Help system upgrade nightmare/question.

scottybass

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Feb 3, 2010
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In summary I decided to do an easy up grade and bought a new mobo and proc. I am under a very tight budget as my wife just had surgery. I installed my new proc and mobo like I have done serveral times before but this time the mobo took an average of anywhere from 20 to 2min to post. from there it looks like it runs slower than molasses on a winter day.

My question is has anybody else ran in to this and also what mobo do you suggest to replace this one with? I am looking at the Asus M4A77D as i have heard good things about this board.

Background: I originally built this computer around 2004 and have upgraded and replaced vaious pieces since then. I am upgrading my system once more and I am having issues with my new mobo I suspect. I have listed the last setthat I had that was stable for the last 4-5 months. The new system is listed below. I tested the PSU before building. PSU passed test with flying colors. Completed set up of mobo and new processor, plugged in other hardware. powered up no post. cleared cmos, no post. setup for trouble shooting(proc,ram and video only). posted after 20 minutes. foun out that board will only post with the 2x2gb ram chips installed. plugged everything backup and machine eventually posted, after 5 mins. set up bios. machine would not post after restart. I had to make a cold start and it finally posted. this time after about 2mins. attempted loading old windows load. loaded very slowly and eventually bsod'd (no good code for ts). I am now frustrated. i have tried all troubleshooting I know and I am ready to kick this board to the curb.

old system:
Asus M2N-Sli
AMD Phenom 9600
6 GB Corsair (2x1gb/2x2gb)
ATI Saphire hd 4770
2 x500 WD Sata HD
1 x750 WD Sata HD
2x cd-rw/dvd rom drives
windows 7 64 bit

new system:
Asus M4A78 Plus
AMD Phenom II 925 2.8 ghz
6 GB Corsair (2x1gb/2x2gb)
ATI Saphire hd 4770
2 x500 WD Sata HD
1 x750 WD Sata HD
2x cd-rw/dvd rom drives
windows 7 64 bit
 
Solution
The first think I wonder about is the memory - are you sure it is compatible with the new board since you did not change it at the same time. You did not provide enough detail on memory to tell.

If you check that and find that it is compatible, then yes go through the checklist on the stickee mentioned above.
Did you not do a clean install? You can't just plug your hard drive into the new board and expect it to work.

As to the post issues... First thing to do is follow the checklist, stickied at the top of the forum. SLOW posts can sometimes be the result of overheating CPUs being throttled down.
 

rockyjohn

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The first think I wonder about is the memory - are you sure it is compatible with the new board since you did not change it at the same time. You did not provide enough detail on memory to tell.

If you check that and find that it is compatible, then yes go through the checklist on the stickee mentioned above.
 
Solution

scottybass

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Feb 3, 2010
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update:

I followed the checklist but the systm still does a slow post. the memory is a pair of corsair 2gb 8500c5df dominator and a pair of corsair 1 gb 8500c5d. the memory is compatible with the board. I reasearched it out before I bought the board. I have only been using the dominators for the single pair boots. I have tried both pairs varying the which channel and slots they are in and varying wihch single pairs are in, all test the post takes the same amount of time. The newest symptom that has arisen is that bios battery died prematurely and after replacing the battery the bios will not hold any settings.
 

scottybass

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Feb 3, 2010
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update/close:

After troubleshooting the computer all weekend I found that the bios is corrupted. There also seems to be a power issue within the motherboard circuitry itself. I tried another processor and a new hd and got the same result. while this does not rule out the video card or the ram. My last test is a spared out M4A78 Plus(not mine). Spared out motherboard M4A78 Plus(not mine) . Which is the same as the new works fine posts good. I am calling the Asus M4A78 Plus bad and rmaing it and ordering an Asus M4A77D.
 

scottybass

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Feb 3, 2010
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thank you for every one's help. I recieved and installed the m4a77d mother board from asus and the computer posts and boots flawlessly. ( I don't make it a habit to replace a motherboard and expect the hardrive to boot and work well but in my experience of over ten years of building and reparing computers. Harddrives will boot fine after any hardware change althougth a clean install is recommened. After a while the drivers from the old bord may conflict or will use up resources and space.)

thanks again