Strange post code on my 'new' dragon mobo [Archive]

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14 Jun 2006, 2:19am

Sorry for the long post, but it's a long story, and I think you need the whole thing to see my issue. Thanks for taking the time to read the whole thing :)

I'm getting a strange post code from the mobo that I just got from Prime (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46848).

Connected devices (all known to be working):
AMD 2100+ proc
ATI 9800 Vcard
1.5gb of corsair RAM

Here's the Story:

I reassembled the system with the Soyo Dragon KT400 Ultra (Platinum) mobo.

The system crashed several times in a row while trying to boot into windows. Each time it would get a little further into the process before it would freeze, so I let it keep trying. On the fifth try it finished loading Windows and seemed stable, so I allowed it to try to install some of the new drivers it needs for the new mobo. It got part way thru this when it froze again.

I let it try to boot again, and this time, I sent it into safemode. This seemed very stable, and got thru all of the new driver installations. When they were done, a dialog box indicated that a re-boot was necessary. I told it to go ahead. However, during the logoff process, the system froze again. I pressed the reset button.

That's when I heard the strange post-code for the first time.

Instead of booting up normally, it gave me a short-long post-code. At least I think it was short-long... It could have been short-long-short-short (it sounded like "beep beeeeebebe" and I can't tell if that last part is part of the long beep, or if it is two additional short beeps.) Either way, the mobo's manual only mentions one possible post-code: short-long, and the instructions under that code are: ensure that the CPU fan is plugged into the CPU fan power. I double checked... It's fine...

Resetting the BIOS did not help.

However, maybe that meant it wasn't getting sufficient power, so I checked for the board power reqs, and the board and all of my other components fall within the output limit of my PSU.

That's when I noticed the extra power port on the mobo (see attached diagram). The manual doesn't actually say what this port is for, so on a whim, I tried to plug a power lead into it, and see if that would do anything.

It did. The computer started to boot. However, it froze on the Welcome screen. It did it five times. Since it was consistently crashing at the same point during the loading of windows, I surmised that it might be a driver conflict, with all those new drivers in there.

I restarted into safemode, and win into my device manager. I found a bunch of drivers still in the list from my old NVIDIA board, so I disabled or uninstalled all of those. When I rebooted, however, it froze on the welcome screen again.

I gave up. I decided that it was time for a repair install.

I had previously not connected power to my CD-ROM drive yet, so I opened the system and plugged a power lead into the back of the drive. When I started the system back up, the post-code was back. Frustrated, I opened up the case and took the power lead back out of the CD-ROM drive, to get it back to the configuration that had been working moments before.

No change, it gave me the post-code again, and it's doing it consistently.

Resetting the BIOS did not help.

I spoke with Brian, and he recommended trying an older video card. I couldn't find an old PCI card (I know I have one around here somewhere), but I tried an older AGP card, and it did not change the issue. Still just a post-code.

I took that card out, and put my 9800 back in. On a whim, I tried to boot again. It worked! For some random reason it worked again! It was still freezing at the Welcome screen however, so I shut it off, and tried to plug in the CD-ROM drive again, hoping it would cause it to error, like last time. It didn't, it was still able to start booting.

So, I put my windows disk in the drive and rebooted again. It got into the windows setup, and I was all set to repair install, when I realized that I wasn't sure exactly which partition Windows was installed on, they were all the same size, and the drive letters may have changed when I moved the IDE cables around. I was pretty sure that I know which partition it was, but to play it safe, I decided to boot into safemode, and take a look. I quit setup, and rebooted the system.

When it tried to initialize windows, it gave an error: unable to find NTSDL (I think that's what it said).

I rebooted again, and guess what?

The post-code is all I got.

It seems completely random. The thing refuses to boot, giving me only this code, and if I unplug and plug back in enough cables it seems to be fixed, but after several boots, the problem is back again.

I'm pretty frustrated at this point. Anyone have any ideas?

primesuspect

14 Jun 2006, 2:43am

As just a bit of background, this board was working 100% for three years straight, folding 24/7 right before I took it apart and gave it to CB. It occured to me that this board was an old customer board that I ended up with for one reason or another. I had a PCI card in there from day 1, so perhaps the problem was a faulty AGP port or northbridge AGP controller. :(

digitaltree

14 Jun 2006, 3:46am

I had one of these boards in an old computer that my sister now runs. I remember that I went through a few aggrivating post-code problems once, too. I've been searching, but couldn't find anything. So, just from memory (this was a few years ago) I believe that you're probably having a problem with the AGP port, as primesuspect has suggested. I'll post if I find anything more about the post-codes.

14 Jun 2006, 1:55pm

so, I guess I just need another different mobo?

profdlp

14 Jun 2006, 3:01pm

so, I guess I just need another different mobo?
I wouldn't bail out just yet. If you bring it to the LAN I'm sure someone would be glad to have a look at it.

In the meantime, have you done all the old standards, like run Memtest-86 (http://www.short-media.com/download.php?dc=58)? It sounds like you've attempted to just drop a HD which already had an OS on it in there. Do you have an old drive which you could use to start from scratch, as in format, etc?

14 Jun 2006, 3:42pm

GHoosdum

14 Jun 2006, 3:55pm

Well, the LAN is still a week and a half away. I really don't want to be without my primary system much longer. It's already been a week. That's a long time to have no working system at home.

When it does the post-code, it's not even getting far enough to access the hard drive, nor run Memtest.

Also, all of the peices (except the mobo) have been tested in other systems, and are known to be working.

Would you like to borrow my motherboard for the time being? It's a Chaintech nForce-2 microATX board. I'm taking the PC apart, because I'm using my notebook as my primary rig now.

We should have enough room in my car, since it's just the two of us, if you want to bring the system along for troubleshooting.

profdlp

14 Jun 2006, 4:01pm

Try taking out all but one stick of RAM and then see if you can get far enough to run memtest. Reset the BIOS if need be.

14 Jun 2006, 4:42pm

I know that nothing is wrong with the RAM itself, and if something is wrong with the RAM slots, it wouldn't manifest itself in this strange way.

However, I will try anythign at this point. I'll try that when I get home, late tonight

profdlp

14 Jun 2006, 5:04pm

I know that nothing is wrong with the RAM itself, and if something is wrong with the RAM slots, it wouldn't manifest itself in this strange way.
It's more of a compatibility issue than a device failure issue. Some RAM doesn't like some MB's.

However, I will try anythign at this point. I'll try that when I get home, late tonight[/QUOTE]
I'd start with the BIOS reset. :)

14 Jun 2006, 5:19pm

I reset the bios many times.

Sometimes it would give me one good try at a boot, then give up and start post-coding again. Usually it did nothing.

GHoosdum

14 Jun 2006, 5:22pm

Talking about the RAM got me thinking: Is all of your RAM PC3200? If you still have any PC2100 in there, and the motherboard tried to boot it at PC3200 speeds, I'm willing to place money on the fact that it would hang up on boot. You might want to check the speed it's running at. It's in your best interest to keep it at PC2100 speed anyway, to runn synchronously with the CPU. Although I don't think it matters as much since this is a VIA chipset.

profdlp

14 Jun 2006, 5:23pm

Disconnect all the drives except the one you need to run memtest, reset the BIOS, then pray for that "one good try at a boot".

digitaltree

14 Jun 2006, 6:45pm

After reading through the mobo's manual, the only suggestions I have are to make sure that the CPU fan is actually working and that the speed-sense wire is connected to the CPU fan header on the mobo and make sure your AGP card and slot are clean and well-seated. If you can get into your BIOS, make sure that the setting for the CPU fan alarm is off so that the fan RPMs don't conflict, because that will cause the system to post wrong and turn off with that board.

15 Jun 2006, 2:01pm

Okay guys. You'll love this...

Late last night, when I got home, I got out my memtest disk, and was preparing to follow Prof's suggestion. but first, without changing anything about the system configuration, I pushed the power button and...

it works.

The thing just started working all by itself. The freeking [I]post-code gnomes came in the night and cobbled my computer.

After it booted the first time, I managed to run windows set-up, and do a repair install. Now it boots all the way into Windows, and it continued to run with no errors or issues all night long. Temps are fine, voltages are great, and the operating environment seems to be stable.

I'll play some Oblivion tonight and see if it can stand up under a load.

GHoosdum

15 Jun 2006, 2:22pm

Now that's what I call strange. I'm glad it's working for you, though!

primesuspect

15 Jun 2006, 3:33pm

i hate computers :crazy:

15 Jun 2006, 5:09pm

Me too!! Boycott! Boycott!!

GHoosdum

15 Jun 2006, 5:38pm

I'm boycotting already.

Wait a minute... I'm posting this from a computer.

D'oh!

profdlp

15 Jun 2006, 6:03pm

Glad you got it going. :cheers:

16 Jun 2006, 1:34am

It's going, but I find now that I'm not getting any sound... This is a minor problem however. I'll troubleshoot it later...

Thrax

16 Jun 2006, 6:58am

And that, ladies and gents, is known as PFM.

17 Jun 2006, 11:04pm

I solved part of the mystery. I figured out what was stopping it from booting into windows, when it did try to boot.

The on-board sound.

I told you that I wasn't getting any sound...

When I decided to try to fix it, the first thing I did was look at the driver. That's when I saw the Windows Set-up had chosen not to install a sound driver. I thought this strange, and manually installed the sound driver.

When I rebooted, the system froze at the same point that it was freezing before, but now that I had the speakers plugged in, I realized that this point was right as the windows welcome chimes played.

I rebooted into safemode, and uninstalled the sound driver. It booted perfectly after that. So, that's what was wrong with this mobo... The onboard sound.

I opened the case back up, and threw in an old PCI Soundblaster card (which I originally only bought to use the game port on it), and installed the drivers for it. Now I've got sound, and the system is still stable.

wee

profdlp

17 Jun 2006, 11:12pm

Out of curiosity, was the onboard sound disabled in the BIOS?

18 Jun 2006, 4:55am

nope. Perhaps it should be though, to stop it from trying to install the drivers after a Wnidows Update or something...

profdlp

18 Jun 2006, 2:39pm

Yeah, I'd disable it if it's not being used, particularly since it's been a troublemaker thus far.

The reason I was asking is that I've seen MB's where something was disabled but Windows managed to (sort of) find it anyway. One of our SMx boards had onboard SCSI, which I disabled since we'd never be likely to use it. I had problems just like yours during the OS install, like Windows knew there was something there but couldn't quite figure out what it was. As soon as I re-enabled it in the BIOS things went smoothly.