anyone have an idea what could be wrong with my A7N8X BIOS or PSU

  • Thread starter Thread starter goatX
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goatX

Hello,
I am asking my question here, after talking to an Asus Tech
was going to RMA my MoBo due to what we thought was a
corrupted BIOS, but now looks like it might be PSU issue
but not really sure

ASUS A7N8X 2.0 Deluxe
BIOS rev 1008 (1003 when problem started)
CPU AMD 3000/333 ATHLON XP Barton
Corsair XMS 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
Saphire Radeon 9700 pro 128
Antec TrueBlue 480 PSU

My current system had been doing very well until a little while ago.
pressing power button - system would powerup, but nothing would happen
everything (drive,fans,etc) would have power and be on, but BIOS would
not start loading, nor would there be any beeps.
turning the system off, by holding in the power button, then turning
it back on and it would be begin booting.

going into BIOS and making changing, then picking to save often
it will save normally and restart, but often it will either blank
the screen and do nothing or leave some sort of video artifacting
and hang in, either case BIOS will not be saved.

recently, it became harder to get the system
now if it doesn't start up right away, I found
the only way to get it to boot was if I clear the CMOS
it will boot up, but getting it to save the right BIOS
could take several tries as instead of saving
just go blank.

so this is the point i wrote Asus tech and was
getting ready to RMA the MoBo, then i decided to
change out the last thing in the system that i hadn't
the PSU. Now with a new PSU the system starts right up
and the BIOS save normally. So now i figure it is the
PSU, but i break out my Multi-meter and check the
old PSU and everything (atleast with no load) is right
on the money.

so now i am still testing it with the new PSU to
see if the problem shows up again or not.

wrote Antec, but not gotten any word back from them

i am clueless as to what could be wrong with the PSU
that would be an issue just when starting up and saving the BIOS
 
goatX said:
Hello,
I am asking my question here, after talking to an Asus Tech
was going to RMA my MoBo due to what we thought was a
corrupted BIOS, but now looks like it might be PSU issue
but not really sure

ASUS A7N8X 2.0 Deluxe
BIOS rev 1008 (1003 when problem started)
CPU AMD 3000/333 ATHLON XP Barton
Corsair XMS 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
Saphire Radeon 9700 pro 128
Antec TrueBlue 480 PSU

My current system had been doing very well until a little while ago.
pressing power button - system would powerup, but nothing would happen
everything (drive,fans,etc) would have power and be on, but BIOS would
not start loading, nor would there be any beeps.
turning the system off, by holding in the power button, then turning
it back on and it would be begin booting.

going into BIOS and making changing, then picking to save often
it will save normally and restart, but often it will either blank
the screen and do nothing or leave some sort of video artifacting
and hang in, either case BIOS will not be saved.

recently, it became harder to get the system
now if it doesn't start up right away, I found
the only way to get it to boot was if I clear the CMOS
it will boot up, but getting it to save the right BIOS
could take several tries as instead of saving
just go blank.

so this is the point i wrote Asus tech and was
getting ready to RMA the MoBo, then i decided to
change out the last thing in the system that i hadn't
the PSU. Now with a new PSU the system starts right up
and the BIOS save normally. So now i figure it is the
PSU, but i break out my Multi-meter and check the
old PSU and everything (atleast with no load) is right
on the money.

so now i am still testing it with the new PSU to
see if the problem shows up again or not.

wrote Antec, but not gotten any word back from them

i am clueless as to what could be wrong with the PSU
that would be an issue just when starting up and saving the BIOS
Click to expand...

Testing a power supply is difficult to do by hand. Ideally
you'd want to test its static and dynamic (load step)
performance, and that implies some expensive test
equipment for the dynamic part. You can test the
static performance, by purchasing load resistors,
but large load resistors are not something you'll find
at Radio Shack.

The weakest link on your supply, could be +5VSB, the
standby supply. It could be that the standby supply is
dropping out while the BIOS settings are being recorded.
That seems highly unlikely, but as the +5VSB is only
good for a couple of amps, it is the least able to defend
itself. (Note that the +5VSB powers the supervisory circuits
on the PSU, and on the motherboard. A momentary dropout on
+5VSB is magnified by the PSU shutting down internally, and
all its outputs will wink for a moment. That could be how you
are getting video artifacts - +5VSB goes for an instant and
the rest of the computer is struck dumb by the after-effects.)

I've measured load current on my A7N8X-E, and on the regular
+5V supply, my Mobile running as a 3200+ draws a little more
than 16 amps running Prime95, and 10 amps while sitting idle
in the desktop. That doesn't include video card current, and
my 9800 card draws another 5 amps from +5V when doing 3D gaming.
So, you'd need a 20 amps load on the regular +5V, to simulate
a well loaded A7N8X board. The other rails use much smaller
currents. (+12V is mainly cooling fan current, +3.3V is around
5 to 6.5 amps. Video card aux cable current not included in
those figures.)

As for Asus, the contact page mentions http://helpdesk.asus.com/
for North American customers. There is also vip.asus.com , but
I don't know what registering there will do for you. I would
recommend phoning them - it is a toll call (no 1-800), but
at least talking to someone, you can iron out the correct
procedure to get an RMA number and an address to send the
product. I think Asus wants you to fill out a problem report
on the web page, before phoning them, as the tech can then
refer to your info on his/her screen while you talk, and that
can save time (and your dime). Asus also offers to call back
when they are busy, but they don't always follow through.
But if a new PSU is fixing things for you, then hold onto
the board.

For Antec, I've heard of people getting through to someone
to straighten out USB port issues on Antec computer cases, but
I've never heard of anyone being successful at replacing an
Antec supply under warranty. I suppose you could use some
of the info on this page, to find out what the warranty
is on a Truepower:

http://www.antec.com/us/warranty.php?value=en&Submit=Submit

At least one Asus board has had trouble with all models of
Antec Truepower. The initial batch of boards seemed to latch
into a state where Vcore powered down, and it could be
something to do with the Truepower taking too long to reach
full rail voltage. Asus repaired those boards under RMA, and
it is presumed a component value change was made on the
motherboard. That board was one of the many P4P800/P4C800
family boards, so wasn't an AMD board, and the problem was
limited to the initial production run of boards (when the
product was introduced). If Vcore won't run, a board like
that won't POST. The people suffering from the problem were
able to work around it, by using a different brand of power
supply. It was just Antec Truepower that didn't work. That
is the only example I can remember of a PSU related startup
problem, where both the PSU and motherboard were in fact
fully functional, but didn't get along with one another.

HTH,
Paul
 
goatX said:
Hello,
I am asking my question here, after talking to an Asus Tech
was going to RMA my MoBo due to what we thought was a
corrupted BIOS, but now looks like it might be PSU issue
but not really sure

ASUS A7N8X 2.0 Deluxe
BIOS rev 1008 (1003 when problem started)
CPU AMD 3000/333 ATHLON XP Barton
Corsair XMS 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
Saphire Radeon 9700 pro 128
Antec TrueBlue 480 PSU

My current system had been doing very well until a little while ago.
pressing power button - system would powerup, but nothing would happen
everything (drive,fans,etc) would have power and be on, but BIOS would
not start loading, nor would there be any beeps.
turning the system off, by holding in the power button, then turning
it back on and it would be begin booting.

going into BIOS and making changing, then picking to save often
it will save normally and restart, but often it will either blank
the screen and do nothing or leave some sort of video artifacting
and hang in, either case BIOS will not be saved.

recently, it became harder to get the system
now if it doesn't start up right away, I found
the only way to get it to boot was if I clear the CMOS
it will boot up, but getting it to save the right BIOS
could take several tries as instead of saving
just go blank.

so this is the point i wrote Asus tech and was
getting ready to RMA the MoBo, then i decided to
change out the last thing in the system that i hadn't
the PSU. Now with a new PSU the system starts right up
and the BIOS save normally. So now i figure it is the
PSU, but i break out my Multi-meter and check the
old PSU and everything (atleast with no load) is right
on the money.

so now i am still testing it with the new PSU to
see if the problem shows up again or not.

wrote Antec, but not gotten any word back from them

i am clueless as to what could be wrong with the PSU
that would be an issue just when starting up and saving the BIOS
Click to expand...


It could very well be the power supply. Most modern power switching
power supplies have a soft-start feature, so that they don't cause
large voltage and current spikes. This sometimes defeats the turn-on of
some processors because the power supply is not yet stabilized when the
processor begins the boot-up process. There is a voltage good signal
but this may not be functioning correctly. However, it may still be a
MOBO problem with the low voltage converter circuit and how it behaves
with the power supply. In any case, if the new PS fixes it, assume that
life is good.

Arnie
 
thanks for the info

computer is still working (knock on wood) :)

i wrote both Asus and Antec again.
Antec RMA'd the PSU, so i sending that off shortly
the Asus tech doesn't think it is totally the PSU,
so when i get more time, going to have to do some stress testing
and stuff

thanks again
 
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