At 08:16 PM 6/17/99 , Jerry Rasmussen wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>
>I have a PC that not only will not boot, but does absolutely nothing when
>power is applied.  The PC consists of the following:
>Asus P5A motherboard
>AMD K6-2 366MHz CPU (not overclocked)
>128 MB SDRAM DIMM (PC100)
>Matrox Millenium II AGP video with 8 MB WRAM
>56K Lucent Tech modem (PCI)
>40X Asus CD-ROM (master on secondary EIDE channel)
>1.44MB FDD
>10.1 GB Western Digital EIDE DMA 33 HD (master on primary IDE channel)
>Linksys 100/10 Etherlink network card
>Adaptec SCSI controller with only a Ricoh MP 6200S CD-RW attached.
>
>FSB is set to 66.8 MHz and the clock multiplier set to 5.5x
>One day the computer was working perfectly, the next it just sat there like
>a boat anchor.
>I have checked the conductivity on the softboot switch, it is OK.
>I replaced the ATX 235W power supply.
>I removed each card from the PC, one at a time, and applied power after each
>card was removed.  The last card I removed was the video.  I disconnected
>the hard disk and FDD.  I then removed the memory and tried to start it, and
>finally the CPU.  In no case, did any fan or LED make any attempt to move or
>flicker.  Nada.
>
>Any suggestions before I yank the motherboard.  This PC is only 6 months old
>and is usually turned off.

As mentioned before, you have been quite methodical.

You need to use a little deductive reasoning on this one and some
extra components, using an existing system to harvest working parts
can be helpful.   If you do not have extra components and a second
system, possibly a friend has one who is willing to help.  Otherwise,
you will need to take it to a local shop to be diagnosed.

First, remove all the cards from the system, except your video card.
Now, remove all cabling from the motherboard: IDE, floppy, serial
   ports, parallel ports.  Leave the power ribbon cable connected and
   the case power switch wire in place.
Examine the power switch on the back of the case and be sure it is
set to 110v and not 220v.

You should have only a motherboard with a processor, ram, video card.
Try to see if it will post, (power up).

If it will not, do you have more than one SDRam module on the board.
Try removing all but one and then swapping them.

Still it will not post?  Remove the CPU and closely examine the main
chip on the module.  Does it appear discolored or browned?  This
can be the sign of a burned CPU.   The CPU looks fine?

Okay, now is the time to swap out the CPU with another one, (remember
the comment above about harvesting components from a second system?).
Then try swapping out the memory.  Finally, try swapping out the video card.
If you have done all this and you cannot get it to post, the motherboard is
bad.

Since your system is only 180days old, the motherboard should be covered
under warranty and you can return it for replacement.

Once the system will post, (power up), you should be able to determine
which part you removed that was causing the problem.   Just replace
the bad component(s).

When you start to put it back together, add each item one at a time,
starting up the system each time, in this way if it fails to post, you will
also find additional compromised components.

I hope this helps...


                Bob Wright
       The NOSPIN Group, Inc
http://nospin.com - http://nospin.org

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