HELP! New comp doesn't POST!

[NoReMoRsE]

Hey, I'm helping my friend put together his new Athlon 1700 XP computer. We're using the MSI K7T266 Pro2 motherboard, and everything is connected. His parts are basically the same as mine, so check my sig for more info.

The comp however does not POST. I hear HD activity and the fans come on, but nothing on screen. In fact, the monitor light turns orange. According to the MSI D-Bracket diagnostics, 4 lights come on red and stay red, which means that there is a problem with the CPU. Either it is damaged, defective or seated improperly. But I'm pretty sure the CPU is seated correctly, because it can only go in one way. The fan on the heatsink is also working.

I don't really want to take out the heatsink because everything's already set up in the case. Does anyone have any suggestions???

 

[Woody419]

Shouldn't the monitor light turn green if there is a signal? If re-seating the video card does not work then you will have to start with a minimal setup: CPU, memory, graphics card, boot disk on a floppy.

 

[Importtech]

couple of things...try reseating you vcard.. make sure the board isn't case grounding thru the mounting screws..Any beeps..

 

[NoReMoRsE]

We tried reseating the AGP card twice, and also tried a PCI card from my friend's old machine. We also tried two monitors, to no avail. My friend's brother thinks he heard a single beep, but it was about two minutes after starting up the computer, so I'm not sure what that means.

Also, we can't remove the heatsink because the thermal compound on the bottom has melted and is now stuck to the CPU. Can the CPU/heatsink be removed from the mobo as a unit, or is this not possible?

 

[Importtech]

okay try this disconnect EVERYTHING LEAVE ONLY THE CPU AND MEMORY IN.. OUT WITH THE VIDEO CARD.. should get 8 beeps if the
cp and board are okay...definitely loosen all the mounting screws and make sure its not grounded. why do you want to remove the HS.

 

[RazeOrc]

Here's one for ya, did you clear the CMOS? I have had posting problems under extreme OC conditions on my rig and all I do is reset CMOS, works every time, this is also a very common fix, easier than reseating every card. If that doesn't work, remove all but HDD and Vidcard, clear CMOS and see if it posts, if it does then add in cards, if not try the CPU/HSF in another rig to ensure it's not the processor, if it is you may have a burned chip, it's very rare but I have read some stories on these boards about it happening on initial posts for Athlon XPs

 

[NoReMoRsE]

Hey Import,
I tried your suggestion but we got no beeps at all. The fan on the heatsink was spinning, however, so it is getting power. Also, the mobo wasn't being grounded because we put it on an anti-static bag on a cardboard box, neither of which conducts electricity. Perhaps our bag or box were defective?

RazeOrc:
How do you clear the CMOS? And also, we have no other motherboard on which to test this CPU, so we can't do that.

Any other ideas?

 

[veryape]

Set it up with just minimum components, ie video card, processor, hard drive and floppy. You can put the cd rom in after you get it to post. Take it out of the case and see if it posts because like others have mentioned, it may be grounding on the case. See if that works and check back. Also make sure that your monitor is tightly connected.

BTW, all you have to do to clear the cmos is find where your cmos jumpers are and move the jumper one pin over for 10 seconds and then put it back to it's original position, you basically need to ground it out to clear the cmos. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say.

<< RazeOrc:
How do you clear the CMOS? And also, we have no other motherboard on which to test this CPU, so we can't do that. >>

 

[NoReMoRsE]

veryape:

We tried it with only the mobo, the CPU/heatsink/fan and the RAM and it didn't give the 8 beeps that it should have. In fact, nothing happened, except that the fan was spinning.

Orcish:

No, the Athlon is not on our dinner menu, nor is smoking permitted here. In other words, it's not fried. Unless our sense of smell is defective and someone is using cloaking technology to hide the smoke.

 

[Importtech]

IHMO if you have NO BEEPS =not good either bad Mobo or Dead CPU....either will give you no beeps.. try CPU in another system or
another CPU in your board to narrow it down... Could be wrong thou so keep trying..

and when clearing cmos you must unplug power cord from the wall as well as moving the jumper to drain residual voltage..

 

[RazeOrc]

Did you try the CMOS? it's a small (usually yellow) jumper on the board, accompanied by 3 pins on which it sits on 2 of them, just move it over so it sits on the middle and other pin for any ammount of time, and move it back, just make sure you turn off power to ur PS before you do it

 

[NoReMoRsE]

Import:

Possibility 1: We cannot try the cpu in another motherboard because we do not have another motherboard to try it in.

Possibility 2: We cannot try another cpu in this motherboard unless the Athlon XP cpu/heatsink/fan can be removed as a unit. If we separate the heatsink from the CPU, we won't be able to put it back until we get a thermal grease or compound, neither of which we have at the moment.

Question:
Can the cpu/heatsink/fan be removed as a unit? Or must they be separated?

 

[veryape]

This may sound stupid but are you sure your pc speaker is hooked up correctly? If so it sounds like it might be a defective board if nothing is working like you say. Maybe i'm missing something here.

BTW, yes the cpu/heatsink fan can be removed as a unit without any problems.

 

[Importtech]

can you get the clips loose... if you can then flip the lever and it should all come out..be careful...

 

[NoReMoRsE]

veryape:

Yeah, we hooked up the PC speaker. No beeps.

Import:

We'll try that suggestion. Thanks!

 

[NoReMoRsE]

Import:

Your plan kind of backfired. In attempting to take out the cpu/heatsink/fan, the heatsink got disconnected from the cpu. Now we can't use the heatsink anymore until we clean up the goop and get thermal compound. Oh well.

Is there anything else we can do??

 

[Importtech]

I doubt seriously you'll damage anything by just putting them back together..thermal paste is ceartainly a good thing but not absolutely
necesary immediately.. just make sure you have good contact... does the die look discolored ..

 

[veryape]

You can hook it up without thermal paste, just get some as soon as you can. They don't ship with it do they?

 

[NoReMoRsE]

No, the retail version comes with no thermal compound. I don't think we'll try it without any thermal compound, cuz it'll overheat and fry. The opportunity cost (for those of you economic types) is just too great to justify such a risk.

 

[MrHelpful]

Actually, my CPU is running without thermal compound (or even a thermal pad), and a crappy Coolermaster heatsink with a 10mm fan. It's a Duron 600.

 

[Importtech]

Noremorse

you confuse me I thought you wanted to remove the CPU so that you could try another one in the board..
As others have stated you wont kill the CPU merely by leaving out Thermal paste..I certainly understand your thinking thou.
Your CPU may already be dead anyway...I feel something is ..anyway good luck and keep me informed of your progress..

 

[NoReMoRsE]

My friend (Xaxoqual, also an AnandTech member) is going back to the store to let them see if it is the mobo or the CPU that is dead. I suspect the mobo, because it didn't even beep once when set up with a minimum configuration. Hopefully we'll get this all straightened out.

 

[Bovinicus]

<< I tried your suggestion but we got no beeps at all. The fan on the heatsink was spinning, however, so it is getting power. Also, the mobo wasn't being grounded because we put it on an anti-static bag on a cardboard box, neither of which conducts electricity. Perhaps our bag or box were defective? >>


Putting hardware on top of anti-static bags is the worst thing that you can do. Anti-static bags work by holding all static on the outside of the bag, leaving the inside static free... NEVER put hardware on the outside of an anti-static bag. Also, are you sure you removed the little strip on the bottom of the heatsink? There is often times a piece of tape on the bottom. If you don't remove it, it will melt to the CPU core, most likely destroying it. If you need to seperate the heatsink from the CPU to test them, go to Radioshack and buy a $2 tube of thermal compound. They should have some there.

 

[Slatz]

I got 10 bucks that says the keyboard controller on the board is fried. Or there is a burnt Cap. Most definitly sounds like it is board related.

 

[chefmws]

Guys,

you are all focusing on the mobo or cpu as the problem,

could be a weak power supply or bad ram or ram that is not seated fully.

i tech for a comp disty and see this problem alot. 60% of the time the problem is in the ram, 30% of the time the prob is the power supply, the last 10% is either a cpu or mobo.

take some good working ram from another machine and try it. if that does not work then try a GOOD 300w power supply to see if that fixes things.

lastly take the board out of the case and try to post it up. a short in the case ground could also be the problem.