Help, before I replace the motherboard...

ngio

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Sep 26, 2011
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Hello all,

I am new to this community although I've used many of the threads here to help me out over the past year, so if anyone can give me a hand its probably you guys.

I have an Intel Desktop Board D945GTP, D945PLM. Currently there seems to be no sign that the board has any intention of booting up when I plug it in and press power. When I plug it in and turn on the switch in the back of the case I get a green LED on the motherboard that lights up but thats it. Here are some of the troubleshooting steps I've taken to get it going (with no success yet):

1. Checked power: I shorted the green and black wire (pin 15 and 16 i believe) in the motherboard connector, of the power supply, to see if the power supply turned on... it was a no-go so I replaced it with a new power supply (ACEPOWER 700W), this did nothing except confirm that the power supply was not the root problem (and yes did the test again and I have power in all the connectors).

2. Checked power switch: The power switch at the front of the case works (multimeter test), I also tried shorting the power switch pins on the motherboard and still got nothing.

My last guess is that the motherboard is toast... or the CPU. If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know, if you think it is the MB or CPU let me know as well.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
 

nordlead

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Aug 3, 2011
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If it isn't doing anything when you press the power button then it is probably a dead motherboard. With most other part failures (outside of PSU) you at least get part way through the post sequence.

EDIT: you should try pulling out everything you don't need. So down to a single stick of RAM, no HDD, use integrated graphics if available and so on. If it then gets to POST you know that it could be another part (could still be the motherboard)
 

nitefish

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Feb 7, 2011
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hi,
You may have a bad mobo, but there are three things need to boot
1. cpu
2.video
3. ram
although a bad mobo will not let you boot, it is rare that a motherboard just dies. so the first thing to do is unplug every thing but the three things you need.
disconnect all hard drives, floppy and cd.
leave the 20 pin and 4 pin power connected to the motherboard (or 20+4 4+2) so it has power. also if you have a video card leave that in.
attempt to boot. if you notice an amber light in the front of the pc and it doesn't boot it is the power supply. are there any bios beeps. if so please reply with them so we can help further. the beeps come in two tpyes long and short and also we need the amount and in what order.
 

ngio

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Sep 26, 2011
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I unplugged everything except Ram and video card (disconnected all fans, and all USB ports.. ETC). I left the obvious ones plugged in (PSU 20+4 connector, PSU 4 connector and CPU).

I still have no noises, beeps or lights (except the one green LED hardwired into the motherboard).