I'd been using a box with a SOYO K7VTA Pro and a AMD 1.3 gHz Athlon
for a couple of years. A friend said he buy it, so I decided to
upgrade and sell him the SOYO box to defray the upgrade cost.

In December I built my new system. All I removed from the SOYO box
were my two hard drives and a CD burner. Nothing else was touched.
It sat untouched since December 'til today. There was no reason to
think anything could be wrong, but before asking him to bring his
drives over to configure it for him I decided to boot it from a DOS
floppy just to be sure everything's working. It ain't!

In the old days we got beep codes to diagnose what's wrong. No more.
This motherboard talks to you over the tiny built-in squeaker-speaker.

When I power it on I get no signal to the monitor (monitor's signal
indicator lamp remains amber). At power-on faint, squeaky,
completely unintelligible talking sounds come from the speaker for
about 15 seconds. The hard drive lamp on the front of the box lights
for about 2 minutes, then the floppy runs a little and the hard drive
lamp goes out - then nothing more. All the fans are running. If I
press Del repeatedly at power-on it appears to go into the CMOS
because the hard drive lamp goes off almost immediately.

I tried the video card in another computer and it works. I tried
hooking up to another monitor -- no help.

The 5 & 12 volts at the drive power connectors looks good. In the old
days we could check all the voltages to be sure the power supply was
working. No more. You have to disconnect the connector to get at the
pins and with ATX boxes the connector must be connected to turn the
power supply on.

To repeat, it was working fine. I removed three drives (I'd changed
drives in it many times while it was my main computer.). I did
nothing else except let it sit for a couple of months.

Anybody have any suggestions for how to diagnose the problem?

jim

Try hooking up the monitor on the system that is not working to one that is
working. Obviously this isn't
necessary if you switched the monitor from the old Soyo system to your new
system and it worked. This will tell you
whether the monitor is OK. You can buy a plug in module for diagnosing XT
power supplies. But that's not
your problem. The fans run so it is very unlikely that the CPU units power
supply is bad. You can disconnect
the power plug from the MB and short pin 8 to ground and the computer should
start. Pins are numbered
consecutively up down one side and then restart on the other side. This
means that pins 1 and 11 are next
to each other. Pin 10 is the only 12 volt pin on the corner of the
connector.

"jim evans" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> I'd been using a box with a SOYO K7VTA Pro and a AMD 1.3 gHz Athlon
> for a couple of years. A friend said he buy it, so I decided to
> upgrade and sell him the SOYO box to defray the upgrade cost.
>
> In December I built my new system. All I removed from the SOYO box
> were my two hard drives and a CD burner. Nothing else was touched.
> It sat untouched since December 'til today. There was no reason to
> think anything could be wrong, but before asking him to bring his
> drives over to configure it for him I decided to boot it from a DOS
> floppy just to be sure everything's working. It ain't!
>
> In the old days we got beep codes to diagnose what's wrong. No more.
> This motherboard talks to you over the tiny built-in squeaker-speaker.
>
> When I power it on I get no signal to the monitor (monitor's signal
> indicator lamp remains amber). At power-on faint, squeaky,
> completely unintelligible talking sounds come from the speaker for
> about 15 seconds. The hard drive lamp on the front of the box lights
> for about 2 minutes, then the floppy runs a little and the hard drive
> lamp goes out - then nothing more. All the fans are running. If I
> press Del repeatedly at power-on it appears to go into the CMOS
> because the hard drive lamp goes off almost immediately.
>
> I tried the video card in another computer and it works. I tried
> hooking up to another monitor -- no help.
>
> The 5 & 12 volts at the drive power connectors looks good. In the old
> days we could check all the voltages to be sure the power supply was
> working. No more. You have to disconnect the connector to get at the
> pins and with ATX boxes the connector must be connected to turn the
> power supply on.
>
> To repeat, it was working fine. I removed three drives (I'd changed
> drives in it many times while it was my main computer.). I did
> nothing else except let it sit for a couple of months.
>
> Anybody have any suggestions for how to diagnose the problem?
>
> jim

Thanks for your reply.

I didn't explain but I used the monitor from the working system to do
the testing. I've switched it back now and it's still working.

When you say "short pin 8 to ground and the computer should start, "
did you mean the power supply should turn on?

I take it that since you don't think the power supply is the problem
you haven't a guess what might be wrong or a way to diagnose what's
wrong?

jim
Posted & Mailed

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 02:19:24 GMT, "Don_B" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Try hooking up the monitor on the system that is not working to one that is
>working. Obviously this isn't
>necessary if you switched the monitor from the old Soyo system to your new
>system and it worked. This will tell you
>whether the monitor is OK. You can buy a plug in module for diagnosing XT
>power supplies. But that's not
>your problem. The fans run so it is very unlikely that the CPU units power
>supply is bad. You can disconnect
>the power plug from the MB and short pin 8 to ground and the computer should
>start. Pins are numbered
>consecutively up down one side and then restart on the other side. This
>means that pins 1 and 11 are next
>to each other. Pin 10 is the only 12 volt pin on the corner of the
>connector.
>
>"jim evans" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> I'd been using a box with a SOYO K7VTA Pro and a AMD 1.3 gHz Athlon
>> for a couple of years. A friend said he buy it, so I decided to
>> upgrade and sell him the SOYO box to defray the upgrade cost.
>>
>> In December I built my new system. All I removed from the SOYO box
>> were my two hard drives and a CD burner. Nothing else was touched.
>> It sat untouched since December 'til today. There was no reason to
>> think anything could be wrong, but before asking him to bring his
>> drives over to configure it for him I decided to boot it from a DOS
>> floppy just to be sure everything's working. It ain't!
>>
>> In the old days we got beep codes to diagnose what's wrong. No more.
>> This motherboard talks to you over the tiny built-in squeaker-speaker.
>>
>> When I power it on I get no signal to the monitor (monitor's signal
>> indicator lamp remains amber). At power-on faint, squeaky,
>> completely unintelligible talking sounds come from the speaker for
>> about 15 seconds. The hard drive lamp on the front of the box lights
>> for about 2 minutes, then the floppy runs a little and the hard drive
>> lamp goes out - then nothing more. All the fans are running. If I
>> press Del repeatedly at power-on it appears to go into the CMOS
>> because the hard drive lamp goes off almost immediately.
>>
>> I tried the video card in another computer and it works. I tried
>> hooking up to another monitor -- no help.
>>
>> The 5 & 12 volts at the drive power connectors looks good. In the old
>> days we could check all the voltages to be sure the power supply was
>> working. No more. You have to disconnect the connector to get at the
>> pins and with ATX boxes the connector must be connected to turn the
>> power supply on.
>>
>> To repeat, it was working fine. I removed three drives (I'd changed
>> drives in it many times while it was my main computer.). I did
>> nothing else except let it sit for a couple of months.
>>
>> Anybody have any suggestions for how to diagnose the problem?
>>
>> jim
>


jim

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 02:19:24 GMT, "Don_B" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>that's not your problem. The fans run so it is very unlikely
>that the CPU units power supply is bad.

I think you're right.

According to this article
http://peripherals.about.com/cs/buil...cpowerdiag.htm


"ATX power supplies have a simple diagnostic circuit . . .
Motherboards check the PWR_OK pin before they start up. If a power
supply fails the test, then it cannot be used in an ATX computer
system."

Since the motherboard speaker and talking diagnostic are working, plus
the drive light lights and the floppy drive runs it's obvious the MB
is satisfied the power supply has passed the PWR_OK test.

jim

No, if the monitor is good and the video card is good, I'm stumped. I
thought
it might be the monitor cable but I doubt that if the monitor works with
another computer. Are you sure the video card is seating well? Also,
because of the age of your computer I'd wonder about the CMOS
battery going out but I wouldn't think it would result in the symptoms
you describe. The fact that you don't even get the startup logo makes
me think it's the video system. You might try taking the CMOS
battery out for a while to let the CMOS reset. They usually go to
the safest default options. A new battery is a cheap thing to try
but I don't think that's it.


"jim evans" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> I'd been using a box with a SOYO K7VTA Pro and a AMD 1.3 gHz Athlon
> for a couple of years. A friend said he buy it, so I decided to
> upgrade and sell him the SOYO box to defray the upgrade cost.
>
> In December I built my new system. All I removed from the SOYO box
> were my two hard drives and a CD burner. Nothing else was touched.
> It sat untouched since December 'til today. There was no reason to
> think anything could be wrong, but before asking him to bring his
> drives over to configure it for him I decided to boot it from a DOS
> floppy just to be sure everything's working. It ain't!
>
> In the old days we got beep codes to diagnose what's wrong. No more.
> This motherboard talks to you over the tiny built-in squeaker-speaker.
>
> When I power it on I get no signal to the monitor (monitor's signal
> indicator lamp remains amber). At power-on faint, squeaky,
> completely unintelligible talking sounds come from the speaker for
> about 15 seconds. The hard drive lamp on the front of the box lights
> for about 2 minutes, then the floppy runs a little and the hard drive
> lamp goes out - then nothing more. All the fans are running. If I
> press Del repeatedly at power-on it appears to go into the CMOS
> because the hard drive lamp goes off almost immediately.
>
> I tried the video card in another computer and it works. I tried
> hooking up to another monitor -- no help.
>
> The 5 & 12 volts at the drive power connectors looks good. In the old
> days we could check all the voltages to be sure the power supply was
> working. No more. You have to disconnect the connector to get at the
> pins and with ATX boxes the connector must be connected to turn the
> power supply on.
>
> To repeat, it was working fine. I removed three drives (I'd changed
> drives in it many times while it was my main computer.). I did
> nothing else except let it sit for a couple of months.
>
> Anybody have any suggestions for how to diagnose the problem?
>
> jim

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 03:58:15 GMT, "Don_B" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>No, if the monitor is good and the video card is good, I'm stumped. I
>thought it might be the monitor cable but I doubt that if the monitor
>works with another computer.

And, it was hooked up with the same cable to both computers.

>Are you sure the video card is seating well?

Well, I removed and reseated it, then did in again when I removed it
and put it in the other computer to test it.

>Also,
>because of the age of your computer I'd wonder about the CMOS
>battery going out but I wouldn't think it would result in the symptoms
>you describe. The fact that you don't even get the startup logo makes
>me think it's the video system. You might try taking the CMOS
>battery out for a while to let the CMOS reset. They usually go to
>the safest default options. A new battery is a cheap thing to try
>but I don't think that's it.

What would cause the 2 minutes of drive lamp before the floppy runs
when there are no drives (other than the floppy) in the system?

jim
Posted & Mailed

jim

'pro' has on board video? and its disabled? primary is set to AGP/PCI whichever is appropriate?

||What would cause the 2 minutes of drive lamp before the floppy runs||

This would be odd as the led is activated from the MB through the ribbon(basically), maybe the wiring is jumbled from the front
panel and the MB? 2 minutes would be strange to search for a bootable device I would think. Is this with some sort of bootable media
in some drive or none, as in no roms or anything, (except floppy obviously)? Change the boot order, that may help.


"jim evans" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 03:58:15 GMT, "Don_B" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >No, if the monitor is good and the video card is good, I'm stumped. I
> >thought it might be the monitor cable but I doubt that if the monitor
> >works with another computer.
>
> And, it was hooked up with the same cable to both computers.
>
> >Are you sure the video card is seating well?
>
> Well, I removed and reseated it, then did in again when I removed it
> and put it in the other computer to test it.
>
> >Also,
> >because of the age of your computer I'd wonder about the CMOS
> >battery going out but I wouldn't think it would result in the symptoms
> >you describe. The fact that you don't even get the startup logo makes
> >me think it's the video system. You might try taking the CMOS
> >battery out for a while to let the CMOS reset. They usually go to
> >the safest default options. A new battery is a cheap thing to try
> >but I don't think that's it.
>
>
> when there are no drives (other than the floppy) in the system?
>
> jim
> Posted & Mailed
>
> jim

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 07:49:20 GMT, "JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>'pro' has on board video? and its disabled? primary is set to AGP/PCI whichever is appropriate?

This system worked for 2 years as it is now. Nothing has changed
except the removal of the drives.

>||What would cause the 2 minutes of drive lamp before the floppy runs||
>
>This would be odd as the led is activated from the MB through the ribbon(basically), maybe the wiring is jumbled from the front
>panel and the MB? 2 minutes would be strange to search for a bootable device I would think. Is this with some sort of bootable media
>in some drive or none, as in no roms or anything, (except floppy obviously)? Change the boot order, that may help.

The boot sequence was set to look at the floppy drive first. I can't
change anything in the CMOS now, I have no video.

jim

you need to short the cmos and set to default. There really isn't any reason you don't have basic VGA from the bios except for dead
video card,(which you have determined NOT to be the case). There must be something set in the video routine that is out of wack.


"jim evans" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 07:49:20 GMT, "JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >'pro' has on board video? and its disabled? primary is set to AGP/PCI whichever is appropriate?
>
> This system worked for 2 years as it is now. Nothing has changed
> except the removal of the drives.
>
> >||What would cause the 2 minutes of drive lamp before the floppy runs||
> >
> >This would be odd as the led is activated from the MB through the ribbon(basically), maybe the wiring is jumbled from the front
> >panel and the MB? 2 minutes would be strange to search for a bootable device I would think. Is this with some sort of bootable
media
> >in some drive or none, as in no roms or anything, (except floppy obviously)? Change the boot order, that may help.
>
> The boot sequence was set to look at the floppy drive first. I can't
> change anything in the CMOS now, I have no video.
>
> jim

Update:

I've now booted the system with a DOS floppy that automatically starts
a program that beeps once per second. It booted and ran the program
-- I hear the beeps. The program stops with a CR so it's reading the
keyboard too.

I've now tried a second known good video card -- no help.

I may be imagining it, but after listening to the squeaky garbled
voice diagnostic about a hundred more times, it may be saying
something about the VGA (graphics adapter). That makes sense but this
my be why I'm imagining hearing it. However whatever it is it isn't a
bad graphics adapter card.

jim