ASUS A7A 266 rev 1.03 no boot

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October 11th, 2003, 08:06 AM
TRICKPLAYER

ASUS A7A 266 rev 1.03 no boot

I have been passed a A7A 266 setup by a freind to look at, it won't boot,
I disconnected all leads etc, and when you power it up the green light comes on and cpu fan spins, so I took out everything, cpu memory all connecters except the atx plug, as soon as I turn on power (via psu) the green light comes on, also power to the cpu fan connecter.
I am sure this is not normal, it sould need the pins on the power switch to be shorted surely.
took mobo out of case and bench tested it, still does the same.

ANY IDEAS.
October 11th, 2003, 09:03 AM
NooNoo

connect a speaker, a known good cpu, but no ram or video....does it beep?
October 11th, 2003, 10:06 AM
TRICKPLAYER

Hi, Noo Noo, no it does not
October 11th, 2003, 10:18 AM
TripleRLtd

https://forums.windrivers.com/Sorry, board is dead.
With no video or ram, if the board was alive it would beep (beep error codes) to warn you of problems: no ram and no video card present.
This is why NooNoo had you do this, and it was important to use a KNOWN good cpu for this test.
Now, since CPU is ruled out, that leaves the mainboard itself.
Sorry.
October 12th, 2003, 09:53 AM
Ruslan

TripleRLtd is right - motherboard should give you at least error beeps, if CPU is O'K...
By the way, if power supply is defective, it will not post as well...
An argument what power is coming to MB and COU FAN is spinning is not an argument at all - I've seen many times defective PSU won't let MB to make any beeps. Most of those defective PSUs were having defective "power good" signal detecting circuits (this signal is coming from MB) - without this signal most of MB/PSU combos (if not all) will not work...

Bit more info about:
http://modecideas.com/faq42.htm?faqsubsrv

If power supply is O'K, then I usually test CPU voltages.
If BIOS chip is corruped or defective itself - MB will not give you any beeps.
So, I always do reflashing BIOS in this case (in another motherboard - see my BIOS recovery tips ;) ) to make sure BIOS chip is O'K.

Also if you have (or can borrow from your friend) a POST diagnostic card, it can tell you what the problem is...

Good luck! ;)
October 12th, 2003, 10:11 AM
TripleRLtd

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

TripleRLtd is right - motherboard should give you at least error beeps, if CPU is O'K...
By the way, if power supply is defective, it will not post as well...
An argument what power is coming to MB and COU FAN is spinning is not an argument at all - I've seen many times defective PSU won't let MB to make any beeps. Most of those defective PSUs were having defective "power good" signal detecting circuits (this signal is coming from MB) - without this signal most of MB/PSU combos (if not all) will not work...

Bit more info about :
http://modecideas.com/faq42.htm?faqsubsrv

If power supply is O'K, then I usually test CPU voltages.
If BIOS chip is corruped or defective itself - MB will not give you any beeps.
So, I always do reflashing BIOS in this case (in another motherboard - see my BIOS recovery tips ;) ) to make sure BIOS chip is O'K.

Also if you have (or can borrow from your friend) a POST diagnostic card, it can tell you what the problem is...

Good luck! ;)

Yes, Ruslan, I have seen that before as well (PSU that is).

But, since he took it out of the case to bench test the board, I assumed he had used a known good PSU.

Also, most interesting to me is your comment on the POST card.

There have been many debates about thses, including here, on the benefits of such a card (with its high price the worst part, IMHO)

Do you use one? If so, which one?

If these were around $50 or less I would put one in my toolbox just to save troubleshooting time (as in this tread), but I have always considered them cost prohibitive, and unnecessary/overkill.

What do you think?
October 12th, 2003, 02:22 PM
Ruslan

Quote:

Originally Posted by TripleRLtd

Also, most interesting to me is your comment on the POST card.

There have been many debates about thses, including here, on the benefits of such a card (with its high price the worst part, IMHO)

Do you use one? If so, which one?

If these were around $50 or less I would put one in my toolbox just to save troubleshooting time (as in this tread), but I have always considered them cost prohibitive, and unnecessary/overkill.

What do you think?

POST card actually can help and save some time, but might be quite expensive... I would not recommend to buy expensive cards (more than 50 USD) - they are not worth money spent (mostly - "there are no rules without exceptions" ;) )
I personally use an old ISA card (made by D-Man company), bought on E-Bay for 15 USD, and no-name PCI card - for testing boards without ISA slots (costed about 45 USD)...

Like in case above, POST card can tell you, what's going on inside the motherboard...
For example, if there are no any signs of life - you can see it right away on your POST card's display.

Usually it means in that order:
1. Dead CPU
2. Bad BIOS chip
3. Bad voltage regulator
4. Bad chipset (less likely - usually caused by PSU failure or bad hands :) )
5. Memory stick is bad and shorting memory bus (you can try another stick try it again)
6. Everything is dead ;) (if PSU was defective and destroyed everything on-board)

If you see digitals on display changing and hanging, cycling and so on, it means:
1. CPU is O'K (most likely)
2. Could be partially erased (by virus) or corrupted (by power surge) BIOS chip.
3. Bad chipset or damaged trace (traces) somewhere onboard...

If POST card is displaying the same code all the time - see error description.

If POST card is finally displaying FF code - you're having hallucinations - your board is working fine! :D ;)

So, it it up to you - use it or not... ;) Some experience is needed anyway...
October 12th, 2003, 09:13 PM
buksida

Sorry for jumping in on this one, I have had the same sympoms on a Gigabyte board however it does beep, but not one i've ever heard. Tested AGP, RAM and CPU in another machine, all fine. Tested ECS board with all pervious components in that box, fine. Are the warning beeps standard? Is there a list of these online? (this one sounds like an alarm clock going off !)
October 12th, 2003, 10:33 PM
DocPC

Quote:

Originally Posted by buksida

Sorry for jumping in on this one, I have had the same sympoms on a Gigabyte board however it does beep, but not one i've ever heard. Tested AGP, RAM and CPU in another machine, all fine. Tested ECS board with all pervious components in that box, fine. Are the warning beeps standard? Is there a list of these online? (this one sounds like an alarm clock going off !)

That's normally an overheat alarm. Either you have the HSF not seated properly, no heatsink compound, or the CPU fan is plugged into the wrong connector.....
October 12th, 2003, 11:19 PM
TripleRLtd

Quote:

Originally Posted by buksida

Sorry for jumping in on this one, I have had the same sympoms on a Gigabyte board however it does beep, but not one i've ever heard. Tested AGP, RAM and CPU in another machine, all fine. Tested ECS board with all pervious components in that box, fine. Are the warning beeps standard? Is there a list of these online? (this one sounds like an alarm clock going off !)

Try the following page.
Upper right hand corner you will see a list of different bios types.
http://bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm
October 13th, 2003, 04:34 AM
buksida

Good link :thumbs2: straight into bookmarks.
Will continue to fiddle even though I have re-built the damn thing twice and it still does it. Same CPU (PIII 866) and fan fine in another board though.
October 13th, 2003, 09:14 AM
Ruslan

Quote:

Originally Posted by buksida

Same CPU (PIII 866) and fan fine in another board though.

Exactly the same board?
If not - may be this Gigabyte motherboard does not support this processor... for example,because of outdated BIOS (no BIOS support for this particular CPU stepping). I've seen the same problem with Gigabyte 6BXC MB and new (at that moment) PIII CPU - just only "alarm" sound out of speaker, and nothing more...
Check also jumper settings and connect CPU fan to the correct connector, as DocPC said.
Try another, lower speed (or simply older) CPU... If the motherboard will boot O'K after that, update the BIOS to the latest possible version and try again with your 866 processor... make sure your motherboard revision is electrically compatible with that 866 CPU...
If you're familiar with BIOS editing, you can check BIOS file for compatibility with your CPU (using SBROM utility, for example)...
October 14th, 2003, 10:44 AM
TRICKPLAYER

Well I took the board out and bench tested it with all different components and psu, but to cut a long story short it ended up a dead cpu, I did try a known good one for first test but must have shorted the wrong pins, (bloody glasses), anyway spot on Ruslan, as usual, many thanks to all...