Could two (newish) motherboards be bad? - Help please.

Use an external image host like imageshack or google one that you like.

If you are going to write modern on your PSU you might as well write in the exact maker and model instead. There are a whole bunch of brand new complete garbage PSUs on the market and very few good ones. Modern means pretty much nothing to us.

You won't be able to upload pictures to this website. If you want us to see pictures you first have to find somewhere that will host them, host them there, and then grab the links from them to paste in here. There are tons of places that will host pictures for free out there.

Here are some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo_sharing_webs...

Also, what exactly does happen if it isn't posting. There are a whole lot of possibilities that are included in not posting. Is it giving beep codes of some kind?

Thanks for the quick responses, and sorry for my delay.

PSU = Allied; AL-B500E. Modern = 24pin + 4pin + SATA + GPU 6pin...

Unfortunately, no speakers on the MB's or PCI Analyzer card and when i connect a small speaker i get nothing...

The lights come, on the fans spin and the CPU/Mem heat up...

The PCIe card works in two other systems and i tried it in both MB's (it also spins up and heats up)...

I thought the problem was the CPU wattage but both list the AMD x945 as supported.

Still trying to get picks up...

Thank You

I am not sure why this PSU should really be labeled "modern".

It is designed based on pre-2000 specifications. There have been many changes since then.

You can tell by looking at which lines on the PSU have the higher amps on them. The one you have has these figures
3.3v = 28A
5v = 52A
12v = 20A

The really old models have high numbers for both 3.3v and 5v and low numbers on the 12v. New models have the exact opposite, really low 3.3v and 5v and really high 12v.

Take this for example XFX Pro 650w Core (the one I have) http://tinyurl.com/9lfj36x
3.3v = 25A
5v = 25A
12v = 53A

It took the 50+ off the 5 and put it on the 12, and took the 20s value from the 12 and put it on the 5.

It is important because in 2012 almost all the power that a computer uses comes from the 12v line. Next to nothing comes from the 3.3v and 5v lines these days. It is so much the case that we say around here that a rule of thumb is to just multiply whatever it says under 12v by 12 and that's what wattage your PSU is. That would make yours about 12v x 20 = 240w PSU.

Also, its kinda important to note that the efficiency is only 65% on this. All new PSUs are at 80% minimum. What that means to you is the amount of power you are pulling from the wall is going to be much higher than it needs to be in order to supply your parts with the necessary power.

The excess you are pulling that doesn't make it to the components turns into heat. That translates into high power bills and a lot of heat inside the PSU and the PC. Heat makes the operations of electronic components worse.

The one you have may really not cut it. I could see a 240w not having the juice to jump start a 2012 PC. 240w isn't a lot when everything that matters is pulling from it.

I would seriously consider trying to borrow another PSU from somebody and try that in your PC. Either that or just buy a new one right away.

If you need help choosing one, we are available.

thank you.

Will switch to the currently working PSU (http://www.epowertec.com/zu550EZ.html );
currently working in the AM2+ box with the X3 cpu, big fans, GPU, ...

Also, with the biostar MB it has integrated graphics so only CPU, MEM, and stock cpu fan were attached during first tries...

The ePower 550 also have 50As on the 5v line, so you are aware. If it is working, though, I guess it is fine for the short term.

The F0 error code can mean there is a failure with either an expansion card of some kind (like the PC Analyzer card itself) or a problem with the motherboard itself. You can try taking out the battery for 30 min and putting it back in. That could fix the problem if it is a motherboard problem.

Error Code 11 can mean a lot of things depending on which BIOS maker you are talking about. I don't know off the top of my head which BIOS the 880g motherboard is running so I can't really comment on this.

Phoenix seems to be the only maker that ever uses F0, but pretty much all of them use 11 for something and its not the same for any of them.

Anyway, it sounds like you have tested most of the components other than the motherboards in a working system and they all worked in it. Am I understanding this right?

If so, then it is likely that both motherboards are just bad. They both come from motherboard makers that are average at best.

Motherboards have kinda high failure rates in general when looking at all computer parts as a whole, but the best makers (Asus, Gigabyte, and Asrock mostly) do still usually have a pretty good advantage on all the other brands in terms of quality and likelihood to be DOA.

Just tried a Sempron 145 processor (i ordered last week for this); it worked on the MSI board, but not the Biostar. Will flash bios on MSI and see if the X4 works.

Thanks all.