A7M266-D not passing post

[jade1001]

Fellow Geeks,

I have a friend who asked me to put together a machine for him. He brought in:

(1) A7M266-D mobo,
(2) DDR 266 ECC512MB pc2100 Registered memory,
(2) Athlon AMD 1800 MHz Palomino Socket A 266 MHz Front Side bus mp processors,
(1) ATI Radeon video card, floppy drive,
(1) monitor,
(1) 420 Watt power supply,
(2) Thermaltake Volcano 6 CU+ fans,
(1) casing with build in system speaker,
and some other stuff I didn’t bother to wire up or install.

I put it together, powered it up, and I get nothing. Power comes on, power led on the board is lit, fans blow but no video. According to the instruction manual of this mobo nothing means “If you do not see anything within 30 seconds from the time you turn on the power, the system may have failed power-on-test. Recheck jumper settings and connections or call your retailer for assistance.”

So I go through and check those zillion jumpers Asus mobo’s like to have:

1) Mumper Mode/JumperFree set to Jumper Free (default)
2) DDR Voltage Settings (VDDR) set to 2.6V (default)
3) Base Center Settings set to (Center/Bass) (default)
4) CPU External Frequency Setting (DSW Switches 1-4) set to 133 (default)
5) Voltage Regulator output setting (PO_VID1-4) set to CPU Default/JumperFree(default)

Everything looks right, right? I mean if it’s at factory default you can’t go wrong, right?

So I’m thinking there’s something wrong with the video so I try a different video card. The one in my machine that I know is working. Power up and still nothing.

Take out the CPU in socket 1 and leave one in CPU socket 0. Power up and nothing. I move the CPU from socket 0 to socket 1. Power up and nothing. I now put the other CPU in socket 0. Power up and nothing. I then move it to socket 1. Power up and nothing. So I put both CPU’s back in.

So I leave one stick of memory in. Power up and nothing. Put the other stick in. Power up and nothing. I move that stick to a different slot. Power up and nothing. Put the other stick in the different slot. Power up and nothing. I take both sticks out (no memory). Power up and nothing. Now I should have gotten something here. According to that Asus manual “Long beeps in an endless loop means No DRAM installed or detected”. So I’m thinking maybe the system speaker is broken. So I pull out another system speaker out of a heap of broken PC’s under my desk and wire it up. Power up and nothing.

Now I’m scratching my head. I power it up again and watch the LED’s on the keyboard and floppy drive. LED on the keyboard lights up and goes out but nothing happens on the floppy drive.

So I’m thinking it’s the motherboard. I tell my friend to get an RMA and tell them this board is defective. So he does. He brings me in another board. Same brand. I take it out of the factory wrap and mount it. Same configuration as before and same problem-- power it up and nothing. So I go through the same process as outlined above. Still nothing.

This board is relatively new and I can’t find any advise or fixes on the web. So now I’m here asking anybody out there for any ideas or suggestions or if they have ran into this problem and know what I can try. I’ll try anything at this point. Just throw some ideas out at me.

Thanks in advanced,
jade>:O>

 

[garwain]

hehe I have had the exact same problem with the exact same board. First of all, remove the battery and touch a pair of pliers to the two contacts to reset the bios.

The shop where I bought my board needed to do that to a few other boards of the same model.

If you still have problems check the circuits on the board. I had no circuit soddered between the PS2 ports and the board. (I'm still waiting for the replacement board to arrive)

 

[jade1001]

garwain,

That's pretty hardcore! (No soddered between PS/2 and the board)

I'll give your suggestion a shot.

Thanks!

jade>:O>

 

[garwain]

I spent the better part of a week figuring that one out before returning the board. Also had the shop sodder a wire to the connectors and got it to work for a few minutes before it shorted out completely.

I had a certified technician do that to make sure the board could still be returned.

anyway I hope shorting the battery will fix your problem. I just called the local computer store for some prices and asked about the problem with that board and their count is now up to 12 of 12 boards (I guess mine was lucky 13...)that had to have the battery shorted.

 

[jade1001]

I tried clearing the BIOS and that didn't work. Still no response. I tried calling Asus Techsupport (for 30 minutes pressing 3's) and they hung up on me after I described my problem

jade>:O>

 

[basweek]

Ok, had the same problem with an Asus A7v266-e. You problem is the memory. The Registered ECC doesnt work with these mobos (they dont support it). Alot of motherboards can deal with the 4 extra bits (ECC part), but the Registered has to do with memory timing and it will lock them up tighter than hell. Mine had the exact same problem as you described. I got some regular PC2100 DDR and it worked fine. I hope that you havent already modified the board.

 

[speckit]

Hey I just posted to another thread
that had the exact same problem -- I think.
I HAD the exact same problem.
I fixed the boot part but am still worried.
Read on...

Previously:
I turn it on. And I hear the cpu fan whirr
and I hear the hdd do its first spin, but
the monitor never wakes up, the PC doesnt ever
go through bios check, it never boots.

Through much ache, 5 different brand new boards,
and switching out much hardware (new) one at a time,
I took it to another building (a store), and
it booted up just fine.

The ac power from the wall in my building
is of poor quality. Just poor enough to mess
up my PC. But not poor enough for me notice
it in other appliances.

I bought a UPS and it fixed my boot problem!
It boots just fine now !!!
But! After 15 minutes of use on this PC.
I cannot do a "shutdown" and then reboot in
5 minutes. I have to wait like 30 minutes
before the UPS batteries have charged enough
to support a "BOOT" after a shutdown (as opposed
to a "reboot&quot

Anyway -- it works for me -- at least the booting
process. I am now worried if I am slowly hurting
my PC if I use it for too long after the batteries
in the UPS run dry. The UPS never beeps or switches
to "battery" mode. It just stays in "on-line" mode.

Tomorrow I plan on getting a voltmeter
and comparing the voltage from my wall
and the voltage from my UPS after the obligatory
30 minutes of charging time. I'm no EE
but won't I need to have the power load on (the pc
trying to boot up) in order to have the test
be meaningful?

 

[TheGrey]

I have had the exact same problem as well!
I'll try the tips here and tell you how it's working out for me.

 

[jade1001]

Guys,

The vendor, my friend bought his mobo from, said a jumper setting is incorrect in the motherboard manual. Check this out:

In hardware setup (CPU External Frequency Setting (DSW Switches 1-4)), the manual reads dip switch 1-3 should be in the on position and 4 in the off position. Then there is an insert (describing how the USB is a card you have to put in one of your PCI slot versus a cable you run from you mobo to a card) also mentioning an error about these dip switch settings. It reads that all of the dip switches should be in the off posistion and the example shows 1-3 on and 4 off. <-- How funky!!!

Anyway, I tried them in the all off position and it did not fix my problem. I also tried moving the jumper used for jumper free mode and jumper free not mode. Still no response.

I'd like to think my problem is with the memory. But since I took all of the memory sticks out, I should have gotten long beeps in an endless loop indicating there is no memory installed according to the user manual. Also, the vender who sold my friend the mobo made sure the memory he purchased would be compatible. The user manual also mentions:

DDR DIMMs support ECC and non-ECC modules; both types are available in registered (for servers) and unbuffered (for PCs) versions:
~Four (4) sockets are available for both 266MHz-pc2100 or 200MHz-pc1600 registered DDR DIMMs to form a memory size of 64MB to 4GB.
~Two(2) sockets are available for 266MHz-pc2100 unbuffered DDR DIMMs: to form a memory size of 64 MB to 2 GB.

Basically this mobo refuses to pass post. Once powered on, the LED on the board lights up and the keyboard lights come on and go off. This is the only output this mobo gives. We tried to make it beep by removing memory and so forth. No luck.

The first board we tried to install already made it back to the vender via RMA. The vendor ran it through tests and found nothing wrong with it. So I am left with processors, memory, video card, and power supply to be the culprit to this problem. Since I've juggled the memory, processors, and video card around, I am left with the power supply to rule out. Even though it is new, I suppose it could be defective. The only problem is, I don't have any AMD boards that require all of those power cables.

So, as of right now I am in the process of examining the power supply and still working on calling Asus Techsupport to make sure there isn't anymore &quot;jumper/switch errors&quot; in the user manual.

I'll keep you guys updated in the progress of this machine -- in case anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

Thanks,
jade>:O>

 

[jade1001]

Ok, guys! I found why this motherboard wouldn't post. My friend ordered another 400+Watt power supply since it was the only thing I hadn't ruled out. As soon as I wired it up, this baby passed post. I guess the power supply must of had a bad pin or something. Cause the weird part is, the LED on the board was lit up communicating the board was getting power. My friend is going to RMA that power supply back to the company he bought it from since its brand new.

So now as I reflect back on this experience this is what I've learned:

1. To clear the CMOS on this board, according to the user manual:
(1) Unplug the computer,
(2) Short the solder points,
(3) Turn ON your computer,
(4) Hold down <delete> during bootup and enter BIOS setup to re-enter user preferences (can't do this step if not passing post but this is educational).

One would think this section should be on the same page as section 3.9 Starting Up the First Time so when one gets nothing after hitting the power switch this would be something to try.

2. The A7M266-D has an error in its user manual. If you want to set the CPU external frequency setting to 133MHz you need to set all the dip switches (1-4) to the off position even though the manual says all is on except 4. An apparent typo and will keep the A7M66-D from passing post.

3. Buying a real nice casing with a power supply garentees a &quot;cheap&quot; power supply. This is the third time I've had a power supply die that came with the casing. My own power supply died taking a processor with it. My sister's died doing the same thing. And now this one. Luckily, I didn't give it the chance to take a processor with it. My power supply taking a processor with it when it died was more devastating because I have an Intel based system and as a result I had to find two processors with the same stepping or if it had different steppings two processors that would run together according to Intel's spec sheets.

Well, just wanted to let you know the outcome of this board and say thanks for all of your help

jade>:O>

 

[TheGrey]

hi,

power may be the case sometimes,and i know the manual states 400w minimum, but I have 2 of these mobos, and I changed the power supply from a 350w to a 250 w, because i needed the other psu to something else.
It still works... (gf3 64mb , 2x1900+mp, 2hdds)

The other one does still not work, probably a faulty mobo.