A7N8X-X won't post

unsquareunsquare
edited May 2006 in Hardware
OK, buddy of mine bought a new system and handed me a bunch of parts. It was working when he shut down.

The rig I put together with his parts and some of mine include:
Athlon XP3200 with OEM sink
Asus A7N8X-X
XFX GF FX5900 128MB AGP (also tried some other older cards)
Generic old 430W Power Supply
ASUS 52x CDROM
Corsair XMS 512MB
Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB

When I hook it all up and go power on, I get no screen, no post. The keyboard blinks, the CPU fan spins, the FX5900 fan twitches (the other video cards fans spin though) and no life from the CDROM. The CDROM will however light up if I start-up with the ribbon to the mobo removed and only the power connected.

I have the same results with the mobo mounted and while it is sitting on a block of wood.

I also reseated the CPU and all seems to be right there.

Any ideas?

Comments

  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2006
    I had a similar problem and it turned out the power supply was half dead. Didn't have enough oomph to post but enough to drive fans and light LEDs.

    Try to substitute a known good one.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Crypto was thinking the same thing I was. It really appears that it's your PSU or that you forgot to reset the motherboard BIOS.
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    I had thought that might be the issue. Going to try that today if I get the opportunity to mess with it. Thanks and I'll post when I try it.
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    New PSU and got the same result. I'm running out of ideas. :(
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2006
    Cleared the CMOS? Unplugged from wall socket, battery out, discharge link made, go away and have a coffee for 30 minutes type of BIOS resetting?
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    Not the coffee part. I'll go for a cup.
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    Coffee done. Still no love.
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    OK, I realize now that I shouldn't be touching the insides of computers. Just when I think I know what I am doing, I'm humbled.

    I thought, perhaps the battery was dead so I swapped the one from my A7N8X-E Deluxe rig and got the same results from my -X as I had been. Now when I put it back in the Deluxe and reboot, all I get is the Asus mobo graphic and it just sits there. I thought it was a bad idea as I did it...but I did it anyway.

    Now what to do?
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2006
    One of those jobs you just wish you never started eh?

    OK - on the Deluxe, make sure you put the battery back in the right way, I think that is with the writing facing outwards.

    If you're getting the Asus splash screen then you're half way there, it sounds like it's not detecting your hard drive.
    Try to get in to the BIOS by continually tapping the delete key during the boot up sequence.

    Once in the BIOS, go to Main menu, down arrow to "Primary Master" and press enter. Select "Auto" and with any luck it will find your hard drive.

    Press escape then F10, say yes to save settings and exit. With any luck it will now reboot in to Windows.

    I'm off to work now so if any other members want to help along please chip in.:smiles:
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    It was the ipod pluggin into the thing. Stupid thing.
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2006
    Was your ipod plugged in to the USB port then? That would rob the power. You need a powered USB Hub to drive those sorts of devices.

    Glad you got it fixed though.:cheers:
  • unsquareunsquare
    edited May 2006
    Crypto wrote:
    Was your ipod plugged in to the USB port then? That would rob the power. You need a powered USB Hub to drive those sorts of devices.

    That could be and I know I need to get a powered usb hub, but the ipod isn't likely drawing any more power than a flash drive. Is it possible that it was trying to boot from it like it would if there is a floppy in the drive on boot?
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2006
    Have a look at this thread for another example of damage done by plugging current draining devices in to USB ports. If in doubt, don't!

    As for booting from the USB device, I'm not sure if you can enable that in your particular BIOS, you'll have to have a look.
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