Motherboard died, I think

Message

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:22 am

I woke up this afternoon and my computer had died. I know this is supposed to be a gentoo forum, but it was running gentoo and there are a lot of knowledgeable people here so I thought I'd ask here too. Anyway, this is what happened:

Woke up to a blank screen (as if the monitor had gone to sleep). Wiggled mouse, no response, also noticed the mouse was not lit up, suggesting it wasn't plugged in. Keyboard acted as if it weren't plugged in either. Fans and lights are on in the computer, and the optical drives act as if they are being read (slow to respond to eject, if at all, and retract immediately upon opening). Call this "state #1" because we'll see it later.

Tried hard-resetting, and I see no change at all. Have to hold in power button to turn off. Turn on again, no response at all. Goes back to state #1 immediately (not even a "beep" that sounds when it loads the BIOS). So I reset CMOS, thinking the BIOS got corrupted. Restart to state #1 with no beep again, but this time (and for all future resets) the CPU fan is very loud and nasty sounding, perhaps because I'm listening more intently, perhaps not. Now, this computer has two ATI cards that were crossfired, but since crossfire isn't supported under linux, one has been in use and the other hasn't (although they're both in the computer). On mostly a whim, I switch the two cards and reboot. This time, BIOS loads and hangs in the middle. Restart and hit Delete to bring up setup. It says "CMOS checksum bad. Overclocking failed!" and wants me to set up the BIOS again, which makes sense. Do that, save and exit and reboot. Now state #1 with no beep, again. Switch vid cards again, same. At this point I give up and decide to do a further analysis later, swapping video cards on another computer and such, which I'm planning to do tomorrow or over the weekend, but I figured I'd write this post up now and see if anyone has any ideas.

My best guess here is that over night, the CPU fan died. The motherboard detects this, freaks out and shuts down to save the CPU. It must have restarted rather than shutting down, because it was on (in state #1) when I woke up. Either way, the hasty shut down fries the BIOS firmware, making some error somewhere that makes it hate video cards it's seen before (?).

Here's my hardware if anyone thinks they can help me:

ASUS A8R-MVP mobo
AMD Athlon 64X2 4200+ w/ stock heatsink and fan (thank god, if it is the CPU somehow, it's still under warranty)
2GB RAM
2x ATI RADEON X1300 Pro (if it is the video cards, I'll probably just ask to return them for money and buy an nVidia--I bought the video cards when I still ran XP)

Muchos gracias to anyone that can help. Any diagnostic tests you can think of are welcome, especially if they don't involve borrowing other computers too much (although at some point I realize I probably will have to). Feel free to contact me on AIM (ollzesb on my laptop) if you want to be awesome--faster response time.

Keruskerfuerst · Post by **Keruskerfuerst** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:38 am

1. Bios does not get corrupted, if you reset it.
2. The motherboards usually have a automatic shutdown, if the CPU is overheated. So the CPU does not get too hot and damaged.
3. Check the power supply: use a voltage meter to check +-3.3V, +-5V, +-12V. A had a failure of my computer caused by a unrealiable and cheap power supply. I bought a high efficiency power supply (from Seasonic: S12) and my computer runs - I would say smooth - now.
4. The next item would be the mainboard.

FantomKnight · Post by **FantomKnight** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:51 am

Also try taking out one of the video cards. Just try to boot up with only one video card in the machine and see what happens.

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:55 am

1. I was thinking the BIOS may have been corrupted when it reset itself to save the CPU. I tried fixing that by clearing the CMOS RAM.
2.
3. Yeah, my dad did something with the wiring to the furnace and had to switch off the power to it, but that shouldn't have affected my room. Still, I'll look in to that possiblity.
4. Mmkay.

FantomKnight: alright will do in the morning.

Thanks guys, I'll try all that tomorrow probably.

BLASTER_ · Post by **BLASTER_** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:11 am

Start pulling hardware out of it, drives, ram, even eventually the video to see if you can get a beep.. then try to determine whats causing the problem.

If that doesn't work, inspect the board closely, look for burn marks.. check the pins in the memory very closely, its hard to notice a black one.

Monkeh · Post by **Monkeh** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:45 am

adlaiff6 wrote:1. I was thinking the BIOS may have been corrupted when it reset itself to save the CPU. I tried fixing that by clearing the CMOS RAM.

If the BIOS was corrupted (HIGHLY unlikely, very rarely happens), clearing the CMOS wouldn't help. All that does is store settings, not the actual BIOS ROM.

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:13 pm

Hmm, now that I think about that, I would have to flash the BIOS if that is what happened, wouldn't I?

brazzmonkey · Post by **brazzmonkey** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:36 pm

check the PSU first. most of hardware failures i encountered in the past were a faulty PSU. a PSU is composed of several modules, so some things may still work while others are not.

good luck

Monkeh · Post by **Monkeh** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:32 am

adlaiff6 wrote:Hmm, now that I think about that, I would have to flash the BIOS if that is what happened, wouldn't I?

Yes. And not all boards are flashable if the image gets corrupted.

brazzmonkey · Post by **brazzmonkey** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:03 am

Monkeh wrote:
adlaiff6 wrote:Hmm, now that I think about that, I would have to flash the BIOS if that is what happened, wouldn't I?
Yes. And not all boards are flashable if the image gets corrupted.

he'd need a bootable system to flash your bios. or he could change the cmos for a new one, but as far as price is concerned, he'd rather buy a new mobo.

let him check the PSU first

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:32 pm

Well, I tested the PSU and it's got correct voltage for 5V and 12V. I tried unplugging everything and got the POST beep code for EGA. Plugging the video card back in, I again get no beep. Right now, I'm trying grabbing a PSU from another computer and using that instead.

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:59 pm

Update: Well now I feel stupid. Through all my tests I somehow failed to test with the video card that happened to work alone. So it works now, and apparently one of my video cards had died and the system refused to boot even with its presence. Off to warrantyland!

01mf02 · Post by **01mf02** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:13 am

Off to buy an nVidia!

RazielFMX · Post by **RazielFMX** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:36 am

ATi RMA is pretty quick, I nuked a 9800 when the fan failed and I had a new card in my hand 7 days later. The new card has been great. I fed-ex'd it for $14 bucks, got there in two days, they shipped the new one like 2 businessdays later, and they overnighted it. Was pretty happy with the response and quickness ATi used in dealing with my issue.

adlaiff6 · Post by **adlaiff6** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:06 pm

Anyone have any idea if either Newegg or ATi would be cool with taking both the cards back in exchange for one better one? I don't see a whole lot of point in getting a replacement since Crossfire won't work, outside of keeping a backup video card on hand for scenarios such as this one here.