mobo failure diagnostic

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pedro
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Pedro

Hello all,
I have an ASUS A8V-E SE motherboard with an AMD athlon 64 processor and 2
GB DDR RAM in 4 modules.

More info about the mobo at:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=143&l4=0&model=576&modelmenu=1

Installed on the system is Windows XP x64. The problem is that if I turn off
the computer and try to restart it later, the mobo will not boot up until I
press many times the reset button, especially if I keep it pressed for a
long time. Monitor screen stays black if I wait for it to power up when
switched on, and HDD activity
LED is continuously on. When finally, the motherboard boots up after many
many tries pressing the reset button, everythings works fine. No problems if
doing a software restart
from within windows (mobo will boot up normally). Once the system has
started, I can be working with the computer for months with no problems
until I make a turn off again.
PSU seems to be ok, as I tested the PC with a new 500Watt psu and nothing
changed.
I've made no recent hardware changes to the system.

I'd appreciate very much any help regarding this issue.

Thanks in advance,
Pedro
 
Hello all,
I have an ASUS A8V-E SE motherboard with an AMD athlon 64 processor and 2
GB DDR RAM in 4 modules.
Click to expand...

That sucks.

Mine's older than yours, a 754/Newcastle (3GHz) -- but likely more
mainstream than 939 ever got to be (754 fitted a wider selection of
lesser highend chips at the time). Still running great - Asus K8N-E
Deluxe. Helped to pair it to a 450W server grade FORTRON/SPARKLE and
all aluminum case, as well some "care factoring" for how it's
treated. No complaints, Asus and MSI for the most have been good to
me -- Asus first, going extra distance for features and an overall
impression. Back when MBs started going up, too. $50 got a lot more
MB than today, with the -E Deluxe model more like $100. Mine came a
recent pull by somebody who didn't like or couldn't figure it. SATA
compliance is crap, but other than that its been good 'ol Asus.

Something like you're experiencing -- I'd have it out and under a
couple magnifying glasses for a look/see, and wouldn't tolerate
questionable POSTs.
 
Dave said:
Your CPU is not getting enough power to run POST until the motherboard has
been powered up for a while. The reset button thing is a red herring.
The
reason it's not running POST automatically is that it's simply timing out.
Hitting reset repeatedly works because (eventually) the CPU has enough
power
to run POST and reset will prompt it to try again.

This is a problem created by bad caps (capacitors) on the voltage
regulator
circuits near the CPU socket. If you examine those caps, you might see
one
or more leaking or bulging or miscolored. There's your problem.

The solution is a new motherboard. Actually, the system is old enough
that
it would be wiser to replace all hardware and start over. I mean, it's
silly to think about repairing a lowly Athlon 64, unless it perfectly
meets
your needs for the foreseeable future AND you can find a very cheap used
motherboard to swap in their. Even then, the replacement board, being
from
the same era, is likely to suffer the same problem soon.

Start over, dude. Rebuild time. -Dave
Click to expand...


It's a pleasure to talk to experts on this newsgroup like you.
Yes, the motherboard is a little bit old right now, so I will follow your
advice.
I looked at the capacitors near the CPU socket and all seem to be ok. Only
one
seemed to have something like a fine dust sprayed over the plastic cover
which could
be easily removed with my finger, but inscription on the plastic cover of
the cap
was intact and the cap adjacent to this also seem to be in good state.
Anyways, I'll buy a new mobo, processor and RAM. It's a real pitty,
because this mobo+cpu+ram was quite expensive 4 years ago compared to
current prices.

Thanks again,
Pedro
 
Pedro said:
It's a pleasure to talk to experts on this newsgroup like you.
Yes, the motherboard is a little bit old right now, so I will follow your
advice.
I looked at the capacitors near the CPU socket and all seem to be ok. Only
one
seemed to have something like a fine dust sprayed over the plastic cover
which could
be easily removed with my finger, but inscription on the plastic cover of
the cap
was intact and the cap adjacent to this also seem to be in good state.
Anyways, I'll buy a new mobo, processor and RAM. It's a real pitty,
because this mobo+cpu+ram was quite expensive 4 years ago compared to
current prices.

Thanks again,
Pedro
Click to expand...
 
It's a pleasure to talk to experts on this newsgroup like you.
Click to expand...

I just wish I had some better news for ya. It sucks to tell someone their
hardware is dead.
Anyways, I'll buy a new mobo, processor and RAM. It's a real pitty,
because this mobo+cpu+ram was quite expensive 4 years ago compared to
current prices.
Click to expand...

Well the good news is that you can do quite a significant upgrade from your
Athlon64, pretty cheaply. The only thing you'll need to remember is, even
though there is likely nothing wrong with your current power supply, you
will need to replace it (this is not optional). -Dave
 
Mine's older than yours, a 754/Newcastle (3GHz) -- but likely more
mainstream than 939 ever got to be (754 fitted a wider selection of
lesser highend chips at the time).
Click to expand...

Aye, it's a shame the 939s petered out so quickly, but with the onboard DDR
controller limitation, and DDR2 coming on the market so cheaply, it didn't
stand a chance.

I'd still be using my 939 system, but it was an Epox with an nVidia nForce3
chipset, so it was pretty much crippled out of the box.

Jon
 
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