Failed Mobo ?

[RobF]

8KTA 3 PRO Computer won't start. Tried resetting at J1- jumpers to pins 2
and 3, replace to 1 and two. Hard drive powered but nothing on monitor
(except "Check signal cable".

Please suggest ways to determine if mobo is dead, and I must rebuild, or
some other cause why no POST.

Suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[JAD]

trade out video card...OB graphics?
reseat all expansions cards
any beeps?

 

[dave]

Try another PSU.

DaveL

Thanks, JAD. " Trade out" means remove from sys props, remove from puter,
install my one old, old backup?
"OB" graphics means...?
I'll reseat expansion cards.
Video not very old - 5 years, no signs of imminent failing before
disaster.
Beeps: After the change/change back jumper at J2, HDD failed to power,
then
on third try powered and there might have been a ghost of the case
speaker's
beep - too faint to be sure. Nothing followed.

Your observations much better than the single one from Epox. Tech Rep
never
there, calls back at least convenient time, has heavy foreign accent.
Your further thoughts would be most welcome.

 

[RobF]

Thanks, JAD. " Trade out" means remove from sys props, remove from puter,
install my one old, old backup?
"OB" graphics means...?
I'll reseat expansion cards.
Video not very old - 5 years, no signs of imminent failing before
disaster.
Beeps: After the change/change back jumper at J2, HDD failed to power, then
on third try powered and there might have been a ghost of the case speaker's
beep - too faint to be sure. Nothing followed.

Your observations much better than the single one from Epox. Tech Rep never
there, calls back at least convenient time, has heavy foreign accent.
Your further thoughts would be most welcome.

 

[JAD]

Thanks, JAD. " Trade out" means remove from sys props, remove from puter,
install my one old, old backup?

see below

"OB" graphics means...?

on board or integrated onto the mainboard (you don't i checked)

I'll reseat expansion cards.
Video not very old - 5 years, no signs of imminent failing before
disaster.

so you have an expansion card for video

try a PCI vid card if you can

Beeps: After the change/change back jumper at J2, HDD failed to power, then

This could be a symptom of bad caps and /or Power supply

on third try powered and there might have been a ghost of the case speaker's
beep - too faint to be sure. Nothing followed.

Your board is from an era where the mainboards were dying from bad capacitors
check for bulging tops or leaking from the capacitors> (silos -cylinders) coming up from
the board

 

[RobF]

I had it tested, Dave. It is alive.

Rob

Try another PSU.

DaveL

 

[RobF]

JAD, the capacitors, cylinders projecting up from the board, do not look
damaged.. I have a pci slot for a vid card. Before that, I'll try something
else and report back. Since now that the HDD no longer powers up, I'm
guessing that replacing the agp with a pci card might not effect the desired
POST.

Your observations are excellent and I appreciate the help from you and from
Dave.

Rob

 

[RobF]

The something else (mentioned immediately above) didn't work.
To try to make my previous post somewhat clearer, no power is getting to the
busses; no card would activate.
Part of the something else was that I found I had, unaccountably, stupidly,
changed/rechanged jumpers on j3, not j1, as I'd thought i was doing.
Whatever j3 is, did I make further probs for the puter by that misstep?

Becoming more certain i must to the stores go for components, and rebuild.

Rob

 

[dave]

The something else (mentioned immediately above) didn't work.
To try to make my previous post somewhat clearer, no power is getting to
the
busses; no card would activate.
Part of the something else was that I found I had, unaccountably,
stupidly,
changed/rechanged jumpers on j3, not j1, as I'd thought i was doing.
Whatever j3 is, did I make further probs for the puter by that misstep?

Becoming more certain i must to the stores go for components, and rebuild.

Rob

Not so fast, Rob. Try this.

Put the jumpers back the way they originally were. Disconnect all drives.
Remove all expansion boards except the video card. Then power it up and see
if you get anything.

DaveL

 

[RobF]

Thanks for your continued attention and advice, Dave. I'll do that right now
& report back.
Rob

 

[RobF]

Pardon the top post, Dave, I have to start right in:
After removing all cards except video, un-powering and de-ribboning *all*
drives and floppy, the cpu fan operated.
Again, monitor active: "keyboard error" - "BIOS ROM checksum error"
"Detecting floppy drive" (not installed).

Added PCI/IDE card, connected main drive and floppy:
"primary master - none
secondary master - CD/RW"
the BIOS was accessible.

The boot up sequence continued up to "Updating ESCD"
couldn't restart with either CAD or restart button.

I am at complete loss to interpret this. BIOS appears, is accessed, cpu
active, but no joy.

I'd much appreciate your observations at this point. Power supply, I didn't
mention before, is 300 Watts.

RobF

 

[JAD]

Pardon the top post, Dave, I have to start right in:
After removing all cards except video, un-powering and de-ribboning *all*
drives and floppy, the cpu fan operated.
Again, monitor active: "keyboard error" - "BIOS ROM checksum error"

this is after a cmos clear or ALL the time?
all the time? your cmos battery is dead

 

[Paul]

Pardon the top post, Dave, I have to start right in:
After removing all cards except video, un-powering and de-ribboning *all*
drives and floppy, the cpu fan operated.
Again, monitor active: "keyboard error" - "BIOS ROM checksum error"
"Detecting floppy drive" (not installed).

Added PCI/IDE card, connected main drive and floppy:
"primary master - none
secondary master - CD/RW"
the BIOS was accessible.

The boot up sequence continued up to "Updating ESCD"
couldn't restart with either CAD or restart button.

I am at complete loss to interpret this. BIOS appears, is accessed, cpu
active, but no joy.

I'd much appreciate your observations at this point. Power supply, I didn't
mention before, is 300 Watts.

RobF

Have you checked the definition of the jumpers yet ? To see what changing
that other jumper may have done.

"Updating ESCD" is where the BIOS flash upgrades a segment of the BIOS
chip, with the hardware configuration changes. If the BIOS chip is in
bad shape, maybe it isn't completing the flash upgrade. You could try
reflsahing the BIOS, but if that doesn't work, you could get another
BIOS chip from badflash.com. Assuming the BIOS chip is sitting in a
socket and is removable.

Maybe that other jumper was a write protect or something.

Paul

 

[RobF]

Have you checked the definition of the jumpers yet ? To see what changing
that other jumper may have done.

"Updating ESCD" is where the BIOS flash upgrades a segment of the BIOS
chip, with the hardware configuration changes. If the BIOS chip is in
bad shape, maybe it isn't completing the flash upgrade. You could try
reflsahing the BIOS, but if that doesn't work, you could get another
BIOS chip from badflash.com. Assuming the BIOS chip is sitting in a
socket and is removable.

Maybe that other jumper was a write protect or something.

Paul

****** snip
Thanks, Paul. I have never flash-updated the BIOS. I'll re-check the jumper
definitions.

Rob

 

[RobF]

this is after a cmos clear or ALL the time?
all the time? your cmos battery is dead

Thanks, JAD. This was after cmos clear and after removing all but video,
then adding pci/ide drive.
I was thinking that cmos battery may be the prob. Epox didn't catch that
possibility. I'll see if I can get it tested (Radio Shack?), and replaced.

Rob

******snip

 

[RobF]

this is after a cmos clear or ALL the time?
all the time? your cmos battery is dead

It Lives ! Tested. 98% battery power remaining.