New System Won't Power Up

[FuFighterStan]

Hi everyone, I'm having some issues with the new Epox 9NDA3J and Athlon 64 3000+ that i just purchased from Newegg. When i attempt to power up the system the fans will spin for about a second and then shut down.

I did a search for the forums and followed some suggestions, unfortunately I haven't had much luck.

My power supply is a Seasonic 400 watt Super Silencer. I have also tried an old 300 watt power supply. I have made sure with both to plug in the 4 pin connector.

I've unplugged all other components, so that only the motherboard, CPU, and power supply are hooked up. Occasionally when i attempt to power up the system it will load up and the motherboard will show the error code for having no RAM installed. If i turn off the system and attempt to power up again, it will have the same issue with the system not starting up.

I've tried seating the motherboard directly on the foam/anti-static bag that it came in and tried powering up from there with the same result.

I had started off using a Zalman CNPS7000A Al-Cu fan. Upon experiencing this issue i also switched to the AMD fan that came with my retail CPU package.

I have also tried taking the case out of the equation and attempted to short the pins for the power on the motherboard with a jumper with the same failure.

Any other ideas on how to narrow down the problem? Or is it possible one of the components is damaged? Only the CPU and motherboard are new, and the other parts i'm using have worked fine until tonight on a mobile Athlon XP system.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bjc112]

You hit a lot of the possible problems.. I know you have tried parts sepaarately, but have you reseated everything?

If it's just the CPU and MOBO that are new, it's gotta be one of those..

Had a Neo2 that died on me, it seemed like it took the CPU, or maybe just the CPU was dead.. Except with my dead board, I had absolutely no power up at all.

Switched PSU units, and finally switched boards and everything was ok..

 

[FuFighterStan]

Originally posted by: bjc112
You hit a lot of the possible problems.. I know you have tried parts sepaarately, but have you reseated everything?

I'm not sure what else there really is to reseat. There aren't any other cards installed, nor any hard drives or cd drives plugged in. Not even any memory, which i have tried two different sticks and brands in different slots on the motherboard just to be sure. I'm assuming that RAM wouldn't be an issue as the system should power up consistantly without any installed anyway, right?

It seems like if i turn off the power to my power supply and unplug the cable as well as the power connectors to my motherboard, and plug them back in I can get it to power up correctly on the first try, but as soon as I power down and attempt to turn it on again i have the same issue.

I'm assuming it would be one of the 3; Power Supply, CPU, or Motherboard. Any one of these the most likely suspect for this type of issue? It seems the power supply would be the easiest to replace and i could pick one up after work. I may be able to test the CPU or motherboard on a friend's system this weekend, but if i can narrow down the issue sooner it would help me get any RMA's or what not going with Newegg in case something is damaged.

 

[FuFighterStan]

Well, I put my Athlon XP and motherboard back in and my system booted up right away without any issues. I'm guessing its just the motherboard. I'm not sure if i want to go out and purchase another motherboard to test, or just RMA the Epox board and wait for a replacement.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: FuFighterStan
Well, I put my Athlon XP and motherboard back in and my system booted up right away without any issues. I'm guessing its just the motherboard. I'm not sure if i want to go out and purchase another motherboard to test, or just RMA the Epox board and wait for a replacement.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Wait, you said you changed the CPU and it booted up? Originally you say you have an A64 3200+ and now you said you put the AXP in and it booted up? Hmm, sounds like the CPU to me. I ran into this problem a few weeks back when I set up my watercooling (it was insanity in the forums) and it ended up being something stupid - I didn't have the CPU seated properly. So try reseating the A64, making sure the arrow points the right way and all the pins are in, and everything is in before pulling the lever.

 

[shud]

I ran into something like this when I received my new Epox 8RDA+ mobo after an RMA a few years ago. I just stuck the CPU back on without putting a new thermal pad or any thermal paste on.

The computer would start, post, and shut down. Sometimes it stayed on for 30 minutes, sometimes 30 nanoseconds. I'd apply some more thermal paste or something like that. It sounds like your CPU isn't liking something, it could be metal-on-metal contact between the core and the mobo.

 

[FuFighterStan]

Well, the CPU would only fit into the socket one way, so i don't think that's necessarily the issue as there really isn't any way to reseat the CPU any other way I did remove the CPU at least 3 or 4 times while cleaning it and trying to reseat various fans and heatsinks.

As for thermal paste, that could be the case, however I did try using the retail heatsink and fan that was brand new with the default thermal goop on there, so I don't believe that it should be an issue. I had also used some Arctic Silver when I initially installed it with my Zalman fan. I'll try and mess with the fan/cpu some more tonight before i start looking into replacing parts like the motherboard or CPU.

What are the chances that the CPU itself could be damaged? Slim?

 

[Tarrant64]

Usually when I see this problem it's the power supply. Have you tried just turning it on with no extra's like cd-roms, sound card, attatched? I had to remove every thing one by one once until it actually did boot up. Used another power supply, and it booted up just fine. Then again, as I reread your posts, I see you've tried that. Maybe it could be worth a shot trying a 3rd power supply? I don' see why you wouldn't have enough juice though. Hmm...

This one's got me thinking.

 

[Mrvile]

Where did you order your parts?

If you got the motherboard and CPU in a combo, send them both back to the retailer to get them tested. But before you do that, try a few more things like check to make sure none of the pins are bent, and try taking the motherboard battery (the little silver disk in the motherboard) out for about 5 to 10 minutes then putting it back in. Reset CMOS, make sure everything is plugged in completely (sometimes the 20-pin and 4-pin motherboard connectors look like they're in, but make sure they *click* in), etc.

You might have damaged your CPU, Arctic Silver is known to screw up CPUs and voids a lot of warranties. But I've gotten AS on the bottomside of my CPU and it still works fine. So your chances are slim, although it could happen.

 

[FuFighterStan]

I ordered the parts together from Newegg but not part of an official combo. I took a look at the CPU pins the other night and they didn't appear to be bent to me. I'll try the motherboard battery when i get back from work. I've plugged and unplugged the motherboard connectors at least a dozen times, so i'm fairly certain they're in but i'll try and pay extra attention to it. I did try resetting the CMOS a few times as well.

I'm tempted just to run to Fry's and pick up another motherboard or power supply to test, but i'm wary unless i can pinpoint the issue first.

 

[Oyeve]

Try with a PCI vid card. I had a system that did the same thing as yours is and when I popped in a PCI vid card it booted up, I reset the bios to defaults, shut down, popped in an AGP card and all was well.

 

[FuFighterStan]

Darn it, tried buying an Antec 430 watt True Power today at CompUSA and didn't have any more luck. So i'm assuming it has to be either the motherboard, the CPU, or the connection between them. I guess i can try picking up a motherboard to try out and return the power supply i just bought tomorrow after work *grumble*