Gigabyte mobo ?

[philo]

I've got a GA-K8N Pro-sli on the workbench

It typically takes 8 - 12 tries to get it to boot up..
but once booted the machine runs fine.

I've tried everything I can think up...
reflashed the bios with a newer one.

Tried a different power supply / ram / video card etc

even changed the cmos battery


Since the machine starts too unreliably I'm going to pitch the mobo into
the recycle bin...


unless someone here has an idea I've missed

 

[JD]

I've got a GA-K8N Pro-sli on the workbench

It typically takes 8 - 12 tries to get it to boot up..
but once booted the machine runs fine.

I've tried everything I can think up...
reflashed the bios with a newer one.

Tried a different power supply / ram / video card etc

even changed the cmos battery


Since the machine starts too unreliably I'm going to pitch the mobo into
the recycle bin...


unless someone here has an idea I've missed

It could be in the motherboard or in the connections or it could
be that
you have a faulty power supply.

Make sure all the connections - right up to the wall power socket
- are very
firmly in place. First shut down the box and then pull each
connector out and push
it back firmly into place. Restart.

Good luck!

 

[John McGaw]

I've got a GA-K8N Pro-sli on the workbench

It typically takes 8 - 12 tries to get it to boot up..
but once booted the machine runs fine.

I've tried everything I can think up...
reflashed the bios with a newer one.

Tried a different power supply / ram / video card etc

even changed the cmos battery


Since the machine starts too unreliably I'm going to pitch the mobo into
the recycle bin...


unless someone here has an idea I've missed

Exactly what happens when it _doesn't_ boot? Fans, lights, BIOS display,
tries to load OS, etc? I've got a machine in the basement which doesn't
boot every time but I know for a fact that it is simply a bad power switch
in the case and it doesn't make contact every time I press it. I've been
too lazy to see about replacing the switch for two years now and have
gotten quite used to it.

 

[philo]

Exactly what happens when it _doesn't_ boot? Fans, lights, BIOS display,
tries to load OS, etc? I've got a machine in the basement which doesn't
boot every time but I know for a fact that it is simply a bad power
switch in the case and it doesn't make contact every time I press it.
I've been too lazy to see about replacing the switch for two years now
and have gotten quite used to it.

All the fans spin up...
but the machine never posts

 

[philo]

It could be in the motherboard or in the connections or it could be that
you have a faulty power supply.

Make sure all the connections - right up to the wall power socket - are
very
firmly in place. First shut down the box and then pull each connector
out and push
it back firmly into place. Restart.

Good luck!

already tried that

 

[philo]

It has Dual BIOS, so you'd probably have to reflash it twice,
if you wanted to be absolutely certain both BIOS choices were
running the same version. As far as I know, the Gigabyte scheme
uses one boot block and two main BIOS code blocks, so there
is only one boot block to run the whole thing. Meaning, if
the boot block is damaged, then the dual BIOS won't work.

Well there may be something there...
as to access the recovery BIOS the prompt is to hit F9

I tried that prior to re-flashing the BIOS but hitting F9 did nothing...

I suppose that since the board is heading for the recycle bin anyway...
I might as well try re-flashing the BIOS again

Check that the settings have returned to defaults.
Load setup defaults or whatever. Make sure the processor
used, is listed in the support chart.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=1883#anchor_os

Yep set it back to defaults

There were a few AMD processors, that suffered from
electromigration due to overclocking. If you suspect
that is the case (user abuse), you can try running the processor
below stock speed, and see if that helps.

Was not over-clocked but I might as well try under clocking it

You can check the reviews on Newegg, and see if there
is a common theme.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...yType=0&Pagesize=100&SelectedRating=-1&Page=1


It is possible the PCI Express slots are sensitive to static.
Carefully set the paddle card, to x8/x8 mode, on the
off chance that the video will work better if only
half the bus is being used. Use antistatic precautions,
like a wrist strap, while changing the paddlecard, just
in case.

Pulled all the PCIe cards
and was testing it with a PCI video card only

It is kinda amazing, that a single chip Nvidia chipset solution,
can run without a cooling fan.

Your problem could be occurring while the boot block is doing
its thing, so in fact the problem could be entirely at stock
speeds. I don't know whether a board like that, does a double
restart to apply user settings or not. If it does do something
like that, there might not be much in fact that you can do with
the BIOS, to influence the problem.

Drop to one stick of RAM and see if that helps.

Paul

Yep...even tried that too


thanks for the ideas...
I hate to give up...
but suspect this one is not going to be put back into service

 

[philo]

a cooling fan.

Yep...even tried that too


thanks for the ideas...
I hate to give up...
but suspect this one is not going to be put back into service

Under clocking did not help...

I think I'll recycle the board

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I've got a GA-K8N Pro-sli on the workbench

It typically takes 8 - 12 tries to get it to boot up..
but once booted the machine runs fine.

I've tried everything I can think up...
reflashed the bios with a newer one.

Tried a different power supply / ram / video card etc

even changed the cmos battery


Since the machine starts too unreliably I'm going to pitch the mobo into
the recycle bin...

unless someone here has an idea I've missed

Lots of good info and advice here: www.badcaps.net

If any cylindrical capacitors are bulging or leaking on top, they and
all the ones just like them have to be replaced.

 

[philo]

Lots of good info and advice here: www.badcaps.net

If any cylindrical capacitors are bulging or leaking on top, they and
all the ones just like them have to be replaced.

Thanks

the first thing I did was look at the caps...
they all look fine.

Of course looks don't tell the whole story.

About a year ago I did once try replacing the obviously bad caps on
another mobo...
but it was still flaky...so I assumed there were still some bad ones
that just had not yet exhibited bulging.

Considering that I've gotten several new boards in the $50 price
range...to me, it's not worth it to bother with replacing caps...

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

About a year ago I did once try replacing the obviously bad caps on
another mobo...
but it was still flaky...so I assumed there were still some bad ones
that just had not yet exhibited bulging.

Considering that I've gotten several new boards in the $50 price
range...to me, it's not worth it to bother with replacing caps...

At Badcaps.net, I've read that some brands of caps often fail without
bulging. OTOH when I replaced about a dozen 1,000uF, 6.3v Ltec caps
on an Asrock mobo, only the three that bulged were bad, according to
ESR readings.

I haven't done much checking, but the $50 mobos I've seen had at least
some low quality brand caps on them, and boards with only good caps
start at around $75.

 

[philo]

Depending on board design, if too many in the same
subcircuit fail it can exposed the ICs to high ripple which
could damage them. Other times the board just had a
different fault altoghether and you notice the caps bulging
because the other fault prompted an investigation with the
cover off the system.


Depends on the age of the board, role of the system, if it's
your system, etc. Sometimes people will bring me a board
that had caps fail but they can't or won't spend much
money, and I happen to keep a stock of spare caps suitable
for most boards though not so much the solid caps many use
today but they fail far less often.

Replacing caps also cuts down on system downtime and time
spent reinstalling or reconfiguring the OS if/when the
replacement board isn't the same model... seems I often buy
boards when I see good deals on them but to try and replace
with the same board later it seldom seems to be worth paying
more to get the same thing again instead of an upgrade of
some sort IF buying a new board seemed otherwise the best or
necessary option.

What I often do is buy a board to match I cpu I already have.

Last year I got a couple of eMachines in here with bad motherboards...
but they had perfectly good dual core cpus's I did not want to waste.

So thanks to some deals at NewEgg, I was able to build a few machines
for next to nothing...I literally have boxes of spare parts in my workshop

 

[philo]

... but then what will our garbage man do for spare parts?
It's funny sometimes watching him root through our garbage,
sometimes he just takes the whole bag or box and puts it on
the seat next to him, not even realizing he took the wrong
bag, lol.

I don't toss any computer stuff in the garbage...
I drop it off at the recycler

 

[philo]

I suppose I just get into the habit of tracing faults and
trying to fix them... even if the hardware never gets used
again. Earlier today I picked up a couple LCD monitors,
both had bad caps on the output of their internal power
supply. CapXon capacitors apparently aren't fit for use in
these circuit placements.

I don't usually bother to repair stuff on the component level...
unless it's something highly critical