Re: Puzzle

BigH2K wrote:
"Dr.H@l0nf1r£$" <yeah@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:sJCdnSsfaalFDa_bnZ2dnUVZ8qSnnZ2d@xxxxxxxxx
OK I've completed all the tests I can think of and narrowed the fault down. I'm now going to post here and get some opinions :

I had a system bought from PC World under the Medion label back in 2002. last year I was flashing the BIOS when everything died. Eventually after a reboot all I could get out of it was a continuous beep; nothing else, even the screen was blank. I stripped the PC down completely and I changed the motherboard from a custom-made-for PC-World MSI board to an ASrock P4i56G. I used the old CPU, a first-generation P4 2.8 GHz single-threaded chip; and old memory, 2 * 256GB sticks DDR. I had to adapt the case to be able to fit in any PCI devices in the PCI slots as the position of the PCI slots differed. I refitted the old PSU though I had to change the fan and heatsink as the old ones didn't fit the board, DVD ROM, CD-RW, floppy drive, and PATA HDDs; an 80GB drive and a Maxtor 20GB drive. I connected up the front panel correctly although the 2 front USB ports were left unconnected as the plug didn't fit the new board. When checked all thoroughly I powered up and switched on. :

The CPU fan and case fan ran for 1 second and died. I pushed the button again; same thing. Since then I've tried powering up with the CD-RW unconnected, the DVD-ROM unconnected, both unconnected, the floppy unconnected as well, even the HDDs unconnected, all with the identical result. I've tested the PSU and found it to be faultless, I've tried swapping the polarity of some of the front panel connections; but still nothing works for more than 1 second, apart from the LEDs. : Either the power LED or the HDD LED illuminates constantly but on power up the lit LED goes out and the other illuminates until the unit dies after 1 second...

So it can only be 1 of 3 things or maybe a combination of more than 1 of 3 things wrong. Those being the CPU is dead, the memory is dead, or the brand new motherboard is dead. (I was extra-careful about static protection when I fitted it. I wore an earthed wristband and did not rest the board on anything other than its anti-static bag briefly, having removed it from the bag immediately before installing it in the case. The case was earthed at all times during construction and I wore the wristband at all times.)

So; before I spend anything on this, I need to know if it's the CPU, the RAM, the mobo, or any combination. (If all 3 I'll simply bin the project.)

Opinions please if you would be so good.

Thanks.



My money would be on the motherboard, try taking it out of the case and "building" it on the antistatic bag on your desk just to rule out a short. As you've had to mod the case then the risk of that is higher in your case (no pun intended) I would have thought.

It's extremely rare for a cpu to fail, think I've only seen one. You have two memory sticks so the likelyhood of both being faulty are slim and wouldn't cause the fault you describe, you'd most likely get beeping.


I was always told not to put anything on an antistatic bag as the out side is an insulating layer and inside is the conducting layer or is that an old wives tail?
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