Mobo or PSU Problem????????????

[morso]

I'm turning here because this is probably the only place I'll get a correct answer. OK, the problem... I'm putting together a system, I'm using a ASUS A8N-SLI mobo with a Athlon 64, it's in an Ultra mid tower case w/Ultra 500w psu. First the system wouldn't stay on, it went like this, turn on, system run for 2 minutes, shuts itself off, turn it back on, repeat process but short time. Eventually, it just wouldn't stay on, instant shut down. Sent mobo back to ASUS, 3 weeks, they send the same board back, "repaired", try again, now system won't stay on at all. Press power, comes on, then shuts down. If I disconnect the 4 prong, 12v1 from board, (Asus says board won't boot without this in), machine runs forever, won't shut off. This also happened previously. Psu has 24 pin connector for the mobo, so no adapter needed. No operating system installed yet either. Now, Tiger Direct will replace the whole case because it was package w/psu. If the psu is bad, fine, but otherwise, another huge delay. I just want to know what the problem is. If the psu is crap, I'll just buy a new one without the hassle of sending the whole case back. I also have not heard of anyone having this kind of problem w/mobo. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[garebo]

Welcome to Tiger direct!!! Thats my opinion anyway. When i was newer to pcs i bought a unit and ran into the same problems and i am not alone. Thats why a lot of people stay away from them.

That being said, i just experienced the same thing building an older P4 system. I changed the ps and now all is well, but before i did i had the same experiences you are talking about, pretty much exactly the same. The only reason i swapped the power supply is because i had another one sitting right there, otherwise i would have had to think it thru, lol. Anyway, it was the power supply. I wouldnt be surprised if the faulty power supply would work on another unit though. And it wouldnt surprise me if it did the same thing and caused problems with another unit, often you just never know. Some ram will work in one pc and not another, often has to do with timing (cl).
So my guess is that that you are on the right track and its the power supply.


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[garebo]

One more thing. When i swapped out the power supply, i put the first one back in and it did the same thing, so for sure its the power supply in my case. Probably yours too.


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[morso]

Ok, here's the latest... picked up a new case and power supply from TigerDirect today,(Naperville store close by), they wouldn't just exchange the psu, since it came with the case, had to take the whole thing. Brought it home and took a short cut, just hooked up new power supply and low and behold...nothing new, same problem. I tried taking the mobo out and running it in case it was shorting out or something, no fix. I did notice with all the case wiring hooked up, that when you power on the system, all the proper lights come on, hard drive, power... and if you hold the power switch for a few seconds, all the lights go out as if the system shut down, but all the fans in the case, on mobo, video card... keep running. I thought they might stay on for a bit to help cool the system down after use, but at about 10 minutes I just pulled the plug. They have a tech center at the Naperville store and they said that if I continued to have problems, assemble the system and bring it in, if it's a component problem, they'll replace it free, if it's an assembling error, it will cost me. I wish I could figure this out. I am beginning to form the same opinion about TigerDirect as well!
Mike

 

[garebo]

Not really to run them down, but i have heard these stories over and over and, as i said, i have my own story.
I bought a system when i was a newbie. It was a great system and even a decent price. The dvd never worked from day one. I called and they said they wouldnt replace it because i got such a great deal on the whole unit that they are not giving a warranty. I said fine, thats the last you will see of me. And i have been true to my word.
But again, its not just my experience.
I sure hope you get a system running or your money back, which you likely will. I dont think they are quite that bad, just bad. Now that i know more, i realize that basically their prices, when shipping is added in, are higher than, say, newegg.com and other online stores.
Tigerdirect buys some less than great systems, stuff other people couldnt sell, that sorta thing. They price it well and get it out the door. Usually its not the best quality.
Again, just my opinion, but i have heard the same over th years from others too. Since then i have dealt with Directron, newegg, frys, and another dozen online stores and never a problem! So i figure why bother with tigerdirect.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[rvnguy]

morso,

I am chiming in on this late. But here I go any way:

If I disconnect the 4 prong, 12v1 from board, (Asus says board won't boot without this in), machine runs forever, won't shut off.

You state that the machine runs but can you acess the BIOS setup as you do not a an OS installed at this time? ASUS and AMD have a protection scheme to protect the CPU from overheating.

turn on, system run for 2 minutes, shuts itself off, turn it back on, repeat process but short time.

Your initial problems with running 2 minutes then off are indicative of CPU overheating, all else aside. Add this to the shorter time the second time around as the CPU is warm you get a shorter time until shutdown.

Did you assemble the CPU & heatsink?

Did the HS have what appears as a colored tape interface that would contact the CPU?

Did you use a "thermal grease" as an interface between the CPU and the Heat Sink?

If the HS had this colored tape did you also apply a thermal grease?

I may be way off base here, but it is a consideration on the assembly.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[morso]

rvnguy,
Thanks for the ideas, and in response,
I did install the heatsink per AMD instructions, using their "grease", after having to remove the cpu to send back the mobo, I reinstalled the cpu using Artic Silver products, per their instructions.
Last night I installed the video card (6600 Gt) and connected the monitor, hoping that the problem would lie in the bios, however, the monitor would not respond, it stayed black. After unplugging it, it said "no signal"
The 2 minute thing was prior to sending the mobo back to ASUS. Now it powers up and immediately shuts down, unless the 4 pin plug is removed, then it won't shut down.
Mike

 

[kmcferrin]

I'm leaning towards a heating issue. Is this a retail CPU/HSF kit or did you buy a separate HSF? If you bought a separate one, is it big enough to do the job? Is the fan header plugged into the mainboard? Does the CPU fan actually spin? When you applied Arctic Silver, did you first remove the old heatsink compound/pad? Are you sure that the fan is mounted correctly and is making good contact with the CPU? I haven't seen a 939 CPU/HSF, but I know that on other AMD form factors it is possible to mount the fan 180 degress backwards, causing it to not make a good connection.

Regarding the PSU, I'm doubting that it is a faulty PSU since it was replaced. It might be a case of an inadequate PSU. Try stripping your system down to just mainboard, CPU, and memory. Then boot and see if it still works. Gradually add components back in and see what happens.

 

[morso]

Ok, here's a few more details,
factory hsf, came with processor, used artic silver cleaning and prep products before reintall with their grease. I have tried system with just mobo, memory and cpu, same same. Ran board outside of case same same. All fans run, this happens with cold system, first power on, fans spin up, 1 second, they shut down. The system isn't on long enough to heat up. I suppose the fan could be on 180 degrees opposite, but it's same orientation as mobo doucmentation shows. Last but no least, 500w psu, and I've tried to run bare minimum components.
Mike

 

[kmcferrin]

Well, if you've swapped out the PSU and had the mainboard "repaired" (what did they actually fix, I wonder?), then that leaves the CPU, HSF, or memory.

I will say that if the fan is not mounted securely/correctly that the CPU will overheat and crash from a cold boot in just a couple of seconds, and usually will repeat the feat almost immediately on subsequent reboots (unless you shut it down and let the CPU cool for a few minutes). I had this exact thing happen before on the system that I was rebuilding.

If you bought the entire package from TigerDirect then you may be better off taking it to them to troubleshoot. I assume that they will diagnostic equipment that they could use to test with (along with known good spares). The things that I would do for sure before taking it in are:

1. Double-check the HSF.
2. Try a different model PSU (if you have one available).
3. Try different memory modules (or try those modules in another system). I'm also assuming here that you are using a pair of identical modules, and they are plugged into the appropriate memory slots.

 

[morso]

Thanks for the ideas, I will double check everything, but it looks like a trip to the service center.

 

[morso]

JOY!!!
Thanks to all for the help, I triple check all the connections for the fourth time and dicovered that when the cases reset switch plug was removed, everything worked fine. I reattached it and I am loading Windows XP as we speak. (hopefully). I guess this was all just mental exercise, but thanks to all.
Mike

 

[garebo]

I take it that means the case reset switch is defective or was it just not installed right and was being pushed in all the time, causing a reset all the time?
Sometimes its the easiest things.
Makes my rave about tiger suspicious but trust me, its still valid. They often pass off poor quality parts to the unsuspecting newbie and then their shipping fees are higher than everyone else.

Glad you came out ok, though!!! Plus you not having to worry about shipping helps out a lot.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[morso]

What a joy this has been. After my last post, system crapped out again. After much checking, it appeared that the psu wasn't right. The 4 plug 12v if moved just right allowed the system to run. So, I go to tigerdirect, return the case w/psu and buy a new 500w Ultra psu, the modular plugs are neat, but stiff, hook up new psu, and geuss what, still intermittent problem. So I guess it's safe to assume the plug on the mobo isn't right. I moved the plug around a bit and it seems to be working. So far, 5 hours last night none stop, and today, so far another 5, most of my software and such has been reinstalled and the system seems stable. I think I will leave it run overnight. Fingers crossed.
Mike

 

[garebo]

What plug are you referring to? If its one on the motherboard and you can push it one way to get power and another way and it wont work then it means that the soldering on the plug is bad and must be replaced.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[morso]

In case anyone is following this post anymore, here's the latest. The system was working for about a total of 15 hours over two days. It was shut off and then it wouldn't restart. Same problem, power on, and then immediate shut down. So the score is now, mobo sent in for "repair" once, three power supplies and no joy. Went to Tigerdirect Naperville store, tech center, guy looks at it right away, for 15 minutes he tries everything I've already done and no luck, then he reseats the processor. The system boots up twice ok, however he doesn't let it run for more than 10-15 seconds. Hands it back and says "should be ok now, no charge" I ask what if? "Just bring it back and we'll log it in and work on it. Sooooo, drive it home 15 miles, plug it in, knowing in my heart that it isn't fixed, and was not diappointed, it's now sitting in the tech center. I will call later today, but I really don't expect this to be an easy fix. Techincally it probably will be relatively simple, but I sure the bureacracy will beat me down, I'm hoping to have my new system in operation by the end of this month, only two months behind.
Mike

 

[garebo]

You might want to consider buying from another source in the future. Im not gonna run tiger down anymore than i have. But consider brick and mortar alternatives and perhaps even build your own. Net alternatives would be newegg.com, directron and so on. You could go to almost any forum and get a list of good online stores.

Good luck with your present system. Wish you the best.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[morso]

Thanks to all, for the advice and comments, I put this system together and was determined to make it work, all in all, Tigerdirect has actually been pretty good about it. I'm writing this using my new system. There tech people took it last night and this afternoon, determined that the mobo was bad. This was the same mobo that ASUS kept for 2 weeks and then sent back "repaired", thank you very much, anyway, they said they would swap out the bad mobo, but I needed to bring in the original box so they could return it as defective. Well, I really lucked out and still have the box, remember this hardware has been here almost a month and a half, without it they told me there was nothing they could do, ya right, but I did bring it in and my system was running when I got there. No charge either, and so far it has started twice with no problems. Time will tell. Overall, I would have to say that Tigerdirect hasn't been too bad and they did try successfully to make it right. I am very diappointed with ASUS, the product may be good but there support leaves a lot to be desired. I know this is all subjective and others will have differing opinions, but I"m just relaying facts. My hope is that information exchanged will help someone else down the road. Again thanks to all for the help.
Mike

 

[garebo]

Hey, glad you got a system working, thats really what counts.
Overall, Asus make pretty decent boards but they have taken a few hits over the years with some less than great offerings on occasions.
I imagine that with a new motherboard you should be ok and all will be well. Hope so as i can understand your frustration. And, tiger did stand by and help you, so that counts for something.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips