<Fixed>New MB Won't Post

[Ray2047]

OK it was open box but suppose to be new and the price was right. The board is a Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P. Got it all installed but no post. One long beep which indicates a graphic problem. Initially I was using the onboard video but switched to a video card and still no luck. All power plugs seated. Memory is in. It does power up as far as fans go.Even tried a different monitor. Have I missed anything or is it time to e-mail the Ebay seller?

[T6]

verify ram, properly seated

clear cmos

check that you didn't installed improperly, using right screws, no metal doing contact where shouldn't be

verify with another psu

what cpu are you using?

[Ray2047]

No other CPU available. This is an Athlon dual core. This is a follow up to my previous post about spontaneous rebooting. Tried a new power supply but no luck so tried a new mother board. Symptoms are different. Did get Video on old board for a short time. No video with this one.

The catch 22 here is it might not be the board but by the time I can afford to buy new memory and CPU it will be too late to return the board. On the other hand since it was open box, manual was missing and IDE cable had been used I can assume it was installed then returned. Failure to post could be why it was returned.

Previous Post: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,83547.msg692607.html#msg692607

I know don't say it. I seem to keep digging the hole deeper.

[alphaace]

While I agree that it sounds like a mainboard problem (assuming that the new PSU you put in has enough Watts), a cheap thing you can test is to try with one stick of ram at a time (in each of the possible sockets). While it doesn't sound like bad ram, it's a cheap check and on the off chance it is, you just saved yourself a load of work...

[Xero]

Try posting with only one stick of ram. I just finished transplanting my system from one case to another, and refused to post at first, then I removed a stick, it posted fine, shut down and re-installed the other stick, and all was good.

[pupthai]

Check the spec on the board and see if the cmos is the type that can jumper to reset the BIOS and put in a fresh battery.  If some one flashed the BIOS and killed it see if its on a removable chip they can just replace it.

Min. of everything connected and try that reset first.

Also one long beep could be the cpu is not setting right and going thermal almost instant.  Make sure the thermal paste is right and some coolers seating need adjustment as the screws can bottom out and the things not real tight on the cpu and it will go thermal on ya.  If it is a stock push in type cooler that is not normally a problem, but some of the after market screw into fittings in the board which may be adjusted too high and the cooler never makes good contact with the CPU.

It has run before although unstable with all these other parts so I would be concerned about a corrupted BIOS as the reason that new board was opened.

[Was_Just19]

I would take the M/B out of the case and placed on a clean insulating surface power it up there, having disconnected all peripherals.

Add them back one at a time ....

[Ray2047]

Thanks all for the suggestions. No spare memory and only one stick but will try reseating. New thermal paste on CPU. Cooler firmly seated. Only a single HD plugged in. Will try with out that. If it is dead battery or bad  Bios I see  that as a bad board. When you receive a new board shouldn't have to flash the bios or replace the battery. I will though reset the bios. If that isn't it this sucker is going back. I have put in enough boards to know this isn't normal for a new board.

[T6]

i agree with your decision completely

if possible, change to a asus, new in a closed box, open box game me only problems in the past when i bought cpus and other stuff

the cpu was present on another faulty machine?

this sounds important, also the ram, try to find one, at least for a moment to discard it

have you verified the psu, what voltages is delivering?  instability could be caused by the 12v line to cpu fluctuating

[Ray2047]

Switched RAM to number 2 slot and it posted. Either bad slot or just didn't have it seated properly. Thanks guys for putting up with me. I swear the beep code was not the one for bad ram. That was what was throwing me off. Now for peripherals and see if this sucker boots.

[alphaace]

Back from the dead :-). Sweet.

Best of luck putting everything back in!

[T6]

to be sure, give a good clean to those ram slots and the ram module itself

if this happens again, you will have stronger reasons to believe that ram module is failing

[Ray2047]

Well been running on an HD that had PCLOS pre-installed and so far so good. Haven't tested network or sound but I can always use a card if needed for those.

What I liked about this board was it will handle both AM2 and AM3 socket CPUs. I have an AM2 Athlon right now but it gives me the flexibility to go to quad later.

The price I felt was right too. $40 including shipping. Next cheapest price was $11 more at Newegg and average price on line $20-$30 more. Also got a great buy on the PSU Black Friday. At first I thought it wouldn't fit because the fan on it is 120mm and I'm use to 80mm on the cheapy PSUs I buy. And goodness real sheaths on the cables not wire ties. Oh wall I have wandered off topic. Thank you all for your replies.

[Ray2047]

to be sure, give a good clean to those ram slots and the ram module itself

if this happens again, you will have stronger reasons to believe that ram module is failing

Good point. I plan to run memcheck for 24 hours.

[T6]

i wouldn't waste 24 hours of my time and all that electricity, 2 hours maximum and that's it

i had ram modules failing consistently under normal load but working on every test i ran on them

5 months ago i had a pc beeping on the most weird way, the hard disk died in a very weird way creating the noise 

this is why i say that the beep sound doesn't help anymore, on some old machines i had a improperly seated ram module giving a beep sound but in others doesn't make a sound, also as you mentioned the beep can be similar to a video card not properly inserted

sometimes you have to believe that everything is working perfectly