I'm having ROTTEN luck over the last month with building systems.  I think I have a bad motherboard, but want opinions.  I have an Iwill P4S with and P4 1.8GHz (retail box with a HUGE heatsink and fan), 512MB PC133 DIM, ATI Expert 2000 Pro AGP, and a 400W P4 power supply.  My normal practice is to connect the minimum components and power up before going through the pain and agony of installing the motherboard in the case, just to find out there's something wrong.  Well, my first attempt at boot got momentary power, i.e. the CPU fan spun up for about 2 seconds, and then nothing.  There's a little light on one corner of the motherboard that turned on while power was up.

I would shut the power supply switch off and listen for a few seconds, then hear a sound similar to an automatic flash in a camera, only going from high to low instead of low to high.  If I wait until I hear that sound, turn the power supply switch back on, then hit the case power button, I get the momentary power again then nothing.  Conclusion:  bad power supply.

No problem; I happen to have another one handy (I have two identical systems to build).  I plug it in and viola`, constant power.  However, no video (other than the screen blinking on powerup), and the speaker gives me a constant hi-low-hi-low tone, something like the sirens they use in Europe for emergency and police vehicles.  The only way to stop it is to hold the power button in for about five seconds.  So, I think bad card at this point.  I try another AGP card; same thing.  I try a PCI video card; same thing.  I try removing memory (looking for SOMETHING different); same thing.  I try a 128MB PC100 DIMM; same thing.  I try it with no video card at all; same thing EXCEPT, I have to flip the switch at the power supply to get it to stop.

I then figured it might be a grounding problem, so I installed the board in the case and went through all of the aforementioned motions again.  No change.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is a new CPU.  I'm a little leery at this point, though.  I'm afraid of damaging the new CPU if something about this board has damaged the first one.  I had the same exact problem two weeks ago with a PCChips 810LR and a Duron 1.3GHz.  Momentary power, then nothing.  This was after about an initial ten second or so boot, in which it got up to the point of detecting the CPU and the RAM.  After that, I only got the momentary power after turning the power supply off for a moment then back on again (I RMA'd that board and chip).

Thoughts?  Experiences?  HELP!!??

Kyle Elmblade
Distinct Computer Solutions
Sales - Upgrades - Training - Consulting
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