Alright, where do I begin. First I'll mention that there are a plethora of posts regarding exactly this subject, and I've read through all of them, I assure you. The reason I'm creating this new thread is that I believe my experience is slightly different from the rest, though I did see an incomplete thread with a similar situation. This is of course regarding the dreaded nForce no video, no post, no nothing. I'll detail my experience:
First, machine specs:
XFX nForce 680i LT
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700
Crucial Ballistix 2048MB PC6400 DDR2
XFX GeForce 7300 GT 512MB
Ultra LSP750 750w PSU
Build went well, I've built quite a few machines before and nothing extraordinary with this particular build, mainboard is a little funky, things are in strange places, but everything fit and is snug and all good.
First boot:
So first boot I connected video to DVI, used a USB keyboard, machine was in-case and upon my desk. Turned on psu and got a blue and yellow lights on the mainboard, normal operation it seems from other threads I've read. Booted the machine and my main focus was keeping an eye on the fans and operation within the case. Here's where the story gets a little interesting:
On first boot, video WORKED, I saw a little nForce splash screen, keyboard was functioning, no post beeps but that's probably because it doesn't have an onboard buzzer or connections for a case buzzer. Got to select bios or boot stage, and I was watching the case, and noticed the CPU fan wasn't running, took my attention away and I missed entering BIOS. After that it said "Booting from CD" (Which there was not) and displayed MAC address, after that seemed to go nowhere. Understanding my CPU fan wasn't working, I quickly inserted an OS livecd and switched off the PSU.
Second boot:
Switched CPU fan header, booted, fan worked this time. No video. USB keyboard not responding to numlock. Didn't go anywhere, so I turned it off again.
Third boot:
Switched USB keyboard with PS/2, plugged vga monitor in as well as DVI, booted. Same exact thing.
Since then I've tried running single memory banks, switched out video cards which I know are operational, tried different power configs ( removing the molex plug to mainboard ), and that's about all I've tried so far. I'm going to explain exactly how it performs starting from the second boot and throughout all of this troubleshooting.
Start PC, power led is on, hdd led is on, numlock will switch, no post beeps. Mainboard lights seem normal. After about five seconds, numlock stops responding. After about ten seconds, hdd led goes off, followed 15 seconds later by the power led turning off, though the machine's fans continue to run, and will not turn off until I switch off PSU or hold the power button. Reset button also works. Still no video, no post. And this has been the issue. Also will mention that my CPU fan does use a rear mounted bracket, but it's entirely plastic except for plastic covered threading for screws where the bracket comes through the mainboard. When I get home I will experiment with that a bit more.
The big question is, in my mind, what caused it to stop working after what seemed like a perfect first boot, with everything working well? Lots of people experience this problem and eventually fix it through different initial memory configs, so that they can adjust bios to power the rest of the memory, this fix didn't work for me. Or they just call it DOA and RMA it. I understand I'll probably end up doing the same thing, but any ideas as to why this happened, or why it worked only on first boot would be greatly appreciated. This is more a curiousity than anything else for me, but I'd also like to get my machine working. Maybe the best lesson learned is, cheap is nice, but quality is better.
Once again thanks for reading I know it's a little tl;dr. You can turn this into an XFX flame session if you'd like.
Regards,
Andy
First, machine specs:
XFX nForce 680i LT
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700
Crucial Ballistix 2048MB PC6400 DDR2
XFX GeForce 7300 GT 512MB
Ultra LSP750 750w PSU
Build went well, I've built quite a few machines before and nothing extraordinary with this particular build, mainboard is a little funky, things are in strange places, but everything fit and is snug and all good.
First boot:
So first boot I connected video to DVI, used a USB keyboard, machine was in-case and upon my desk. Turned on psu and got a blue and yellow lights on the mainboard, normal operation it seems from other threads I've read. Booted the machine and my main focus was keeping an eye on the fans and operation within the case. Here's where the story gets a little interesting:
On first boot, video WORKED, I saw a little nForce splash screen, keyboard was functioning, no post beeps but that's probably because it doesn't have an onboard buzzer or connections for a case buzzer. Got to select bios or boot stage, and I was watching the case, and noticed the CPU fan wasn't running, took my attention away and I missed entering BIOS. After that it said "Booting from CD" (Which there was not) and displayed MAC address, after that seemed to go nowhere. Understanding my CPU fan wasn't working, I quickly inserted an OS livecd and switched off the PSU.
Second boot:
Switched CPU fan header, booted, fan worked this time. No video. USB keyboard not responding to numlock. Didn't go anywhere, so I turned it off again.
Third boot:
Switched USB keyboard with PS/2, plugged vga monitor in as well as DVI, booted. Same exact thing.
Since then I've tried running single memory banks, switched out video cards which I know are operational, tried different power configs ( removing the molex plug to mainboard ), and that's about all I've tried so far. I'm going to explain exactly how it performs starting from the second boot and throughout all of this troubleshooting.
Start PC, power led is on, hdd led is on, numlock will switch, no post beeps. Mainboard lights seem normal. After about five seconds, numlock stops responding. After about ten seconds, hdd led goes off, followed 15 seconds later by the power led turning off, though the machine's fans continue to run, and will not turn off until I switch off PSU or hold the power button. Reset button also works. Still no video, no post. And this has been the issue. Also will mention that my CPU fan does use a rear mounted bracket, but it's entirely plastic except for plastic covered threading for screws where the bracket comes through the mainboard. When I get home I will experiment with that a bit more.
The big question is, in my mind, what caused it to stop working after what seemed like a perfect first boot, with everything working well? Lots of people experience this problem and eventually fix it through different initial memory configs, so that they can adjust bios to power the rest of the memory, this fix didn't work for me. Or they just call it DOA and RMA it. I understand I'll probably end up doing the same thing, but any ideas as to why this happened, or why it worked only on first boot would be greatly appreciated. This is more a curiousity than anything else for me, but I'd also like to get my machine working. Maybe the best lesson learned is, cheap is nice, but quality is better.
Once again thanks for reading I know it's a little tl;dr. You can turn this into an XFX flame session if you'd like.
Regards,
Andy
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