Mohterboard suddenly gives me the silent treatment.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave the Funkatron
  • Start date Start date
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Dave the Funkatron

Hey all,

I recently had a power supply die on my system. I replaced the power
supply, and am now getting some funny behavior out of my motherboard.
I was wondering whether there was a rational reason for the behavior,
or perhaps the board was cooked by the old malfunctioning power
supply.

What happens is that the machine runs fine for a while (sometimes 2
minutes, sometimes an hour). Then everything goes quiet (i.e., all
fans and disks stop, including the power supply). Also, the screen
loses its signal from the video card. Basically, all signs of life
cease, except that the tower's power LED stays on until I shut down
the machine (by holding down the tower's power button for 5 seconds).

When I boot it up, it does say that the chassis fan is running slow,
but nothing is running overly hot (the case is around 23 degrees
Celcius, and the CPU is between 38 and 42 degrees C).

So is there some safety feature on an Asus P4PE mainboard or a Pentium
4 chip that might make it reset this way? Is it perhaps a fault in the
new power supply? Is the mainboard just cooked?

Thanks.

Dave
 
Dave the Funkatron said:
Hey all,

I recently had a power supply die on my system. I replaced the power
supply, and am now getting some funny behavior out of my motherboard.
I was wondering whether there was a rational reason for the behavior,
or perhaps the board was cooked by the old malfunctioning power
supply.

What happens is that the machine runs fine for a while (sometimes 2
minutes, sometimes an hour). Then everything goes quiet (i.e., all
fans and disks stop, including the power supply). Also, the screen
loses its signal from the video card. Basically, all signs of life
cease, except that the tower's power LED stays on until I shut down
the machine (by holding down the tower's power button for 5 seconds).

When I boot it up, it does say that the chassis fan is running slow,
but nothing is running overly hot (the case is around 23 degrees
Celcius, and the CPU is between 38 and 42 degrees C).

So is there some safety feature on an Asus P4PE mainboard or a Pentium
4 chip that might make it reset this way? Is it perhaps a fault in the
new power supply? Is the mainboard just cooked?

Thanks.

Dave
Click to expand...

To me, it sounds like your new power supply is bad. However, having a power
supply fail can damage other components, if your power supply is not good
quality. I would suggest you buy a quality, name-brand power supply to test
with. If that acts similar, I think it's safe to bet that the mainboard was
damaged by the original power supply failure. -Dave
 
Hey all,

I recently had a power supply die on my system. I replaced the power
supply, and am now getting some funny behavior out of my motherboard.
I was wondering whether there was a rational reason for the behavior,
or perhaps the board was cooked by the old malfunctioning power
supply.

What happens is that the machine runs fine for a while (sometimes 2
minutes, sometimes an hour). Then everything goes quiet (i.e., all
fans and disks stop, including the power supply). Also, the screen
loses its signal from the video card. Basically, all signs of life
cease, except that the tower's power LED stays on until I shut down
the machine (by holding down the tower's power button for 5 seconds).

When I boot it up, it does say that the chassis fan is running slow,
but nothing is running overly hot (the case is around 23 degrees
Celcius, and the CPU is between 38 and 42 degrees C).

So is there some safety feature on an Asus P4PE mainboard or a Pentium
4 chip that might make it reset this way? Is it perhaps a fault in the
new power supply? Is the mainboard just cooked?

Thanks.

Dave
Click to expand...

unplug the M/b battery and try again.
 
When inexpensive PSU's die they often fry the motherboard also since to keep
the cost so low the manufacturer does not install output protection
circuitry. A good enough reason for me to always buy Antec PSU's, which
have never fried one of my motherboards.
 
DaveW said:
When inexpensive PSU's die they often fry the motherboard also since to
keep the cost so low the manufacturer does not install output protection
circuitry. A good enough reason for me to always buy Antec PSU's, which
have never fried one of my motherboards.
Click to expand...


I am now under the impression that this recently happened to me. I
previously posted that I had a bad motherboard. ...put in a new/used one and
all was fine for a few days. The replacement is now also fried - can't get
into the bios, can't get anywhere. As soon as the 110 power is turned on,
the board immediately starts and attempts to access the floppy but that's
it. - same as the last board (luckily both were older boards and not
expensive). The PSU was a piece of junk, but this machine was only intended
for secondary use, so I didn't replace it even though it sounded a bit loud
over the past few months. I'm now sorry that I didn't put in a new PSU with
the replacement board.

After wasting 3 or 4 days with this thing, I will never use a machine again
with a junky power supply.
 
When inexpensive PSU's die they often fry the motherboard also since to keep
the cost so low the manufacturer does not install output protection
circuitry. A good enough reason for me to always buy Antec PSU's, which
have never fried one of my motherboards.

--
_________
DaveW








- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Actually, it was an Antec power supply from not quite 4 years ago. The
new one is a Cooler Master Extreme 500W model.
 
I recently had apower supplydie on my system. I replaced thepowersupply,
and am now getting some funny behavior out of my motherboard.
I was wondering whether there was a rational reason for the behavior,
or perhaps the board was cooked by the old malfunctioningpowersupply.
...

So is there some safety feature on an Asus P4PE mainboard or a Pentium
4 chip that might make it reset this way? Is it perhaps a fault in the
newpower supply? Is the mainboard just cooked?
Click to expand...

Yes there are numerous safety features that were even standard 30
years ago and that are so often missing when selling discounted power
supplies to computer assemblers that shop only for watts and dollars.
However with information posted, then no one can provide a useful
answer. 3.5 digit multimeters are so complex as to be sold for $20
only in places like Lowes, K-mart, Radio Shack, Wal-mart, and Home
Depot. You need one.

With nothing removed, use the meter to measure and then report
voltages from wires in "When your computer dies without warning....."
starting 6 Feb 2007 in the newsgroup alt.windows-xp at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh

Did the power supply fry a motherboard? Well exactly why we change
zero items and why we first get those numbers. Notice that Jeff(?)
really does not know if his power supply fried a motherboard; he just
speculated. As they say in CSI - follow the evidence. That means
replacing or disconnection nothing - first get the numbers.

Even with the power supply disconnected, then numbers would tell us
little. Those numbers must be obtains with power supply fully
connected to its load.

The procedure in but two minutes condemns or exonerates the many
components of a power supply 'system'. Yes a 'system'; not just a
power supply. If that system is exonerated, only then are we ready to
move on to other suspects.

Properly noted is that some power supplies are missing functions so
as to harm mottherboard. A problem so common that some will insist
that motherboard damage is acceptable. No power supply must even harm
a motherboard. And no motherboard must even harm a power supply.
That also was standard 30 years ago. That damage happens only because
some human did not first learn some basic electrical knowledge -
bought the power supply only on price.

Get numbers from the meter. Then report those numbers here. Those
numbers may include other useful facts not yet apparent.

Later if a power supply is replaced, then the new supply is also
verified by the same multimeter procedure. Those meter numbers can
even identify some problems long before failures occur. Just another
reason why the meter is a tool as essential as a screwdriver.
 
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