Test a motherboard

[Mint]

I salvaged a computer that someone threw away.

It has a Socket 478 on the motherboard with an Intel 2 Ghz chip.

I could not find the model number of the motherboard, but it looks
like it can't be taken off.

It's a Gateway computer with a made for XP sticker on the front.

I have other computer hardware that would fit in it like a CD burner,
modem, etc.

I have some left over chip compound so I can mount it again.

I also have another power supply that might fit it along with other
hardware components.

I am looking for advice on how to test it.

The chip coolor "fins" were about 70% blocked by dust.

That "puppy" may have overheated.

My current computer is an AMD Sempron 3000+ 2.0 Ghz.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[TVeblen]

I salvaged a computer that someone threw away.

It has a Socket 478 on the motherboard with an Intel 2 Ghz chip.

I could not find the model number of the motherboard, but it looks
like it can't be taken off.

It's a Gateway computer with a made for XP sticker on the front.

I have other computer hardware that would fit in it like a CD burner,
modem, etc.

I have some left over chip compound so I can mount it again.

I also have another power supply that might fit it along with other
hardware components.

I am looking for advice on how to test it.

The chip coolor "fins" were about 70% blocked by dust.

That "puppy" may have overheated.

My current computer is an AMD Sempron 3000+ 2.0 Ghz.

Thanks,
Andy

To fully test you need The motherboard, processor, RAM, power supply,
video card, and a monitor.
You also need either a case or a way of switching it on and off - a
screwdriver to the pins will work, but hard to maintain.

Start with the motherboard, CPU, power supply, and case(switch)
connections. Power on. You should get a BIOS error beep code for no RAM.
THis is good, it means the MB and processor are working.

Add RAM and power on again. Another beep error code: no video. Good. If
still no RAM: bad.

Add the video card, hook up the monitor. Power on. You should get the
BIOS screen and be able to enter the BIOS by pressing F2, or whatever.

Configure the BIOS settings for what you are going to do, then start
adding the rest of the components: hard drive, DVD/CD. Then load the OS.
Install the modem/other devices after OS install.

Any stop along the way will identify a bad component. This is easier
then putting it all together and then working backward.

Have fun!

 

[Mint]

To fully test you need The motherboard, processor, RAM, power supply,
video card, and a monitor.
You also need either a case or a way of switching it on and off - a
screwdriver to the pins will work, but hard to maintain.

Start with the motherboard, CPU, power supply, and case(switch)
connections. Power on. You should get a BIOS error beep code for no RAM.
THis is good, it means the MB and processor are working.

Add RAM and power on again. Another beep error code: no video. Good. If
still no RAM: bad.

Add the video card, hook up the monitor. Power on. You should get the
BIOS screen and be able to enter the BIOS by pressing F2, or whatever.

Configure the BIOS settings for what you are going to do, then start
adding the rest of the components: hard drive, DVD/CD. Then load the OS.
Install the modem/other devices after OS install.

Any stop along the way will identify a bad component. This is easier
then putting it all together and then working backward.

Have fun!

Thanks.

I don't have the hard drive that it had originally.

I have another hard drive that I can put in.

Andy

 

[Mint]

To fully test you need The motherboard, processor, RAM, power supply,
video card, and a monitor.
You also need either a case or a way of switching it on and off - a
screwdriver to the pins will work, but hard to maintain.

Start with the motherboard, CPU, power supply, and case(switch)
connections. Power on. You should get a BIOS error beep code for no RAM.
THis is good, it means the MB and processor are working.

Add RAM and power on again. Another beep error code: no video. Good. If
still no RAM: bad.

Add the video card, hook up the monitor. Power on. You should get the
BIOS screen and be able to enter the BIOS by pressing F2, or whatever.

Configure the BIOS settings for what you are going to do, then start
adding the rest of the components: hard drive, DVD/CD. Then load the OS.
Install the modem/other devices after OS install.

Any stop along the way will identify a bad component. This is easier
then putting it all together and then working backward.

Have fun!

Got some strange results.

Everything O.K. until I added the video card.

Then, the power supply fan would not spin and no BIOS beep any more.

LED light is still on for the power supply.

Taking card out got the same results.

Andy

 

[Paul]

Got some strange results.

Everything O.K. until I added the video card.

Then, the power supply fan would not spin and no BIOS beep any more.

LED light is still on for the power supply.

Taking card out got the same results.

Andy

Was the video card properly "keyed" ?

There were some older video cards, "SIS305", that when
inserted in a 1.5V-only AGP slot motherboard, ruins
the motherboard. (AGP is a popular high performance
slot for video cards. Some machines lacked AGP slots,
and had only PCI, and then you wouldn't have an issue.)

Was the video card a known good card ?

Rules for compatibility, can be found on this page.
SIS305 cards were ones that were manufactured with the
wrong keying pattern. They were keyed "universal", when
they were 3.3V-only cards, and they would burn the
poor motherboard with its 1.5V-only slot.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

(Picture of slot keys - intended to prevent bad combinations)
http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/voltageslots.jpg

At the time, I bought a motherboard (P4B v1.05) which
had a circuit to protect against SIS305 (I actually
had to go to the computer store, and get them to open
the box, to verify I had the right revision of motherboard,
that's how new the circuit was at the time). If the motherboard
sensed that the TYPEDET# pin was strapped to the wrong
logic level (another indicator of card type), it
would prevent the power supply from coming on. Asus
used that circuit for a few years, until they felt the
risk of someone still owning an SIS305 were so low, as
to make it not worthwhile to put the extra
couple transistors on the motherboard. The circuit,
at least the initial version, also included a red LED,
"AGP_WARN". which would light up if an SIS305 or other
mis-keyed video card was present. Later generations
of the circuit, dropped the LED, which was silly, as
having the LED could help the end user detect problems
easier.

(As far as I know, only Asus used this...)
http://www.hardwarezone.com.au/img/data/articles/2002/579/agp_warn.jpg

In any case, this might have nothing to do with your case.
Maybe your video card was a PCI one, in which case
this isn't likely to be the problem. Maybe the motherboard
only came to life for a short time, and when you were
pressing on the motherboard, either a crack in the motherboard
opened, or something shorted out. You can do a "cardboard
test", move all the hardware out onto your work table, to
investigate that theory if you want.

Paul

 

[Mint]

Was the video card properly "keyed" ?

There were some older video cards, "SIS305", that when
inserted in a 1.5V-only AGP slot motherboard, ruins
the motherboard. (AGP is a popular high performance
slot for video cards. Some machines lacked AGP slots,
and had only PCI, and then you wouldn't have an issue.)

Was the video card a known good card ?

Rules for compatibility, can be found on this page.
SIS305 cards were ones that were manufactured with the
wrong keying pattern. They were keyed "universal", when
they were 3.3V-only cards, and they would burn the
poor motherboard with its 1.5V-only slot.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

(Picture of slot keys - intended to prevent bad combinations)http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/voltageslots.jpg

At the time, I bought a motherboard (P4B v1.05) which
had a circuit to protect against SIS305 (I actually
had to go to the computer store, and get them to open
the box, to verify I had the right revision of motherboard,
that's how new the circuit was at the time). If the motherboard
sensed that the TYPEDET# pin was strapped to the wrong
logic level (another indicator of card type), it
would prevent the power supply from coming on. Asus
used that circuit for a few years, until they felt the
risk of someone still owning an SIS305 were so low, as
to make it not worthwhile to put the extra
couple transistors on the motherboard. The circuit,
at least the initial version, also included a red LED,
"AGP_WARN". which would light up if an SIS305 or other
mis-keyed video card was present. Later generations
of the circuit, dropped the LED, which was silly, as
having the LED could help the end user detect problems
easier.

(As far as I know, only Asus used this...)http://www.hardwarezone.com.au/img/data/articles/2002/579/agp_warn.jpg

In any case, this might have nothing to do with your case.
Maybe your video card was a PCI one, in which case
this isn't likely to be the problem. Maybe the motherboard
only came to life for a short time, and when you were
pressing on the motherboard, either a crack in the motherboard
opened, or something shorted out. You can do a "cardboard
test", move all the hardware out onto your work table, to
investigate that theory if you want.

    Paul

The card I put in was an ATI Rage Pro 128.

Putting in another older card did not help.

Do you think it may have damaged the CPU and memory?

Andy

 

[Paul]

The card I put in was an ATI Rage Pro 128.

Putting in another older card did not help.

Do you think it may have damaged the CPU and memory?

Andy

Now, the keying on that card looks universal. And
the playtool.com site says the card is "Universal AGP Card".
That shouldn't have damaged the slot or Northbridge.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/ATI_Rage_128_pro_32MB_IMGP8663.jpg

Maybe the video card itself was bad. I wouldn't install
the video card in another system, unless that system
was expendable to you.

It's possible your CPU and RAM are still good. I'd
be willing to test them in another system. Since
we don't know what killed it, your video card is
now an unknown.

Some people who've been through an experience like
this, manage to ruin two or three things in the process
of fault isolation. It's a risky business, doing the
testing, and can be expensive.

Paul

 

[TVeblen]

ATI Rage Pro 128

Was the Rage card pulled from a working system? Do you know that it
worked? Or was it a scavenged part?

What it could be is: a bad video card, as Paul said; a bad AGP slot
(shorts), or a bad power supply (fails under load).

To test, start over. Pull everything from the motherboard, Remove and
replace the CMOS battery, then start adding parts again. Start with a
different power supply.

But, I agree with Paul. If that is a faulty motherboard you risk taking
down a lot of parts with it. If you are only using scavenged parts then
hey, go for it. But if not, you may want to just return that thing to
where it came!

 

[Mint]

Now, the keying on that card looks universal. And
the playtool.com site says the card is "Universal AGP Card".
That shouldn't have damaged the slot or Northbridge.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/ATI_Rage_128_pro_3...

Maybe the video card itself was bad. I wouldn't install
the video card in another system, unless that system
was expendable to you.

It's possible your CPU and RAM are still good. I'd
be willing to test them in another system. Since
we don't know what killed it, your video card is
now an unknown.

Some people who've been through an experience like
this, manage to ruin two or three things in the process
of fault isolation. It's a risky business, doing the
testing, and can be expensive.

    Paul

The card worked fine in a Dell Optiplex GX110 running a P-3, but did
require a special driver.

There was no video output until XP took over.

If I wanted to see the BIOS, I used another card in my machine.

I might salvage what I can from the card and give it the heave ho.

I am getting my parts from a P.C. repair store that throws out what
the owner doesn't want.

I may find another one with another good motherboard.
Then just a matter of getting a case.

Take care,
Andy

 

[Mint]

Was the Rage card pulled from a working system? Do you know that it
worked? Or was it a scavenged part?

What it could be is: a bad video card, as Paul said; a bad AGP slot
(shorts), or a bad power supply (fails under load).

To test, start over. Pull everything from the motherboard, Remove and
replace the CMOS battery, then start adding parts again. Start with a
different power supply.

But, I agree with Paul. If that is a faulty motherboard you risk taking
down a lot of parts with it. If you are only using scavenged parts then
hey, go for it. But if not, you may want to just return that thing to
where it came!

Thanks for the good tips.

Andy

 

[Mint]

TVeblen wrote:

[snip]

To fully test you need The motherboard, processor, RAM, power supply,
video card,

note that a lot of motherboards have built-in video

and a monitor.
You also need either a case or a way of switching it on and off - a
screwdriver to the pins will work, but hard to maintain.

You don't have to maintain it. It's a momentary switch. Some even remember
to be on after a power outage,

Start with the motherboard, CPU, power supply, and case(switch)
connections. Power on. You should get a BIOS error beep code for no RAM..
THis is good, it means the MB and processor are working.

Add RAM and power on again. Another beep error code: no video. Good. If
still no RAM: bad.

Add the video card, hook up the monitor. Power on. You should get the
BIOS screen and be able to enter the BIOS by pressing F2, or whatever.

forgot the keyboard. It you're using a PS/2 one, a reboot will be required.

Configure the BIOS settings for what you are going to do, then start
adding the rest of the components: hard drive, DVD/CD. Then load the OS..
Install the modem/other devices after OS install.

Any stop along the way will identify a bad component. This is easier
then putting it all together and then working backward.

It is, and it's the way I usually do it, even though all those instructions
tell you to put everything together first.

Have fun!

--
25 days until The winter celebration (Saturday December 25, 2010
12:00:00 AM).

Mark Lloydhttp://notstupid.us

"And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the
Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed
with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of
Jupiter,"
-- Thomas Jefferson

Motherboard is on it's way to the landfill.

I will see what another one would cost as well as a case that I will
need.

Plastic side pieces were "dis-assembled" using a precision flat bladed
screwdriver.

Andy