Help please

[ChristopherP]

Hi there - few weeks ago i built nan a PC.

Its a Abit KV7 with Athlon 2500. She hasnt turned it on once. I went round with my mum a couple times just in general and played a couple games on it but thats as far as it goes.

My mum goes to type some letters for her on it and it just dies when she rebooted it by accident (pulled it out to plug a cable and knocked the reset switch)

Now when you turn it on you get just a black screen.

I pulled the CMOS switch and let it reset then it WILL load bios but no matter what you do, when you save and exit and reboot, you get that same, black, screen.

Note: the HDD light is fixed on - i dont know if this bears any relevance...

All the components are seated properly and all looks fine apart from a northbridge fan which has rattled since i built the thing.

Do you all think what i do - Dead Motherboard? If so i can return it to Aria and get a new one sent.

Cheers Guys
Chris

 

[Quadophile]

The bios is on the motherboard so it is working apparently. I have a feeling the hard drive is the culprit. Anyway let wait for some more ideas from other folks.

 

[ChristopherP]

Well you cant just turn on the PC and get into bios, you have to pull the all clear jumper then turn it on. then you have to reset the jumper again to get into bios after that...and so on...

 

[floppybootstomp]

I have a KV7 motherboard and funnily enough I'm just about to upgrade my Mum's machine with it.

It is a fernickety board to set up.

Don't know where to start here really.

How's about disconnecting hard drive, setting up Bios, rebooting, seeing if it gets as far as the 'no operating system found' prompt, rebooting, enter Bios and see if all settings are retained?

Try a substitute cable for the hard drive? Is it SATA or IDE, the HDD?

I also had a problem with that board where one or two of the mounting screws were somehow shorting the board to the chassis and I got the HDD light staying on all the time. It POST'ed, but wouldn't boot into OS.

Insulating all the screws with fibre washers worked.

Our very own Muckshifter was skeptical of this cure, but it worked.

Perhaps try taking out the mounting screws (with case on it's side, if it's a tower case) and seeing if it boots then.

My first thought was that something is loose, after that yank/bump it had, but you say you've re-seated everything. Perhaps double check?

I doubt the motherboard's faulty in this instance.

 

[ChristopherP]

Wel i supposed its good for the money - all the features are there (sound etc) so i guess its popular.

The case is layed out in such a way that it needs no risers or anything - just bumps in the flat surface that you screw the motherboard into so i doubt it's shorted.

The HDD is SATA and ive pushed the cables in, changed the power cable over and generally made sure it was connected. Its a Maxtor 80Gb SATA 7200rpm 8mb one...as a warning, unless you know how its a BITCH to get working. the drivers arent included and you have to get them off the net.

btw i dont get the beep even when i turn on...

 

[floppybootstomp]

If you're not getting the beep, it's not even POST'ing.

Disconnect everything, leaving only motherboard, CPU, RAM & vid card connected. Make sure RAM & vid card seated correctly.

Switch on.

Did it POST?

If not, try my suggestion of taking out mounting screws. If neccessary, slip a pad of insulating material under motherboard to ensure isolation.

If it still won't POST/one beep there's a fair chance the motherboard is knackered.

You do have the internal speaker connected OK, I presume?

It's best to do these things as if you rma a product that's good,you'll get charged postage for sending it straight back to you.

Good luck.

 

[ChristopherP]

Pretty sure the speaker is connected! I had a look and it is plugged in.

Will dismantle tomorrow as have the day free from exams or revision sessions.

I dont see how it could have shorted though...how do you mean insulating material?

 

[muckshifter]

You don't need a HD to set-up the BIOS and I suggest you take it out of the case leave off all but essential items and test it on a piece of cardboard.

All you need to test is the CPU (and HSF), memory and Vid card
Use the PSU from the case, if you don't have a spare.

You should not need to "set the bios jumper AND turn on the system", that actually can cause damage ... but I have done so in the past ... you should move the jumper to the "reset bios position" wait a few seconds and move it back, then power-on. That should be all that's needed to reset the BIOS

You will need to "go into the bios" and re-set the settings for CPU speed etc., you'll even have to reset the time & date ... go through the BIOS very carefully resetting anything that needs it. If not set-up correctly you'll be back to square one and have to do it all again.

Now I remember, and I think it was Flopps, that actually had to use "those little fiber washers" between the MB and the case stand-offs to get his MB working ... that is quite unusual, but hey, if it works, try it. Hence the reason to take it out of the case to test.

The case is layed out in such a way that it needs no risers or anything - just bumps in the flat surface that you screw the motherboard into so i doubt it's shorted.

This worries me ... every case I've ever worked on (too many to count) has either brass/metal clips or pressed-up risers to mount the MB ... I've never seen a "flat one"


Oh, no "beep" usually means a nackard MB

 

[ChristopherP]

by doing that jumper thing i did actually mean move it over, wait 10 secs, put it back.

bios auto detects whats plugged in etc etc so it should post when you have entered bios then just saved and exited.

 

[muckshifter]

bios auto detects whats plugged in etc etc so it should post when you have entered bios then just saved and exited.

Nope ... it's not that clever, especially as you have just "reset it" ... you must check it out or, as I said, you'll go around in circles.

When you first get a new MB it's actually pre-setup for you, however, once you "re-set" using the jumper it defaults to basic settings and not all will be how you want it.

 

[bodhi]

Are you sure that you don't need stand-offs to mount the motherboard?!! Im with muck on this one, ive seen a million motherboards, and i know what you mean by the bumps in the flat surface, but this is still a metal backplate that you are screwing the motherboard onto with screws? You need standoffs, and the more the better to be safe?

Alan

 

[ChristopherP]

Well the instructions say to screw it directly on! Thinking about it, the back IO panel wouldnt be a snug fit if you used risers either.


as for bios, all the motherboards i have used, you turn computer on for fist time, it tells you "CPU Checksum error - press del to enter setup or F1 to continue" - all you need to do is press delete to get yo to bios at which point everything is auto detected and then press F10.

Of course if you want to change boot priorities or time/date you need to manually do that but it will sort out memory and CPU - enough to allow windows to boot.

 

[floppybootstomp]

So have you tried it without the screws and insulated from case by a layer of cardboard; the anti static bag the board came in; a newspaper or any other suitable non-conductive material?

If you do that, and you still have a no POST siuation, rma the board.

 

[ChristopherP]

is it ok to just sit a motherboard on an anti-static bag?!

 

[muckshifter]

Personally I would just use a piece of cardboard ... most Anti-static bags (especially the black) are made with impregnated carbon ... carbon is a great conductor of electricity.

'Tis up to you.

 

[ChristopherP]

will try it on some cardboard tomorrow then. will also take some pics of the omunting plate i was talking about

 

[ChristopherP]

Ok, the motherboard is packed up and ready to go - just waiting for the RMA number from Aria technology.

I have attached some pictures of the motherboard mounting plate so y'all can see what i mean when i say you screw it directly on. At this point i must say this is the 3rd or 4th case i have used that have this kind of thing - they are both cheapy ones from Aria and not one of the computers that are in them have had any kind of problem at all (bar this curent one...)

Motherboards all different types too - Asus P4P800e, Asus something or other, Abit IC7-G...

Also note that there were no risers included in the screw pack that came with the pack and just a little bit of paper saying that you are meant to screw the motherboards into the litle nobbly bits and if there happens to be a little nobbly bit where there is NOT a screw hole, place one of the included insulating pegs into the nobble hole to stop the thing shorting out.

Chris

 

[muckshifter]

Ok, I "see" what you mean now ...

and if there happens to be a little nobbly bit where there is NOT a screw hole, place one of the included insulating pegs into the nobble hole to stop the thing shorting out

... bin the bloody case, me no likey. Just kidding, well I still don't like that idea and I prefer to use the little brass risers. But that's me.

Hope you have a quick turn round Chris.

 

[ChristopherP]

LOL! well i tell you one thing - they are a lot easier to to build into - just screw in - no messing around with risers...

Still, Not bad for something ridiculous like £25.26 including VAT and including 430w PSU. The side doors are removable, theres an air tube venting from the CPU to the outside of the case and the drives are "quick release" - no screws needed.

Would also comment on the PSU too - but i dont know what all the numbers on the label mean. All i can say is that of all the ones i have used, they have all worked just fine and dont sound like a 747 on takeoff roll!

As for the turnaround, some people from technical support are off sick so i probably wont get a returns number till monday. Id hope to have a new one by next friday. Was hoping to be able to return it and say i'll have a refund but company policy is if its more than 7 days old, a replacememnt only. Reason i wanted a refund was that ideally i needed to fix it by monday as my Nan moves to 3 hours away - in suffolk to live with the farmer she is going to marry in september. If fixed after monday, she will have to wait till August which is when i will next be seeing her. So it will have to be that way.

Anyhow its a decent system so we can make some use out of it while were waiting to see her. Probably hook it up to the network and use it for some LAN games - desert combat, UT04 kinda thing. Has a FX5200 128mb so i guess it should just about be able to cope.

That is, of course, assuming the motherboard is hunky dory...
Front USB, Audio and Firewire make it a berloody good deal.