A7N8X-dlx help, can't find answer...

[audela22]

After reading all afternoon in countless forums, I cannot find the solution to my A7N8X-dlx problems and fear I may have damaged the board.
Here goes:
Began this afternoon installing to a Lian-Li 6089 case.
-2x256 crucial PC2100 DDR RAM CL 2.5 in 1 & 3
-PS:
Enhance 300W ATX-1125BTA
+3.3v - 20A
+5v - 26A
+12 - 13A
-12v - 0.8A
-5v - 0.5A
+5Vsb - 2A
+3.3v & +5v combination load - 175W
+3.3v & +5v & +12v - comb load - 280W
-2 HD - Maxtor 5400 & WD 7200
-DVD & CDRW
-AGP-V3800 (TNT2) Universal AGP GFX
-AMD 2100+ (Installed by supplier)
-Sblive value

After everything was connected, turned it. One short beep and the A7N8X graphic screen came on with some keyboard options along the bottom. Then the system froze.

I restarted and since then there has been no beep, no video feed, no womans voice...

My first worries were with the graphics card. I'm not sure if this card has damaged the mobo, or has been damaged because it is not solely 1.5V. It has the cutting's of a Universal card on the bottom, which is 1.5 as well as 3.3 correct? Although I can't find the specs on any website. Also in my haste in installing it, I removed the plastic chip that comes in the AGP slot for AGP Pro, which I now realise should be left there.

I have now tried stripping it all down to just memory, gfx card, no mem, no gfx card, nothing but cpu, reset the cmos(took out battery and altered jumper momentarily - as in the manual)

The cpu was assembled at the supplier and passed thier quality tests, whatever they are. The memory is new...are odds good that both sticks would be bad?

I'm not very well read on power supplies and this is the only one available to me without a mail order so i picked it up. Is this not powerful enough for my machine? Even with just the motherboard connected shouldn't there be a beep or two?

I've tried to outline all my information in detail so that there is no grey areas...please let me know if there is something i have overlooked, can try, anything at all before I go crazy. I still think there's hope in the board and returning this stuff is not something I want to do at all.

Thanks
-Anthony

 

[chad_n]

Do any fans,hard drives spin up anymore? My 300W sparkel runs fine, and my system is loaded down more than yours.

Not to scare you but you may want to look under the Heat sink if you feel inclined. I think athlon xp's thermal diodes are know to fail to protect, and if the supplier didn't install the heat sink correctly (eg. left the dust tab on or something) I think the athlon dies in a matter of seconds (THG had an article on the a while back). I would not be surpised if a supplier never powers up the system like they say they do. Again just a possibility.

I doubt the memory would power up once then never again. Especially if it was left sit a while (cold memory can handle higher clock speeds for a bit). I would also think you would get beeps of some sort on bad memory or a bad video card.

You're best bet is to borrow some components (vid card, cpu,power supply) from a friend if possible, or maybe buy a $5 tnt card on ebay to see if it's the video board..

This is all assuming you don't want to return it to the supplier under RMA...

Just my .02. I don't envy you and the process of elmination your about to go through Hopefully there is a simple and cheap fix.

Chad

 

[johnnylange]

I agree with Chad on that one. If the CPU fan failed operate that would have killed it really quickly. My question is do you know if the CPU fan was on when you first booted up? I've been reading that a lot of people have been having cmos/bios issues with that board...don't know if that relates to your problem though. Best of luck!

 

[audela22]

Yes, the fans power up fine. I'm not sure about the 1st boot because i had the case sides on, but since then I have had the case open and can see and hear the cpu fan moving. I've noticed there is a sticker that has seemed to slip off the cpu and is touching the motherboard and the cpu under the heatsink. This doesn't seem like a good thing. I'm wary about removing the heat sink bc i've never done that before, also that void's the warranty i believe.

The HD lights went on and normal sounds came out on the 1st boot up. There is also the green power LED on the mobo lit and the red AGP LED is not lit.

-Anthony

 

[johnnylange]

Removing the CPU fan shouldn't void the warranty unless it's some kind of instore policy from where ever you bought the hardware. I would take it back from where ever you bought it and mention what happened. You mentioned that there is a sticker between the CPU and the heatsink...I can't say for sure unless I saw it for my self. But my best guess is that the whoever did the installation forgot to take of the plastic tape on the bottom the heat sink that covers the the thermal tape. Thermal Tape (in case you don't know) fills the gap between the CPU and the bottom of the heatsink. That tape is covered by "protective tape" If it wasn't removed...that's an error on their part! From what you said everything else is working fine. Usually if something else is causing a problem the post is pretty good about telling you.

 

[audela22]

well i think i done it. removed the heatsink from the cpu. underneath the sticker was a "warranty void if removed sticker" . there is a pink square on the heatsink with a square out of the middle that is still on the cpu, like it was left behind from when it was removed.

How do I go about putting the heatsink back on. Thermal paste i'm guessing. or should i give up and bring it to the local fixit place.

RMA'ing these things is a huge hassle because i have to deal with customs on them.

-Anthony

 

[jlanka]

yup - just scrape off the leftover tape from the heat sink with a razor blade or something, remove any leftover tape from the CPU slug (if there is any, use rubbing alcohol if it's stubborn, no knife here) then order some arctic silver and put on a thin layer of that (on the heat sink) don't use fingers, use a credit card or something else to smooth it out.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Flyboy]

Man I can't seem to use the credit card or a razor blade to smooth it out...I also resort back to the finger. I just can't fill in all gaps without opening another one! Is there any reason I shouldn't use my finger? BTW, I wear a Latex glove too...

 

[jlanka]

not sure if the latex would interact with the goop. Bare finger is a no-no because your skin gets on there and interferes with the cooling conductivity or some such...

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[chad_n]

Hmm. Well had i replied sooner I would have probably advised doing anything but look. Now you may have given them an excuse to say you messed it up. Check out AMD or some PC parts vendors webite. They usually list installation instructions for heat sink/fans (HSF). See if you recognize the dust tab for the thermal pad as being left on or not. realize it may be melted

I like to use the tip of the Artic Silver (III) tube (not the cap) Don't worry too much about a pile of goo. My experience is that the heat sink clips are strong enough to push out much of the excess. It doesn't seem to effect any bridges so it must be electrically non-conductive. A little excess will provide you some insurance if the heat sink slides around a bit while you put it on. I overclock and never had a problem.

Try removing the CPU and testing the board. I think (don't have the manual here) that there is an error beep for 'install a CPU moron'.

All else fails grab a voltmeter and check the supply lines.

Good Luck,
Chad

 

[audela22]

Well I took it to a computer store down the street for their opinion. He's thinking the board is dead. There is no power going through it at all now. Could that AGP graphics card have caused problems with it?

-Anthony

 

[chad_n]

I have had MBs fail on me before. In my case it was a bad memory channel.

The board has a protection device for when the wrong AGP card is used (the LED you mentioned). You saw a screen display for a short time, which indicates that board was in the slot correctly.

It's possible that one of the power channels of the power supply died, and the others are ok. You would need a voltmeter to be sure. Did the shop actually hook it up and try to run it? When you say 'no power going through it at all now', do you mean fans/drives too are dead now?

Maybe they could check the individual components for you. I would suspect that it would be a bad power supply, bad connector somewhere, or bad mobo. The board should be able to report bad CPU and bad memory and bad video card. Might not hurt to reseat the jumpers too.

Have you tried hooking a pair of speakers to the lime-green channel on the back? From what I saw the bios 'lady' only talks out that. Still, most problems would come through the onboard speaker, but it's a cheap test.

If you've check jumpers, and connections all over, then I think your going to have to start parts swapping now, or have the shop test them individually.

Chad