Computer won't boot - Motherboard DOA? [SOLVED]

[Daniel_W]

Hello,

I'm trying to repair a system that's a couple of years old. I'm just about out of ideas... and so I've registered.
I'm CompTIA A+ certified, and have had a fair amount of experience. That said, I'm a newbie in a lot of things.

The system was powering on, but would not display anything onscreen. The video card is a PCI-E nVidia thing. I tried a known good AGP card and a PCI card, but nothing worked. So I assumed the motherboard (Asrock 939Dual-SATA2) was bad.

I ordered this Foxconn motherboard, and installed it a couple hours ago. But now, the system does not even power on. The power supply also does not flash on plugging it in.

The power supply is good - I tested it in another machine.
I tried shorting the power switch pins - no luck.

System:
Athlon 64 3200+ 939
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
1 GB dual channel Corsair ValueSelect DDR 400
PCI-E GeForce 8400GS
Coolmax AP-500X power supply

So... any ideas?

[EDIT: Added system specs and symptom]
[EDIT: Solved]

 

[Proximon]

If you look in my guide, linked in my sig or at the top of the forum, you'll find a section about PSUs, with links to some important articles for you. You should know a bit more about power supplies.

I would not be surprised however if you had two bad 939 boards. They seem to be dropping left and right, as if they had a shelf life.

Here is the checklist. As you had two bad boards, perhaps you have a short on the backside? Did you breadboard (build outside the case)?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-build-post-checklist

 

[aford10]

939 boards are low quality as is. But you are also dealing in low quality manufacturers in Asrock and Foxconn. Neither are known for making good boards.

 

[jsc]

Coolmax PSU's are also excessively mediocre.It's possible tha thte Coolmax will power one system, but not the other.

 

[jitpublisher]

939 boards are low quality as is. But you are also dealing in low quality manufacturers in Asrock and Foxconn. Neither are known for making good boards.

I really don't agree with that exactly.....
When all you could buy was socket 939 boards, there were bad ones and there were excellant ones.
Asrock and Foxconn make solid products, may not be as popular as ASUS, Gigabyte, etc, but they make decent products for people a little more value minded.
Follow Proximans suggestions, and start with the basics outside the case.
There is a concern if you are trying to rebuild a socket 939 system today, there are a very, very limited amount of these boards out there.
Chances are if someone has one, it was a returned item at one time, or a very unpopular model with some kind of known issues.

 

[Daniel_W]

Thank's for all the replies... I know I need more experience. I'll try all of your suggestions, though it looks like jitpublisher is right about the low quality boards; seems like this board makes up the majority of the listings on eBay.

 

[aford10]

I really don't agree with that exactly.....
When all you could buy was socket 939 boards, there were bad ones and there were excellant ones.
Asrock and Foxconn make solid products, may not be as popular as ASUS, Gigabyte, etc, but they make decent products for people a little more value minded.
Follow Proximans suggestions, and start with the basics outside the case.
There is a concern if you are trying to rebuild a socket 939 system today, there are a very, very limited amount of these boards out there.
Chances are if someone has one, it was a returned item at one time, or a very unpopular model with some kind of known issues.

You made my point for me in a circular logic sort of way. If 939 sockets were good quality, there would still be a lot of them out there. You would be able to go on amazon, ebay, craigslist or whatever site you buy from and find all sorts of good name brands. However, all that is out there are the leftovers. I've purchased foxconn, ECS, and some of the bugdet boards, but only socket 775. Even with the updated sockets, they are still real buggy. If you want a 939 socket, my advice would be to go with the better manufacturers.

 

[Proximon]

I have been known to recommend ASRock and Foxconn both in extremely low budget builds when the price was right.

From what I have seen of ASRock they can have some nice features and performance, but die a bit faster than ASUS or Gigabyte.

Foxconn, I think makes a wide variety of quality. Some good, some bad. They are often the first out the door on a new chipset and sometimes considered innovators.

 

[Daniel_W]

Okay, it's fixed. Sort of. I took the generic power supply out of my good machine and swapped it with the Coolmax. Both machines are now running. I'm still thinking that the Asrock motherboard died, all the other components seem to work. I'm surprised that the power supplies/motherboard would be that picky - time to drag out the textbooks again.

I'm value-obsessed, not value-conscious, which is one reason I went with Asrock in the first place. In hindsight, I'll probably pass them by in the future. Thanks for all your help - it is much appreciated by this 21-year-old just starting out!