motherboard replaced - but no boot!

[Michael 23]

In follow-up to an earlier thread titled "Replacing a motherboard...?"

Not going so well.

I ordered the replacement board from arsenal pc, changed everything
over from the old mobo to the new, all jumpers the same, same cpu &
ram... and now I have nothing.

The power works - it comes on instantly with a press of the switch (an
improvement already), but that is all I get. No video, just a flash of
power to the monitor when the psu flips on, and then all is dark, The
cpu fan is spinning, the 'hd activity' led comes on for a bit, as if
something is happening, but then I have nothing at all, just a dark,
idling pc.

No bios screen, no errors - just nothing.

ANy suggestions what to do from here?
I called tech support at arsenal - the only realy suggestion was that I
pay an additional $7.50 to ship the mobo back to them for
replacement... which I hate to do before trying everything on this end.

I already tried removing the RAM one stick at a time, and I have
flashed the CMOS as per the troubleshooting guide.

Is there anything (besides a defective mobo) that would cause this
situation?

 

[Rich Barry]

Michael, is it the same type motherboard that you had previously? Try
reseating the Video Card and CPU if that's Ok, could be they sent you a
defective Board. Any Beeps on startup?

 

[Guest]

Does the new MB have a four wire plug next to the main ATX power plug? If so
you need a power supply with this matching plug to power the CPU.. I just
went thru same problem. An older PS does not have this plug.. Hope it
Helps... Fnash

 

[RobertVA]

In follow-up to an earlier thread titled "Replacing a motherboard...?"

Not going so well.

I ordered the replacement board from arsenal pc, changed everything
over from the old mobo to the new, all jumpers the same, same cpu &
ram... and now I have nothing.

The power works - it comes on instantly with a press of the switch (an
improvement already), but that is all I get. No video, just a flash of
power to the monitor when the psu flips on, and then all is dark, The
cpu fan is spinning, the 'hd activity' led comes on for a bit, as if
something is happening, but then I have nothing at all, just a dark,
idling pc.

No bios screen, no errors - just nothing.

ANy suggestions what to do from here?
I called tech support at arsenal - the only realy suggestion was that I
pay an additional $7.50 to ship the mobo back to them for
replacement... which I hate to do before trying everything on this end.

I already tried removing the RAM one stick at a time, and I have
flashed the CMOS as per the troubleshooting guide.

Is there anything (besides a defective mobo) that would cause this
situation?

You didn't mention if you were ablle to test the display and video cable
on another computer.

Power supplys provide multiple voltages. Just because some of the
voltages work, it doesn't mean the others work. If the components
attached to the power supply draw too much or too little electricity
even a properly working power supply will QUICKLY shut down. Of course a
bad power supply could keep anything from working.

Motherboards normally conduct a brief POST (Power On Self Test) when the
computer is turned on. If the case speaker is connected to the
motherboard you should hear a brief single beep IMEDIATELY after turning
the computer on. If the computer is unable to locate or operate a video
card (or on the motherboard video adaptor) or detects another problem
that prevents displaying a message on the screen the POST will generate
a subsequent series of beeps in a effort to indicate what is causing the
problem. The motherboard manufacturer should have a list of these POST
beep codes available (ussually on their web site). Drive lights will
ussually operate briefly during POST.

Case speakers are often small and buried deep in the computer case. You
may only be able to hear the case speaker in a fairly quiet room. The
case speaker is often NOT the speaker that produces sound during the
normal operation of the operating system or multimediea playback
applications.

With ALL drives disconnected, a working motherboard with at least a few
hundred bytes of RAM and built in video circuitry should at least be
able to display a text error message on the screen.

 

[Michael 23]

thought I replied but it hasnt shown up - sorry if this ends up as
double post

It is the exact same board (the old one is 2+years old, worked fine
until I left it in the garage through a very cold winter)

Even on the bench, with just psu, ram, cpu/fan & monitor connected to
onboard video, I get nothing... fans spin, but no beeps at all.

I am thinking perhaps they did just send a bad board.
also wondering if perhaps the cpu is to blame - but it worked fine in
the other machine, just had problems booting, and the onboard lan went
out, which made me suspect mobo errors... but once the old machine was
booted up, it would run forever, which makes me think the CPU was fine.
How can I tell?

I suppose I will bite the bullet and send the board back as RMA - can't
believe they make me pay the return postage!

Thanks for all your help. I have no idea what else could be causing
this, and I am running out of patience.

 

[Rich Barry]

Michael, sounds like it's either the CPU or the Motherboard. If you were
experiencing the same problems before you replaced the board then it could
be the CPU all along. Anyway you could test these components, CPU, Video
Card etc.?

 

[Michael 23]

Hi Rich - I got my hands on an identical working processor, put it in
the board, and had same problem.Then tried my cpu in a working mobo,
just fine...
( I also tested / swapped the cmos battery, and tried different ram...
no results)
so I have determined that in fact it IS the board, and I will be doing
that RMA in the morning.

Turns out there is a neighbor in my small town with - no joke - over
200 pc's in all states of disrepair in his shop. He must have hundreds
of motherboards stacked and piled all over the place, and he gave me a
comparable speed mobo/cpu combo for testing... and both work, and he
said I can just have 'em.
Geesh - if I had only known..

So now it just comes down to one decision... do I return the board for
refund/credit, and rebuild the machine with a different mobo/cpu combo,

OR do I go for an exchange and hope that the next one actually works,
and thus be able to do as I originally planned, which was to swap the
mobo for the exact same model with no issues. and just keep on
truckin...

What would you do?

 

[Rich Barry]

Michael, I would try another Motherboard from the OEM that's been
sending them to you. Main reason is that your WinXP on your hard drive is
not going to like the different board and cpu combo. XP will be looking for
the devices and
drivers from the old MB and it could be a nightmare. IF the next board
doesnt work then it might be worth doing a clean
install of XP and using the MB/CPU combo that guy gave you. Either way
good luck. What's the motherboard make and
model?

 

[Michael 23]

Thanks, Rich, for the reply.

It is a Soyo K& VEM PRO. And your explanation perfectly echoes my
thinking... the whole point of this mess was to swap the same exact
mobo and reboot as if nothing had happened. (Otherwise I would have
bought another brand and done the reinstall and all related settings
right off the bat, but I was trying to 'save' time and trouble...
figures it would end up a hassle that takes twice as long!)
Oh well... live and learn, eh?