BIOS POST Code "FF" on Tiger K8W?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan (More info?)

I don't know what "FF" means on your particular board, but you might try
removing the CMOS battery for a few hours, then reinsert it and boot. Also,
try a new PSU if the battery R&R doesn't do it. Please post results.

--
Robert J. Salvi, Ambiance Acoustics
http://www.ambianceacoustics.com
San Diego, CA USA
(858) 485-7514

"Tony Neumann" <ton@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de> wrote in message
news 1ett0$a94$5@anderson.hrz.tu-chemnitz.de...
>
> Hi,
>
> what does the BIOS POST Code "FF" mean on Tyan Tiger K8W (S2875)
> mainboards?
>
> Some days ago my Radeon 9600 Pro started to flicker now and then.
> Unplugging the monitor-cable and reattaching seemed to resolve
> the issue.
> But yesterday after some hours the screen went completely blank
> without a warning. So I thought the Radeon might be defective.
> I installed an old Voodoo 3 PCI graphics card to check what is
> still functional. Surprisingly the Windows XP Hardware-Manager
> as well as the Linux tools (lspci and alike) still seemed to
> properly recognize the Radeon so I supposed it was not totally
> defective at all. I even could start XFree86 using the Radeon but
> the screen stayed black. The Radeon was removed and I wanted to
> use the Voodoo 3 card until I could get the Radeon repaired or get
> a replacement card.
>
> But when I switched the computer on today it did only show a blank
> screen on the Voodoo 3 Card, too. Even worse it does neither beep
> nor boot. So I removed everything but the power supply, one of the
> two Opteron 240 and the graphics card. Two other power supplies were
> tested, too, but the screen stays black.
>
> Normally the mainboars shows its current state on a small two-
> digit display on the mainboard so one can tell what is wrong by
> looking into the user manual's appendix where all the hex-codes are
> listed.
>
> But in this case the mainboard keeps showing a "FF" BIOS POST Code
> right from the start and does not run through any other states
> like normal. One more thing is that it now simply ignores the power-
> switch attached to the mainboard. As soon as the power-supply is
> switched on, the board does power up and activate all fans. But
> that's it - switching power on, showing "FF" and nothing else
> happens.
>
> Now the "FF" code seems to be the only one not documented in the
> user manual so I do not know what went wrong.
>
> If anyone knows if this is a known issue that can be resolved, please
> help.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan (More info?)

R. J. Salvi schrieb:
> I don't know what "FF" means on your particular board, but you might try
> removing the CMOS battery for a few hours, then reinsert it and boot. Also,
> try a new PSU if the battery R&R doesn't do it. Please post results.

I removed the battery overnight and tried again today but that did
not help. At least I did not expect it to help since the mainboard
ran very reliable and stable for over a year now and bailed out that
suddenly. And if anyone is interested, I recorded the ugly noise the
onboard-buzzer starts to emit if I leave the mainboard on-power longer
that one minute. It sounds even worse than a harddisks' "click of death"
(~500kB):

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...


And I still do not know what BIOS POST Code "FF" should tell me. The
only postings (at least two) I could find about "FF" were about S2875
mainboards that were already dead on arrival showing "FF" and never
ran. Their owners got replacements.

Removing the mainboard from the case revealed a very small electronic
component on the backside that seems to have overheated and some metal
is missing there (evaporated?). I had to inspect the board several times
until I realized that tiny thingy on the backside (83kB and 8kB):

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...
http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...


After discovering that, I immediately stopped testing to not damage any
more components. I will try to get a replacement and contact Tyan about
that strange "FF" value.

Thanks for your try to help.


Tony

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan (More info?)

R. J. Salvi schrieb:
> I don't know what "FF" means on your particular board, but you might try
> removing the CMOS battery for a few hours, then reinsert it and boot. Also,
> try a new PSU if the battery R&R doesn't do it. Please post results.

I removed the battery overnight and tried again today but that did
not help. At least I did not expect it to help since the mainboard
ran very reliable and stable for over a year now and bailed out that
suddenly. And if anyone is interested, I recorded the ugly noise the
onboard-buzzer starts to emit if I leave the mainboard on-power longer
that one minute. It sounds even worse than a harddisks' "click of death"
(~500kB):

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...


And I still do not know what BIOS POST Code "FF" should tell me. The
only postings (at least two) I could find about "FF" were about S2875
mainboards that were already dead on arrival showing "FF" and never
ran. Their owners got replacements.

Removing the mainboard from the case revealed a very small electronic
component on the backside that seems to have overheated and some metal
is missing there (evaporated?). I had to inspect the board several times
until I realized that tiny thingy on the backside (83kB and 8kB):

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...
http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...


After discovering that, I immediately stopped testing to not damage any
more components. I will try to get a replacement and contact Tyan about
that strange "FF" value.

Thanks for your help.


Tony

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan (More info?)

"Tony Neumann" <ton@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de> wrote in message
news 1gsuv$jrb$1@anderson.hrz.tu-chemnitz.de...
> R. J. Salvi schrieb:
>> I don't know what "FF" means on your particular board, but you might try
>> removing the CMOS battery for a few hours, then reinsert it and boot.
>> Also, try a new PSU if the battery R&R doesn't do it. Please post
>> results.
>
> I removed the battery overnight and tried again today but that did
> not help. At least I did not expect it to help since the mainboard
> ran very reliable and stable for over a year now and bailed out that
> suddenly. And if anyone is interested, I recorded the ugly noise the
> onboard-buzzer starts to emit if I leave the mainboard on-power longer
> that one minute. It sounds even worse than a harddisks' "click of death"
> (~500kB):
>
> http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...
>
>
> And I still do not know what BIOS POST Code "FF" should tell me. The
> only postings (at least two) I could find about "FF" were about S2875
> mainboards that were already dead on arrival showing "FF" and never
> ran. Their owners got replacements.
>
> Removing the mainboard from the case revealed a very small electronic
> component on the backside that seems to have overheated and some metal
> is missing there (evaporated?). I had to inspect the board several times
> until I realized that tiny thingy on the backside (83kB and 8kB):
>
> http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...
> http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~ton/files/defekt/tyan_t...
>
>
> After discovering that, I immediately stopped testing to not damage any
> more components. I will try to get a replacement and contact Tyan about
> that strange "FF" value.

Good eye! Looks like an RMA is in order. Unless you have a board schematic
and parts list -- not to mention a *real* steady hand when R&R'ing surface
mount components -- sending it back to Tyan is the least painful process.
Good luck.

--
Robert J. Salvi, Ambiance Acoustics
http://www.ambianceacoustics.com
San Diego, CA USA
(858) 485-7514

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan (More info?)

Tony Neumann schrieb:
>
> Hi,
>
> what does the BIOS POST Code "FF" mean on Tyan Tiger K8W (S2875)
> mainboards?

If someone wants to know (since it is not documented in the manual),
this is what Tyan support told me:

"FF means that nothing is getting past the CPU's themselves during
the POST process."


So "FF" seems to indicate, that the mainboard probably might be
damaged if everything else installed seems to work fine.


Tony