Big help/advice needed (mobo trouble?)

I'd be eternally grateful for help on this:

ASUS K8N (64 bit) motherboard is what I'm using. ATI Radeon 9200 128mb PCI is the graphics card.

So, my friend had a stick of RAM that he couldn't get to work on his computer, and he wanted me to see if it'd work in mine. So I put in the RAM, and turn my computer on, and my monitor won't come on, but everything boots fine.

So I take it out and tell him that I can't tell if it works because my monitor won't come on when it's in there. So I turn the computer back on, and the monitor still won't come on... which was very weird.

I thought maybe I forgot to plug something in correctly, so I checked, and it was all good.

I thought maybe something was wrong with my monitor, so I plugged the monitor into a different computer, and it worked fine. Tried it also in a laptop, and it worked fine. So, the monitor is not the problem.

I thought perhaps it was the graphics card port (the PCI slot), so I tried it in two other ones in the same computer, and it didn't work.

So I thought perhaps the card went bad. So, I went out and bought a ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256mb card, and a GeForce 6800GT OverClocked 256mb AGP. Neither one of them will work, either.

So, I have NO idea what it could be. Does anyone have any input on what I could try, or what could be wrong? The computer turns on; I hear spinning, and my fans all work, etc. I'm just getting no signal to my monitor now for some awfully odd reason.

So, the only thing I can think of is that something is wrong on the motherboard. What do you guys think?

THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!!

There was another person on another forum who had the exact same problem as you and after all the advice and trial and error ( two pages worth of connectors, motherboard, etc... )this was the result...

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Anyway, I worked out that it was the RAM - my mobo doesn't like genric RAM alledgedly - another 30 squid to get Kingmax branded memory and I'm away! Hurrah! Still don't know what went wrong with the orginal kit tho... will have to see what i can salvage from it the next rainy day I get (shouldn't be too long off in Manchester!)

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the RAM wasn't compatible.

Egaladeist, can you please link me to that forum post?

I completely agree it was RAM that did it, but I took out the new/bad RAM, and it still won't work :(

I'd really be interested in reading that other thread, though, if you could hook me up. Thanks mate.

I had a similar fault on an 'upgrade'
My prob was due to mismatch of RAM
was 512MB 266MHz DDR RAM -----------> 1024MB 400MHz DDR RAM

BUT, fault cleared on re-install of original RAM .................

however, I managed to trash BOTH OS's before I got it to go again.

I cannot find nor think of any reason for the fault NOT to clear, when the original set up is re-instated.

Do you have Check IT or PC Check to test your MO/BO and system.

I'll send PC Check in an EMail if req ?
[helps if you are on at least ADSL :) approx 3MB]

Haven't been able to relocate the forum...I'll try again later...what kind of RAM was it?

Try removing all the Ram, Disconnect the Mobo from power supply completely and reset the BIOS (usually a small jumper by the battery) I assume you still have the booklet that came with Mobo, follow the BIOS reset instructions in the book to the letter. Then go get a Soda Pop or a cold beer let the board sit for 30 min to an hour before reconnecting to PSU, then install the Ram you know was compatable. I have had to do this on several occasions and it usually works fine. The PSU has capacitors in it that can supply small voltages to your board even when unplugged from the wall. Good Luck. :cool:

It is possable the CMOS has been corrupted.. two common causes (for me) Video Cards and RAM

ahh bugger just follow aeallison's instructions thats enough..(just finished reading them)

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The PSU has capacitors in it that can supply small voltages to your board even when unplugged from the wall

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the psu has a few bit bigger than small ones.. but the mobo also has a number of small electros that will store enough charge to be annoying.. [jk] but because of the electrons bouncing around at high speed..you know +5 to 0 to +5 at what ever Gigahurts.. the poor little electrons will be bouncing for a while.. give them at least half an hour to calm down.. and hour is better..[/jk]

I think aeallison and undertaker hit it, but during the boot up process, do you hear any beep codes?

Sounds like good advice to me. I had a very similar problem a while back when they guy tried to run a Duron at 133 instead of 100 :eek:

I just reset the BIOS and it worked fine. :)

jumping the cmos is the cure to alot of problems and you won't lose any valuable settings unless your in to overclocking stuff...

is it dual channel?

i had many weird problems with dual channel memory

they have to be the EXACT SAME STICK....or you will most likely get errors

even if it isnt dual channel id reccomend trying.....

my friend also had a problem with using registered ecc ddr ram....


lastly check to see if anything is shorted on the board.... extra screw spacers, screw that fell in the case while installing.... that can cause some nasty problems aswell

good luck

It was a dual-channel, yes, that I put in there.

I'll try you guys' stuff out tonight when I get back in. Thanks loads for all of your help!

I took the battery out and left it out for a day, and it still isn't working. I also unplugged the motherboard from the power supply for a day, and took out both of my previously-usable RAM chips for the whole day as well.

It's still not working. :-/

Anyone have any more ideas I could try?

I'll take another look around and see what I can dig up later on tonight when I've got more time...if there's anything else that might help please post it.

Maybe try taking out the motherboard and putting it back in. I've seen it a few times where that seemed to help although usually with power issues.

I didn't see it listed but you did try another monitor? Just to cover the basics.

Could it be the power supply is taking a crap? Try switching it with another one.

You have plugged the power cable into the video card correct? (if it needs a plug?)

Edit: Looking at sample images of both cards - does not look like ethier card needs a power plug.

Is the monitor cable hard wired, if not, try another one.

Have you tried booting into safe mode?

Will it boot from the motherboard support CD?.............if so try repairing the BIOS from it.

You will probably have to check the MoBo manual to see how to reset the BIOS/CMOS, I believe it is one of those fancy ones where you don't have to open the case to reset the CMOS.

Also check the manual to see if there is a BIOS jumper?

I am not familiar with your exact MoBo but I have some Gigabyte ones that have strange BIOS recovery procedures. :)

Good luck!

The monitor cable is indeed hardwired, but it's not the monitor, as I've plugged it up to a laptop and another desktop, and it works fine.

And about botting into safe mode, I can't see my monitor, so I can't boot into safe mode, hehe.

I don't have the motherboard support CD onhand, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to see what was going on on the screen, would I? I mean, the monitor isn't even recognizing a connection.

I've already reset the BIOS by taking the battery out for a day, and also by placing the jumpers to the "reset" switch.

Thanks for the help guys! Please let me know if you have any more ideas or comments. :)

This is what I am referring to:

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The CrashFree BIOS 2 feature now includes the BIOS auto-recovery function in a support CD. Users can reboot their system through the support CD when a bootable disk is not available, and go through the simple BIOS auto-recovery process.

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OK, I had to be sure that we had eliminated the video cable :)

You might try booting into safe mode just to see if anything happens?

Also, can you get into setup?

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I mean, the monitor isn't even recognizing a connection.

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I suspect that the problem is the system is not recognising the monitor, as it works OK on other machines.

I will check out ASUS a bit more deeply, as it is possible that the more traditional approach doesn't work?

:)

I'd love to try to get into safe mode mate, hehe, but I can't because I can't even see my monitor in order to get into it. I'm not even getting POST beeps at the startup.

Ah, I see, I thought it was booting but you just could not see the monitor.

Well no bleeps suggests it has probably not got through the extended memory test.

I think that your best bet is the motherboard support CD

jehnx,

read this and see if it applies...they do discuss some similiar symptoms...

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Not unheard of!.. But before you trash it, you might try unhooking your HD.. Also might reset the system. Jumper or remove CMOS battery for, say 72 hours... have you checked the CMOS battery is OK? voltage etc.. How oild is the machine?

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Guess what!!!! BAD HARD DRIVE!!!, I before use 2 HD's to test it and still with the Lock light and did not know the HD's got bad but for the hell of it I used another HD because i wanted to format it for a another system which i had the case open from still working on it and notice when i booted it the light went off so in a quick moment i eject the boot disk and the old OS booted, The Problem sometimes seem so hard but it was the simplest thing,,,,,LOL just in case I took the 2 bad HD's and hooked them into a external USB case and ran a Software which does a dianostic and yes HD's NO Good,,,,I do not know how the HD's Got bad but what the hell the it VL400 Mobo working now!!!

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http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/f...hreadId=786131
business support forums - VL400 DT amber power light and lock light is on

If your not even getting post beeps, then it sounds like a bad mobo or PSU...

It's not the PSU, because I'm still getting power running through my mobo (drives are turning, my fan lights are coming on, etc.), but it could possibly be the mobo. I'm thinking it's either RAM or the motherboard, so this weekend I'm doing my final check, and I'm going to go out and get some new RAM to try out. If it works, I'll keep it, and if not I'll just take it back, and immediately call and freak out on ASUS. :)

jehnx: I have seen a couple of power supplies that gave out enough power to power drives, fans and everything to spin. (Except for the video card) I wouldnt rule out the power supply just yet.

It's brand new though. :(

I'll get another one of those, too, when I go this weekend to get the RAM, I suppose.

Thanks again for everyone's input. :)

I’ve been here before. Hope everything works out. :cuss:
If it matters, first thing I do is take everything out of all the slots that are non-essentials. Just 1 stick of RAM placed in the slot nearest to the CPU. The video card (PCI) I place in the Bus Mastering slot (first or second slot under AGP) and that's it. If you're trying the AGP card take all PCI cards out. Just the other day I was switching out CPU's and Memory. Two boxes same Mobos, I placed a slower CPU in the box and experienced the same symptoms you had, no communications to the monitor (even placed in a OS install disc). Right about this time I'm livid, so I put back in the faster CPU, all good. I move on to my other box and go to upgrade the RAM, it's my Libranet box so I have one stick of 128ddr in the first slot closest to the CPU. I put two other sticks in 256/512. Mofo wouldn’t light up either. So I placed them in this sequence 512-256-128 everything worked. I uploaded a picture of the sequence maybe it could shed some light. http://img213.exs.cx/img213/8120/420soyo18ot.jpg

But I have a few questions. Did you take your entire Ram out when you went to test his RAM, or did you leave them in and assume you'd get the info from the memory check or my computer properties? When you went to place everything back, did you place them in their previous slots or random? Check the videocard fan.

I believe I've read all that was posted, if I overlooked sorry. Good luck.

Thanks for all of that, I'll definitely try that out in just a bit when I get back to my dorm.

As for your questions: I left my other (working) memory in there and just put this extra RAM piece in a third slot on my motherboard. I didn't change the order of my first two memories or anything, and as I've taken it all out, I put them in at the same order that I had them in the first place. But, I'm gonna try putting them in other random spots, too, to see if that helps.

Thanks again, and I'll update with any information.

I went and bought some new memory and tried it out, and that didn't work. I also tried every possible combination of my memory sticks to see if they'd work, and no luck there, either.

I know this is probably a question in vain, but does anyone have anymore suggestions?

Umm, you really should have waited before buying that ram, I could have told you that RAM was NOT the problem... It really sounds like a bad mobo if your certain your PSU is good, tell me, do you use the onboard VGA? If that's so then maybe that wen't wrong, and if it did you screwed anyway because if you try to put in a new vid card you have to go to cmos and change the settings, and you can't do that because you have no way to view the screen... which means you need a new mobo lol, unless someone else has a suggestion for this problem which I recently came accrossed trying to fix someone's PC... Now that's a run on sentence... :)

Hi jehnx,

I think I might've found something...second from the top...haven't checked out the others but they look promising too...

http://www.google.ca/search?client=f...=Google+Search
Google Search: I hear spinning, and my fans all work, etc. I'm just getting no signal to my monitor

If you tried both AGP and PCI video cards, those slots are blown I presume. That's if both of those cards work on another board. I seriously doubt the PSU is the problem. The only thing I can think of in a desperate attempt, similar to one I would go through. Would be visually inspecting and smelling around the nividia-chipset and slots. Then I would put each video card back, double check make sure it's sunk all the way in. Then make sure I really had that VGA-connector on tight, tighter than a new rope. (All those mishaps would give the same blank monitor response) I would make sure those fans are running on the video cards. That slot you put his RAM in, I would leave that one empty. Do you have any Volt, LCR, ESR, and Capacitance meters on hand? We could get to the culprit in a hurry. Hell, some air duster in those slots wouldn't hurt; maybe some dust is preventing a solid connection. No motherboard warning beeps would tell me the memory slots are good, but I would think it would not beep either if the AGP/PCI slots were blown.

After that, it's time to cut losses and purchase a new board. :(

After looking at everyones suggestions, all very good suggestions I might add, I just about believe that its the Mobo. You have tried everything I would have tried... well, almost everything I would swap the PSU out with a known good one. I have recently purchased a new psu and it never worked right out of the box.

On the next note... I tried an older model Asus Mobo I had laying around and put no ram in at all and no video, no beeps... I tried with video and no ram, no beeps... I put a stick of known "bad" ram in and got beeps... I put known "good" ram in and a known "bad" video card, and got beeps...

This is why I suspect the Mobo, you get no beeps ever. right? Also keep in mind that there are several voltages coming from the psu, if one of the three 5v circuits was missing or irregular it would cause the exact same problem, the drive motors and fans would still work as they are 12v.

If you havent swapped the psu and you are positive that all of the voltages from it are present and stable, then it has to be the mobo.

Again I say, good luck.

hi there,
after reading all of this i think that lot of things have been covered.
well read little bit my problem 3 weeks ago(advance search under unvi$ible) .
i did same thing.put a another stick of ram ddr 400 and i dont use generic ones boot were kingston 512 sticks. and i couldnt boot any more. well i think you were luckier because one of my stick burned in the memory slot(golden pin burned).
well i could get beeping sound which straightaway leeds to memory problem as i couldnt pass memory test.
after trying another 512 ddr stick(120 dollars) and after going to buy another SAME motherboard(lucky they didnt have in stock)
i went and bought a can of presurissed air.
Clean the memory slots with it and bingo.the best sound i heard for a while booting one.
i am little bit concern when you dont get any beeps but would suggest to go to asus site as they have support there and maybe they will come with the anwer.
i was SURE my motherboard was dead even this guys who are much more experienced then me gave me 5%chance of been ok can of 6 dollars made my day.
good luck would try www.asus.com and their support
good luck

Hey guys,

I'll jus take the new RAM back, it's ok. No loss to me. :)

I'll head out and buy a can of that pressurized air, though it seems like that wouldn't be it honestly. But, it surely could.

Also, I just bought this motherboard 3 months ago, and it's got a 5-year warranty on it, so I'm sure ASUS would just take it back and give me another one, right? Anyone have any experience with them in that regard?

Thanks folks for going so far into this with me. If this last try doesn't work, then that sucks, but at least hopefully we all learned a little something from it, right? :)

you have to get a case number first off....then you can call RMA and get them to replace the board


if you bring it back to the place you bought it they will ask for an RMA number...not true...they need the CASE number....5 digit number for me......

in all honesty though they probably wont even check it... you could write down a phone number or 1337 code and they would take it


with most advanced BIOS now adays if they sense a video card in the AGP they will automaticaly switch, some have jumper settings, some are cmos settings...just look around

one last hurra before you take the board back

rebuild ENTIRE box

STRIP everything down, take apart your case and make sure there is absolutly 0 <-- zero loose screws rolling around...lost a board that way

ONLY use the screw spacers that you need, dont add another one that doesnt have a corresponding screw hole, chances are you would short something

CHECK every cable to make sure none are worn to the metal and touching the board or other wires

READ up on the clock settings of your board and your processor, you could be overclocking something on accident, or underclocking, make sure your board accepts the bus speed of your chip

TAKE your time putting the case back together, put your ram and processor on the board while the board is resting on a piece of stryrofoam.. thoes boards are multi-layered pieces of art that can easily be bent or broken

if there is anything else someone wants to add to the check list please do

good luck

hex

Jehnx, sorry to hear that your mobo is the culprit when you only had it for 3 months. Since it's new it sounds like static electricity could have gotten it, which is why I always say DISCHARGE YOURSELF!!!!!! Even when doing something as simple as installing more ram.

Sounds like everyone has everything covered. I came across the same problem a while back and ended up doing some of the things that many of these guys said.

Took everything apart. Don't worry Duck.. Used ESD strap and actually used an ESD mat

Checked Bios Beeps

Used more compressed air than the air between Jessica Simpson's ears.

Everything ended up just fine after all that.

Sorry to hear if you have to get a new mobo, been there and it sucks. At least yours is under warranty. For some reason, stuff seems to break on me right when my warranty expires.

make sure you shake can good before use and spray little bit around as sometimes they have little bit of drops of water in first spray:)

I'll bet money the can says " ***Directions Do Not Shake Can!" That's like me saying; hold your can upside down when you spray your sensitive components. For the liquid to make the proper, intended reaction, it needs to stay at the bottom of the can.