MSI K9A2 will not boot

[Reavp]

Well, I just installed a new Zalman CNPS9700 cooler and when I put everything back together, there is no longer video. It worked fine before I pulled everything out. All the power connections are connected to the motherboard and the video card. I've reset the CMOS, used only 1 stick of RAM and I took the board out of the case and tried booting it but still no video. I can hear the hard drive spinning up and the HD activity light flickers. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[badge]

Try reseating the video card.

 

[Reavp]

I've tried it plenty of times, and I tried it in the second dark blue slot as well with no results.

 

[badge]

When you reset the CMOS jumper be sure to unplug the PSU and remove the battery when you reset the jumper. Have you tried booting the system with ONLY 1 DIMM RAM, CPU/HSF and video card. Unplug everything else including HD and optical drives.

 

[Reavp]

Yes, I did that with the CMOS jumper, and I also booted the machine barebones with no video as well. None of the keyboard lights light up as well if that's of note

 

[badge]

Try unplugging the hard drive and optical drives. Then boot the system.

 

[Reavp]

Yeah I tried that and still no go, how about removing the video card and seeing if any of the startup sounds go off? Would that work?

 

[badge]

If a speaker is attached and works sounding the BIOS beeps, if you remove the video card and boot the system and hear NO beeps indicating no video card present, either your MB or possibly your CPU is bad or malfunctioning. You might try reseating the Zalman HSF. Did you remove the CPU from the socket when you swapped out the HSF?

 

[badge]

Do you have a different video card you can try.

 

[Reavp]

Not with me but I can borrow someone's

 

[badge]

I had a similar problem swapping out a MB to a new case the other day. Mine booted to BIOS though and tried to load windows XP then would crash. I had to go into safe mode an reistall the video driver and that fixed it.

It's odd that you can not get to BIOS if you disconnect everything (HD, DVD, case fans, etc.). Maybe a different video card will cause the system to boot in BIOS or windows. If you had the MB outside the case with only the HSF, video card and 1 DIMM RAM and it still won't boot, something is wrong with the MB or CPU (if video card is good). You might try reinstalling the old HSF or reinstall the Zalman 9700 and try to get to BIOS. The CPU fits only one way (you know I am guessing). Hopefully, you didn't bend or damage a MB resistor or voltage regulator putting the larger Zalman on. I don't know, MB or CPU it sounds like considering what you done to troubleshoot, which is a lot.

 

[Reavp]

I'm also starting to suspect a motherboard or CPU issue since I've pulled everything apart to no avail, but since I don't have another PCI-E video card to test out, the video card is not ruled out. I'm going to drop in my old 3800+ X2 tomorrow and see if it boots with that. I don't think anything was damaged on the motherboard, but who knows. I'll do some more troubleshooting tomorrow. Thanks for your advice!

 

[njven]

Assuming you have this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136

Did you try putting the USB bracket in the back and hooking up both the USB cable and the other one. Then booting it up and reading the light codes and checking them with the manual? I've found that's a very good feature MSI includes with some of there motherboards. Also, have you tried removing the CPU and reseating it? If the thermal paste on it was a bit sticky, taking the old HSF off could have loosened it.

Try the USB bracket and see what the lights say though, there's basically a code for every piece of hardware.

 

[Mike of Westport]

I had this problem with DOA MSI K9A2 Platinum. Twice. I have PC board analyzer. Message indicator is saying bios will not boot. Thanks to all who contributed here. I removed board from case, stripped down to CPU (new) and one mem board. No. I swapped PSU. No. Board only. No. Grrrr. Like a chump I ordered a replacement thinking it was just bad karma. It failed too. Suggest you don't buy this board.
ms

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