Motherboard disastrous beeping

[J2468]

I dug out my old abit nf7 v2.0 motherboard. Its not been used for about a year.

I fitted a new 500w power supply because i bought a few peripherables and the 350w wasnt enough.

When i turn it on all i get is a beep that lasts about 2 seconds and repeats forever.

Any help massively appreciated.

 

[J2468]

hmm and now there is no beeping but no vga display either!

 

[Ulfbersark]

Sounds like either something's not connected right or something is shorting out.

 

[Capewalk]

I had a system displaying the same symptom as yours. It turned out to be the 4 pin connector next to the processor was not in it's socket properly. Hope this helps. Doug

 

[BustedSony]

Two things, first the Cmos battery may be dead and the bios is now set to a non-bootable condition. Try ctrl-alt-insert while booting to reset and get into Bios.
Secondly Abit MBs around that time frequently used capacitors with that "fake" dielectric (the infamous bad capacitor failures) Are any caps swollen at the top and/or leaking dielectric?

 

[J2468]

I had a system displaying the same symptom as yours. It turned out to be the 4 pin connector next to the processor was not in it's socket properly. Hope this helps. Doug

The only 4 pin connector next to the processor is little power connector?

And the ctrl-alt-delete trick didn't work. Im sure before its been possible to boot without the battery in before?

 

[BustedSony]

I had a system displaying the same symptom as yours. It turned out to be the 4 pin connector next to the processor was not in it's socket properly. Hope this helps. Doug

The only 4 pin connector next to the processor is little power connector?

And the ctrl-alt-delete trick didn't work. Im sure before its been possible to boot without the battery in before?

INSERT my friend, ctrl-alt-INSERT. Also try holding JUST the insert button then turning on the power. This is a software clear back to default Bios settings at first boot. Ctrl-Alt-Del is a reboot or NT login. F1 or Del only is to enter Bios at boot, but this won't work if the Bios is badly set.

 

[J2468]

Yeah sorry meant ctrl-alt-insert.
Tried holding ins then turning on, turning on then holding ins, turning on holding ctrl-alt-ins, and turning on pressing ctrl-alt-ins.
No joy.

 

[BustedSony]

Yeah sorry meant ctrl-alt-insert.
Tried holding ins then turning on, turning on then holding ins, turning on holding ctrl-alt-ins, and turning on pressing ctrl-alt-ins.
No joy.

Ah well :? Did you look closely at the capacitors? I'm not kidding, a lot of Abit's (and others') motherboards have developed failed caps, even when unused.

 

[J2468]

Hmm how odd. I reseated the ram, changed gfx card, and now the beeping has changed from no beeps to repetative quick beeps which allegedly mean power failure.
This is mighty odd as ive just bought an antec 500w psu which was quite expensive.

 

[BustedSony]

Hmm how odd. I reseated the ram, changed gfx card, and now the beeping has changed from no beeps to repetative quick beeps which allegedly mean power failure.
This is mighty odd as ive just bought an antec 500w psu which was quite expensive.

And that power is filtered by the capacitors. Have you looked at them yet? They're the plastic covered round things. The tops should be flat and unsplit, there shouldn't be any gunk around the base. Everything you say suggests a MB failure caused by at least one shorted capacitor. It's actually easy to fix if you find an honest technician to solder in new ones.

 

[J2468]

Hmm this is so odd. Since the new fast beeping i changed gfx from ti4600 to radeon 9800, the system now outputs an error saying please connect power to the radeon 9800, when i do the comp fans start for one second then stop. I have a feeling that the ti4600 is dead and the rad 9800 is fault.

 

[Nil]

Hmm this is so odd. Since the new fast beeping i changed gfx from ti4600 to radeon 9800, the system now outputs an error saying please connect power to the radeon 9800, when i do the comp fans start for one second then stop. I have a feeling that the ti4600 is dead and the rad 9800 is fault.

It doesn't sound that way to me. It sounds like either your PSU or motherboard (hard to tell which from what you've told us). Antec isn't terrible, by any means, and if it's new, then it's unlikely that's your problem.

Beeps are boot errors, and your VGA shouldn't cause one. Cpu failures, ram failures, and motherboard failures are your usual bad guys.

 

[Mobius]

You know what: I'm very tempted to bet you real $$$ that your 350 watt PSU is MORE than adequate.

People have this fascination with gigantic PSUs these days, and I reckon that 80% of the time, people buy a PSU with 40-50% too much capacity. Simply stated, they don't add all the components' maximum draw together to arrive at a total, and buy a PSU with that amount of grunt.

Sure, it doesn't HURT to have a strong PSU, but they are expensive compared to units which are quite adequate. The extra money is better spent on faster RAM, or better video card.

Let me spell it out for you: unless you have some stupid video card setup, or have 327 USB devices attached, and no self-powered USB hub, it is extremely unlikely your PC will EVER draw more than 250 watts.

Often, it is very easy to save money on a new PSU, by investing a very small sum of money in self-powered USB Hubs, and that way, none of your USB devices rely on the PC PSU.

Just a thought.