Re: Puzzle

funfly3 wrote:
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?

As far as I'm aware the bag is the same internally as externally :
Anti-static. IMO if the inside were a conducting layer it would conduct
static and fry the mobo before it was ever used.


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