw
Vcore from the +5V rail).

Your new aluminum case shouldn't have anything to do with it.

HTH,
Paul
 
I'm putting my A7N8X-E into an old case right now. One thing I
noticed, before bolting the motherboard down, is I had ten brass
standoffs screwed into the motherboard tray, but the A7N8X-E
only has nine holes. I had to take the motherboard back out and
remove the extra standoff - fortunately before applying power.

As for the hardware, it is probably time for a cardboard test.
Assemble the system outside the case, like on a table top, with
an insulating object (cardboard or a large book) to support the
motherboard while you are plugging stuff into it.

Try plugging amplified speakers into the lime colored Lineout
connector on the motherboard. That is where the Voice POST
(a.k.a vocal post in the manual) is permanently wired - it
doesn't matter if you have a soundblaster plugged into the
motherboard, the Voice POST will always be on the Lineout
connector on the motherboard. The Voice POST messages are
listed in the manual, and you have to listen carefully and
compare what you hear to the potential messages in the list,
as the voice fidelity is terrible (over-compressed).

As for the processor, the AthlonXP has that bare silicon die,
and it is easy to crack the thing. Perhaps you chipped it,
while putting the heatsink on ? Maybe the power supply chose
now to die ? The power supply should be able to supply around
25 amps on +5V, for a board like that (AthlonXP boards draw
Vcore from the +5V rail).

Your new aluminum case shouldn't have anything to do with it.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...

I swapped power supplies so that's not the problem. I also tried to plug
the speaker wire in and after resetting the CMOS I listened for any
messages... none at all.

Even though I counted standoffs (9) and insured that each was in the proper
position, I will try to set things up outside the case just for fun...
sounds like a good idea.

Sam
 
I'm putting my A7N8X-E into an old case right now. One thing I
noticed, before bolting the motherboard down, is I had ten brass
standoffs screwed into the motherboard tray, but the A7N8X-E
only has nine holes. I had to take the motherboard back out and
remove the extra standoff - fortunately before applying power.

As for the hardware, it is probably time for a cardboard test.
Assemble the system outside the case, like on a table top, with
an insulating object (cardboard or a large book) to support the
motherboard while you are plugging stuff into it.

Try plugging amplified speakers into the lime colored Lineout
connector on the motherboard. That is where the Voice POST
(a.k.a vocal post in the manual) is permanently wired - it
doesn't matter if you have a soundblaster plugged into the
motherboard, the Voice POST will always be on the Lineout
connector on the motherboard. The Voice POST messages are
listed in the manual, and you have to listen carefully and
compare what you hear to the potential messages in the list,
as the voice fidelity is terrible (over-compressed).

As for the processor, the AthlonXP has that bare silicon die,
and it is easy to crack the thing. Perhaps you chipped it,
while putting the heatsink on ? Maybe the power supply chose
now to die ? The power supply should be able to supply around
25 amps on +5V, for a board like that (AthlonXP boards draw
Vcore from the +5V rail).

Your new aluminum case shouldn't have anything to do with it.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...


I just tried the board outside the case and insulated from below. It
worked!!!! <tah-dah!> So there's something about the case itself that's
causing a problem. Can't see anything wrong, though... there's one standoff
for every hole in the motherboard (I can see them through the holes when I
insert the screws). I'm thinking that I should use insulated standoffs
instead... sort of strange since the standoffs that came with the case are
metal. The case is a Lian-Li PC-V1200, just in case anyone has had any
specific experience with these before.

Sam
Sam
 
On the backplate for the rear connectors, there are grounding tabs for the
usb, sound, & lan connectors. I've had the usb ground tabs go into the usb
port instead on on top. This could short out your board. Try reinstalling
the board in the case without the backplate.
Tom
 
Sam said:
I just tried the board outside the case and insulated from below. It
worked!!!! <tah-dah!> So there's something about the case itself that's
causing a problem. Can't see anything wrong, though... there's one
standoff
for every hole in the motherboard (I can see them through the holes when I
insert the screws). I'm thinking that I should use insulated standoffs
instead... sort of strange since the standoffs that came with the case are
metal. The case is a Lian-Li PC-V1200, just in case anyone has had any
specific experience with these before.

Sam
Sam
Click to expand...

Stick some plastic tape (or even paper) on the stand-offs.
Worth trying. I always insulate the stand-offs.

Have you booted by shortcircuiting the two power pins,
or did you connect the case's switch.

If the latter, make sure the power switch is connected to the right
pins.
 
Stick some plastic tape (or even paper) on the stand-offs.
Worth trying. I always insulate the stand-offs.

Have you booted by shortcircuiting the two power pins,
or did you connect the case's switch.

If the latter, make sure the power switch is connected to the right
pins.
Click to expand...

I'm working on my machine out of the case right now. I used the on/off
switch on the case and it worked just fine.

Sam
 
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