Hi All...

I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched the
MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as it
won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on when
the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on start.
It is completely DEAD.

I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I checked
the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to the
mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM, Removed
the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.

I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the cardboard
box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post in
the case...

Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This was
working earlier this week...

Scott

"Kathy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:P2uKb.57002$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All...
>
> I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched
the
> MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as it
> won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
> working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on when
> the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on start.
> It is completely DEAD.
>
> I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I checked
> the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to the
> mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
Removed
> the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
>
> I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the cardboard
> box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post
in
> the case...
>
> Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This
was
> working earlier this week...
>
> Scott

The most common cause of what you describe is that you have mis-identified
the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two pins
of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next two
as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front of
the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know that
power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the power
supply to the off position.

Sick Willie

Yup. I had that correct. Does the LED being on indicate a good MB? Or, could
that mean that there is power getting to it, but something else crapped out?

-Scott=



"Sick Willie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:RiyKb.52691$Fg.49824@lakeread01...
>
> > Hi All...
> >
> > I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched
> > MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as
it
> > won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
> > working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on
when
> > the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on
start.
> > It is completely DEAD.
> >
> > I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I
checked
> > the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to
the
> > mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
> > Removed
> > the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
> >
> > I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the
cardboard
> > box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post
in
> > the case...
> >
> > Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This
> > was working earlier this week...
> >
> > Scott
>
> The most common cause of what you describe is that you have mis-identified
> the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two pins
> of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next
two
> as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front of
> the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
> describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know
that
> power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
> install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
> better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the power
> supply to the off position.
>
> Sick Willie
>
>

"Sick Willie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<RiyKb.52691$Fg.49824@lakeread01>...
> "Kathy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:P2uKb.57002$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi All...
> >
> > I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched
> the
> > MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as it
> > won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
> > working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on when
> > the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on start.
> > It is completely DEAD.
> >
> > I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I checked
> > the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to the
> > mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
> Removed
> > the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
> >
> > I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the cardboard
> > box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post
> in
> > the case...
> >
> > Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This
> was
> > working earlier this week...
> >
> > Scott
>
> The most common cause of what you describe is that you have mis-identified
> the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two pins
> of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next two
> as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front of
> the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
> describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know that
> power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
> install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
> better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the power
> supply to the off position.
>
> Sick Willie

Im having the exact same problem with my A7N8X motherboard. Tried
everything you tried, plus resetting the bios. I have also checked
and rechecked the power switch plug about 100 times. Its something
else, and im pulling out my hair trying to figure it out.

In article <GGDKb.118220$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Kathy"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Yup. I had that correct. Does the LED being on indicate a good MB? Or, could
> that mean that there is power getting to it, but something else crapped out?
>
> -Scott=
>

Are you referring to the green LED on the motherboard, next to the
three DIMM slots ? That LED is powered by +5VSB from the ATX power supply.

Power supplies have two "sections". The +5VSB supply operates whenever
the switch on the back of an ATX supply is in the ON position. The
other outputs of the supply on the other hand, are controllable via a
logic signal.

When a power supply is connected to a motherboard, some of the motherboard
circuits are powered off +5VSB. One of the circuits is the circuit that
listens to the power switch on the front of the case. Momentarily closing
the switch on the front of the case, results in a chip on the motherboard
latching the signal, and pulling down the PS_ON# signal which is on
the ATX 20 pin connector. This causes the rest of the PS outputs to be
switched on. The PS runs as long as PS_ON# is grounded (connected to
COM on the 20 pin connector). At shutdown, Windows tells the chip that
listens to the switch, to release the PS_ON# signal, and then the machine
is shut off.

So, you have +5VSB present, but for some reason, either your momentary
switch from the front panel is not working properly, the motherboard
chip driving PS_ON# is malfunctioning, or the power supply is not
listening to PS_ON# for some reason. That makes at least three possible
pieces of broken hardware.

Some people test by actuating PS_ON# manually, while the motherboard
is connected, but I don't recommend that unless you know whether the
chip driving the PS_ON# signal is safe to short to ground or not.

A safer way to test, is to test the power supply by itself, by using
the 20 pin connector and connecting PS_ON# to COM. Even if you don't
own a voltmeter to check the voltages, you can at least see the PS
fan spinning when the PS has successfully been switched on. Inside
the supply, +5VSB is applied through a pullup resistor, to the PS_ON#
signal, and only a small current should have to be shunted to ground
by the chip on the motherboard - sometimes the PS puts too much
current on this lead, and then the chip on the motherboard cannot
fully shunt the current to ground to start the supply.

Otherwise, if you've isolated the problem to the motherboard via
swapping out other pieces of hardware, it could actually be a motherboard
fault. I have a motherboard here, where the PS_ON# signal went nuts
when one of the IDE cables was half seated, so make sure all of the
cabling is correctly installed before blaming the motherboard.

In terms of failure rates, the PS is tops on the list of dud
hardware, no matter what brand is stamped on it. If you have another
computer handy, use the supply from it to power your A7A266 and see
if they get along together.

HTH,
Paul

>
>
> "Sick Willie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:RiyKb.52691$Fg.49824@lakeread01...
> >
> > > Hi All...
> > >
> > > I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched
> > > MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as
> it
> > > won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
> > > working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on
> when
> > > the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on
> start.
> > > It is completely DEAD.
> > >
> > > I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I
> checked
> > > the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to
> the
> > > mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
> > > Removed
> > > the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
> > >
> > > I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the
> cardboard
> > > box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post
> in
> > > the case...
> > >
> > > Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This
> > > was working earlier this week...
> > >
> > > Scott
> >
> > The most common cause of what you describe is that you have mis-identified
> > the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two pins
> > of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next
> two
> > as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front of
> > the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
> > describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know
> that
> > power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
> > install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
> > better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the power
> > supply to the off position.
> >
> > Sick Willie
> >
> >

I tried checking the power supply by connecting it to another working board,
and it started up fine. I then tried to plug an older power supply I know
works to the asus board, and again nothing started. Seems like it must be
the motherboard. Is it repairable?

"Tyler Porter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Sick Willie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:<RiyKb.52691$Fg.49824@lakeread01>...
> > "Kathy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:P2uKb.57002$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > Hi All...
> > >
> > > I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week.
Switched
> > the
> > > MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home,
as it
> > > won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it
was
> > > working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on
when
> > > the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on
start.
> > > It is completely DEAD.
> > >
> > > I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I
checked
> > > the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to
the
> > > mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
> > Removed
> > > the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
> > >
> > > I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the
cardboard
> > > box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off
post
> > in
> > > the case...
> > >
> > > Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated.
This
> > was
> > > working earlier this week...
> > >
> > > Scott
> >
> > The most common cause of what you describe is that you have
mis-identified
> > the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two
pins
> > of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next
two
> > as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front
of
> > the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
> > describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know
that
> > power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
> > install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
> > better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the
power
> > supply to the off position.
> >
> > Sick Willie
>
> Im having the exact same problem with my A7N8X motherboard. Tried
> everything you tried, plus resetting the bios. I have also checked
> and rechecked the power switch plug about 100 times. Its something
> else, and im pulling out my hair trying to figure it out.

"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:nospam-0601041541370001@192.168.1.177...
> In article <GGDKb.118220$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Kathy"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
...clip..

> A safer way to test, is to test the power supply by itself, by using
> the 20 pin connector and connecting PS_ON# to COM. Even if you don't
> own a voltmeter to check the voltages, you can at least see the PS
> fan spinning when the PS has successfully been switched on. Inside
> the supply, +5VSB is applied through a pullup resistor, to the PS_ON#
> signal, and only a small current should have to be shunted to ground
> by the chip on the motherboard - sometimes the PS puts too much
> current on this lead, and then the chip on the motherboard cannot
> fully shunt the current to ground to start the supply.

This is not really a very safe way to test a supply. True enough, it won't
fry a board, but a power supply expects to find a load. Powering one up
without some load is *not* good for the supply any more than powering an
amplifier without a load is good for an amplifier.

Sick Willie

"Kathy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:GGDKb.118220$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Yup. I had that correct. Does the LED being on indicate a good MB? Or,
could
> that mean that there is power getting to it, but something else crapped
out?
>

All the LED signifies is that some voltage is being applied to the board -
enough to power an LED. The LED is only there to remind you that power is
present on the board. It does not indicate that the board is good.

Sick Willie

"Kathy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:GGDKb.118220$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Yup. I had that correct. Does the LED being on indicate a good MB? Or,
could
> that mean that there is power getting to it, but something else crapped
out?
>
> -Scott=
>
>
Have you tried just shorting the two pins rather than using a switch?

Sick Willie

In article <GGDKb.118220$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Kathy"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Yup. I had that correct. Does the LED being on indicate a good MB? Or, could
> that mean that there is power getting to it, but something else crapped out?
>
> -Scott=

Another thing. I wonder if the CMOS battery is dead. The CR2032 is
available at Radio Shack. When new, it reads at least 3V, and the
Southbridge circuit it powers can work down to about 2V. Maybe that
would be worth checking as well.

Paul

>
>
>
> "Sick Willie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:RiyKb.52691$Fg.49824@lakeread01...
> >
> > > Hi All...
> > >
> > > I have an Asus A7A266 which was working fine earlier this week. Switched
> > > MB to a different case, and apparently it doesn't like the new home, as
> it
> > > won't power up. I am thinking that the Mobo is fried somehow (as it was
> > > working earlier), and am not sure why the green stand by light is on
> when
> > > the PS is plugged in. I cant even get the fans on the PS to spin on
> start.
> > > It is completely DEAD.
> > >
> > > I checked the PS (550 Watt) which works fine with other sistems. I
> checked
> > > the Power switch by using both the Power SW and the Reset SW leads to
> the
> > > mobo connectors. They work fine on other system. I swapped the RAM,
> > > Removed
> > > the CPU, and still nothing. All I have in there is a video card.
> > >
> > > I also removed the MB from the case and tried running it on the
> cardboard
> > > box just to kill the possibility of it being shorted on a stand-off post
> in
> > > the case...
> > >
> > > Any ideas on why this wouldn't power up? I am seriously frustrated. This
> > > was working earlier this week...
> > >
> > > Scott
> >
> > The most common cause of what you describe is that you have mis-identified
> > the pins that act as the switch for the power. Asus uses the 1st two pins
> > of the front panel header for reset, skips a pin, and then uses the next
> two
> > as the power switch. This is from the orientation of standing in front of
> > the board, looking at the header along the left hand side. The LED you
> > describe is not a standby light per se, its purpose it to let you know
> that
> > power, standby or otherwise, is applied to the board so that you do not
> > install/remove boards without either unplugging the power source, or (a
> > better alternative when available) flipping the power switch on the power
> > supply to the off position.
> >
> > Sick Willie
> >
> >