MoBo or Processor ?

[Dave]

A new system I am building and having problems with gives NO P.O.S.T.
beeps at startup even if there is no RAM on the board, how do I
ascertain if it is the processor or the Motherboard that is the problem?

My thinking is that the system "should" provide P.O.S.T. beeps
regardless of the processor working or not working as it is controlled
by the MoBo and not the processor.

PSU has been tested as good and the MoBo IS getting power

Your thoughts on this please?!

 

[kony]

A new system I am building and having problems with gives NO P.O.S.T.
beeps at startup even if there is no RAM on the board, how do I
ascertain if it is the processor or the Motherboard that is the problem?

Give us more detail.
Are they new parts?
Any of them tested working?
Did you confirm they're compatible?
WHY have you not mentioned anything but the motherboard?

CPU, memory, power supply make/model/wattage.

Have you tried the clear CMOS jumper?
have you checked the battery voltage?
Have you tried the board out of a case, on a desk but NOT on
anti-static (never put a board on anti-static to run it).

Leave the memory in it- one memory module. Reduce the
system to bare essentials- one memory module, video, CPU,
heatsink fan. Unplug ALL else, including keybaord, mouse,
and the front panel connectors for the case, then short the
Power-On pins together with a metallic object.

My thinking is that the system "should" provide P.O.S.T. beeps
regardless of the processor working or not working as it is controlled
by the MoBo and not the processor.

No, it will not beep in any situations, particularly if it
never gets far enough to load the bios and execute it.

PSU has been tested as good and the MoBo IS getting power

Tested as good how? Hopefully not with one of those
so-called PSu testers that just plugs into a board, because
those cannot test one as good, they can only find one that
has certain types of failure.

If you have a multimeter, take voltage readings while it's
in the one-but-not-POSTing state.

Presumably you have a video card or it has onboard video or
??? We can't see the system, it is always best to start
with a concise list of all major components. Otherwise, we
know little except that you have a computer, nothing to go
on.

 

[Chris Hill]

A new system I am building and having problems with gives NO P.O.S.T.
beeps at startup even if there is no RAM on the board, how do I
ascertain if it is the processor or the Motherboard that is the problem?

My thinking is that the system "should" provide P.O.S.T. beeps
regardless of the processor working or not working as it is controlled
by the MoBo and not the processor.

Nope. I suspect no chip gives no beeps. Only way I've ever found to
solve these problems is by buying more components to test with.
That's why I'm very leary of one-off's anymore, I got lucky last time
and I'll admit it.

 

[BP]

A new system I am building and having problems with gives NO P.O.S.T. beeps
at startup even if there is no RAM on the board, how do I ascertain if it
is the processor or the Motherboard that is the problem?

My thinking is that the system "should" provide P.O.S.T. beeps regardless
of the processor working or not working as it is controlled by the MoBo
and not the processor.

PSU has been tested as good and the MoBo IS getting power

Your thoughts on this please?!

I've been following your other thread "Problem with New System Build "
If I were a betting man, I'd bet MoBo.
Wait a minute. I am a betting man!
Mobo!!

I have a small computer shop near me that I sheepishly enter whenever I run
into a problem like this. They can test the parts and swap out some stuff to
determine the culprit. They tell me how foolish I am for building my own
system when they can build one for me. I laugh and explain that that would
be BORING! I pay them by the hour, pay for whole hours, and don't skimp or
complain. Do you have someone like this around you?
I believe even CompUSA does this kind of work.

Otherwise, return the Mobo. It's the cheapest part. (If you gotta take a
wild ass stab)

 

[Peasant]

A new system I am building and having problems with gives NO P.O.S.T.
beeps at startup even if there is no RAM on the board, how do I
ascertain if it is the processor or the Motherboard that is the problem?

My thinking is that the system "should" provide P.O.S.T. beeps
regardless of the processor working or not working as it is controlled
by the MoBo and not the processor.

PSU has been tested as good and the MoBo IS getting power

Your thoughts on this please?!

Make sure mb isn't shorting. Try to power it up on a workbench outside
of the case. I had this happen once and it was because I had shorted the mb.

 

[Dave]

Make sure mb isn't shorting. Try to power it up on a workbench outside
of the case. I had this happen once and it was because I had shorted the
mb.

That's the plan this evening!

 

[Dave]

Give us more detail.
Are they new parts?
Any of them tested working?
Did you confirm they're compatible?
WHY have you not mentioned anything but the motherboard?

CPU, memory, power supply make/model/wattage.

Have you tried the clear CMOS jumper?
have you checked the battery voltage?
Have you tried the board out of a case, on a desk but NOT on
anti-static (never put a board on anti-static to run it).

Leave the memory in it- one memory module. Reduce the
system to bare essentials- one memory module, video, CPU,
heatsink fan. Unplug ALL else, including keybaord, mouse,
and the front panel connectors for the case, then short the
Power-On pins together with a metallic object.



No, it will not beep in any situations, particularly if it
never gets far enough to load the bios and execute it.



Tested as good how? Hopefully not with one of those
so-called PSu testers that just plugs into a board, because
those cannot test one as good, they can only find one that
has certain types of failure.

If you have a multimeter, take voltage readings while it's
in the one-but-not-POSTing state.

Presumably you have a video card or it has onboard video or
??? We can't see the system, it is always best to start
with a concise list of all major components. Otherwise, we
know little except that you have a computer, nothing to go
on.

See my thread "Problem with newly built system"

 

[Dave]

Make sure mb isn't shorting. Try to power it up on a workbench outside
of the case. I had this happen once and it was because I had shorted the
mb.

Stripped the system entirely, placed the MoBo on a Phone book, installed
processor and processor fan ONLY with NO RAM, no cards, no drives.

Plugged in the main power connector to the board and the 2x2 connector
for the processor and then shorted across the power pins and SAME
result, powers up but NO POST beeps or anything else!!!

 

[Chris Hill]

Stripped the system entirely, placed the MoBo on a Phone book, installed
processor and processor fan ONLY with NO RAM, no cards, no drives.

Plugged in the main power connector to the board and the 2x2 connector
for the processor and then shorted across the power pins and SAME
result, powers up but NO POST beeps or anything else!!!

Known good name-brand power supply of sufficient wattage? If not you
know what to do.

 

[Dave]

Known good name-brand power supply of sufficient wattage? If not you
know what to do.

Yep tried, NO JOY! Looking at a faulty MoBo right?

 

[Chris Hill]

Yep tried, NO JOY! Looking at a faulty MoBo right?

What did you try? Please be specific. Could be mainboard, I
generally suspect them before cpu's, never seen a bad brand new cpu.

 

[nrx]

I've had the same "no POST beep problem as you" in the past
I thought my mobo died, so I bought a new one, only to find out i
only support that CPU type to a certain frequency. In most cases
installing incompatibles CPUs will not result in POST beeps. Strang
I know but take out the CPU and find out. Have a good look at you
motherboard manual and make sure it supports your CPU

I wouldn't waste any money on extra components unless I am completel
sure that something is faulty. In most cases, troublshootin
computers is best done by process of elimination

Good luck

 

[Paul]

Yep tried, NO JOY! Looking at a faulty MoBo right?

OK. Replace the motherboard.

I'd probably take a meter, and check the voltages on the main
ATX power connector. A $20-$30 multimeter can measure the voltages
for you. You have fans spinning, which means there is probably
+12V. If the disk drive spins, you probably have +5V as well.
But the 3.3V, I don't know of an observable way to prove it is
present. By using the multimeter, and probing the tiny bit of metal
that you can see while the ATX main power cable is plugged in, you
should be able to determine if the power supply is delivering all
voltages. (For a ground, if this is a cardboard test, you could
plug your ground lead into one of the two black wires on a spare
Molex disk drive connector. If the motherboard is mounted inside
the computer case, you can use an alligator clip and clip onto
a screw on one of the I/O connectors on the back of the computer
case.)

Processors should be DOA less often than motherboards, so the
motherboard is the thing to replace. At work, I don't think I ever
had a dead processor out of the box. We always used anti-static
precautions, which may help a bit compared to home installs.

There are occasional reports of dead processors, or flaky processors.
It does happen. But a motherboard has more things on it that can
go wrong, and the motherboard manufacturers probably don't do
burn-in on the boards. After all, one of them makes 5 million
motherboards per month, and it would take a massive burn-in
chamber to handle the volume of boards. How they test all
those motherboards boggles the mind.

Paul

 

[kony]

Stripped the system entirely, placed the MoBo on a Phone book, installed
processor and processor fan ONLY with NO RAM, no cards, no drives.

Plugged in the main power connector to the board and the 2x2 connector
for the processor and then shorted across the power pins and SAME
result, powers up but NO POST beeps or anything else!!!

Since CPUs tend to be more likely good than mobo, PSU, or
memory, playing the odds we might rule that part out.

If you had some spare memory, or if you had a pair of
modules you could now try only the other module alone.

If you are comfortable assuming the PSU test was valid for
this use (keeping in mind that a PSU can even run one system
and be inadequate for a larger, more modern system), then
the motherboard is all that's left, presuming you also
checked the battery (low battery can prevent many boards
from working).

 

[Dave]

I've had the same "no POST beep problem as you" in the past.
I thought my mobo died, so I bought a new one, only to find out it
only support that CPU type to a certain frequency. In most cases,
installing incompatibles CPUs will not result in POST beeps. Strange
I know but take out the CPU and find out. Have a good look at your
motherboard manual and make sure it supports your CPU.

I wouldn't waste any money on extra components unless I am completely
sure that something is faulty. In most cases, troublshooting
computers is best done by process of elimination.

Good luck!

Checked that and yes the processor IS compatible with this MoBo