Help - Weird Problem - Possibly Dead Mobo

System:
p4 3.0
Intel 945GNT s775 Mobo
2x512 geil DDR2-667
ATI Radeon x800
Ultra XFinity 500w Titanium

Used to have a cheap Thermaltake 430w power supply, using a 20->24 pin adapter. I thought this would be bad for the system, so I bought one of those $5 AR Ultra power supplies.

When I plug in both the 24-pin and 4-pin connectors to the motherboard, the system is unresponsive.

I then tried having only the 24-pin connector in, and the board seems to boot (fans turn on), but nothing happens on the screen. Same thing happens with an Ultra 500w V-series that I just got today (Free AR, see [H]otDEALs)

Is this a sign of a dead motherboard?

Thanks for the help.

Maybe but its not possible to tell yet.
try the other PSU, it will be fine for making sure the system is still ok.

Other things to try:

reset the CMOS in case its corrupt.
Plug the speaker into the motherboard and listen for beeps. Check the motherboard manual for what the beeps mean.

Unplug everything that you dont need to get into the CMOS.
That includes hard drives, the cables, anything in USB (apart from mouse/keyboard) etc.

Try one ram stick, then the other.
Try different sockets too.

Chernobyl1 said:

Maybe but its not possible to tell yet.
try the other PSU, it will be fine for making sure the system is still ok.

Click to expand...

I've tried 3 now - old Thermaltake, Ultra XFinity 500w, and Ultra VSeries 500w. I think that it's enough - but I could try my 600w enermax that is in my main rig.

reset the CMOS in case its corrupt.
Plug the speaker into the motherboard and listen for beeps. Check the motherboard manual for what the beeps mean.

Click to expand...

I did that. Tried CMOS reset, CMOS factory, AND I also tried pulling the battery.

Unplug everything that you dont need to get into the CMOS.
That includes hard drives, the cables, anything in USB (apart from mouse/keyboard) etc.

Try one ram stick, then the other.
Try different sockets too.

Click to expand...

I've tried all of that. HDD plugged in, no HDD. Memory in slots 1-3, 2-4, 1-4, 2-3, 1, 2, 3, 4, no memory. Tried video card in, video card out (has onboard video).

Thanks for the help.

If it is dead, then can anybody reccomend me a relatively inexpensive motherboard, s775, that also can support Core 2 Duo (possibly even Quad)?

Hmm, try holding INS when you power the machine on.
This puts the CMOS into ultra safe settings and may get you in to set the CMOS up correctly.

Before buying another board, can you swap bits with anyone else to test.
It is quite likely the board is at fault but it would be a shame to waste money replacing the wrong parts.

With more testing, I found that the board can be switched on and off when the 4pin power connector isn't connected (only the 24). By switched on, I mean that the fans spin up (and the CPU fan seems to speed up, so maybe that's the CPU temp rising and the fan speeding up because of it). Nothing else happens. Plugging in the 'P4' connector seems to piss it off.


I've tried holding down the INS key, but it hasn't helped.

I'm going to have to wait till thanksgiving before I can test out the parts. I'm in college right now. However, I will be testing it against an identical computer, so I should be able to test everything. (I built my brothers a system for college a year ago - they're twins, so they got identical computers)

I am just looking to get it done sooner, that's all. Thank you for your help, Chernobyl1. Any other suggestions?

The TT TR2 430W works well for me...i even o/c with it.

lol heres one I forgot.
Make sure the CMOS reset jumper is not in the wrong position!

btw the 4 pin power connector gives power to the CPU only.
Without it, the CPU cannot function.
fyi

syNesthesia said:

The TT TR2 430W works well for me...i even o/c with it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the system was running perfectly fine with that power supply. I swapped it out because I had read somewhere that Intel boards don't like the 20-24 pin adapter and that it would break the board. Go figure, I swapped to a 'better' power supply and it killed it.

Chernobyl, I did check where the CMOS jumper was placed.
And yeah - the 4 pin power connector - that is why its so weird. I boots without it connected, but not with it connected. Could it be the CPU then? That would suck (however I think that I can get a comparable P4 for less than a nice C2D motherboard right now).

Its hard to say if the cpu is faulty.
It could be that when the cpu is working, it helps detect the problem and performs a board shutdown.

btw, booting is getting into windows
I would use the term 'powers up' for your issue.

Good luck