My Abit Mobo don't work nomo. Help..

[drummer]

I recently have been having trouble with the computer I have JUST SHUTTING DOWN.
It's an Abit KT7 Raid with a 1.0G Athlon, 300w PS, 768 RAM, soundblaster live, set up for cable via ethernet card CAT5+ and now after noticing that even though the PS has an ambient temp of 95 deg. F when it's OFF and trying another PS
That the machine will not turn on for more than 2-3 sec's and shuts off! Thats all she wrote.
Is the Mobo bad??
So whassssup???
Thanx.

[BipolarBill]

If it turns on, the motherboard is probably OK. Check the CPU fan to be sure it's working. Do the same if you have a video card fan.

300W is adequate for your system, but 400W is better. ;)

[drummer]

Yes I noticed that the CPU fan does turn on.
The Vid Card has a heat sink.
What else could it be ??
Not even a beep to notice as the time the system is on is only 2-3 secs.
thanx

[BipolarBill]

2-3 sec would indicate that we are not finishing POST. You may have a bad component onboard. Strip it down to just:

CPU
Memory
Vid card
floppy drive
HDD

and try again.

[drummer]

Yep
I've taken it all the way down to only the MOBO.
no memory, no HD, no vid card
Only the connection to the mobo .
the on board fan is also working for 2-3 secs.
Thanx

[BipolarBill]

Well, the video card and memory are vital. You cannot test startup without them. You can, however, start without a hard drive (use a floppy disk).

[drummer]

Have tried with mem. and vid card --same result
no more than 2-3 secs.
asked a local comp"guru" and he said that the Fan from the CPU may be plugged in the wrong slot as the fan shuts off automatically if somethings wrong.
But this setup has been this way for > 1 yr and nothing like this has happened B4
any ideas??
thanx

[BipolarBill]

Some mobos have a case fan connector right next to the CPU fan (bad design IMO). If you are not plugged into the CPU fan, on some mobos it will shut down as soon as is senses this.

Is your PC speaker connected? Are you getting beeps? If you are not, check it's connection. The reason I recommend this is that the alarm for the CPU fan is like a British police siren (WEEE - OOOH - WEEE - OOOH). Thats a sure sign that the CPU fan or heat is the trouble.

Try clearing CMOS too. The BIOS controls mobo behavior and it may be shutting down the mobo due to erroneous info.

After this, there's not alot left to do. It could be a bad CPU or a bad motherboard. It's hard to tell. Since few CPUs go bad. I would consider a new "platform".

[drummer]

There are actually 4 fan connectors labeled 1,2,3,4, I have it connected to fan 1.
Pc speaker is connected but to of no avail as I don't even get to where the speaker goes on(2-3 secs only and the system shuts off). NO BEEPS. at all.
Can't get to the CMOS. No video pic. Do you clear it once you see a screen? NO Screen!
What do you mean by Platform??
Thanx.

[BipolarBill]

platform=motherboard

There should be a jumper for restting CMOS. You could also simply remove the battery for a while.

You are telling me that you get no video. That means that you get nothing. The 2-3 secs is wrong. You don't get that. All you get are spinning fans and a funny little grinding noise. This normally indicates either a bad motherboard or a damaged of mis-seated video card.

BTW...the speaker is available if power is. It just isn't telling you anything.

[drummer]

Yes!!!!
Now your on target! I get Nothing but 2 fans spinning and the PS on for only 2 secs. and no PC speaker! exactly! which is actually something.
and it's not the PS.
I will look for the CMOS reset and try the Non-battery thing to see if either of those work.
And actually this all happens even w/o the Vid Card.
Thanx

[BipolarBill]

Keep in mind that no pc can start without a video card...

[drummer]

Well, I've taken the whole "puter" apart. took out the battery for the CMOS and "reset it via connectors but set it back to "normal".
I do now get a screen that says CMOS default error.
F1 to cont. and Del. for BIOS setup are the choices.
F1 takes me to a BLUE screen that asks if this is the first time running the computer. Otherwise it looks like the "blue screen of death"
So now what to do??
It seems like all is running. But CMOS maybe needs to be reset and I didn't keep all that info.
What now??
Thanx

[BipolarBill]

At least it works. Press Del and go to the last screen. Set BIOS defaults wherever that choice is.

[SPEEDO]

Perseverance, And sticktoitness that's the BipolarBill way..

[drummer]

Yes But,
I just got an error message that says "CPU is unworkable or has been changed" "CPU soft menu"
"hit F1 or Del." as B4
So does this mean that even though this didn't happen b4 that my CPU is out??
Thanx

[BipolarBill]

It's not out, but it may be impaired. This would be the first time I've seen a CPU go sour slowly.

What CPU and speed does the BIOS display?

[drummer]

I went back to see and it said 500(100) x 10 (for the multiplier.)
So I changed it to 1000(100)
but I still get the Blue error screen. so something else may be wrong.
I think I plugged all the cdroms(1),Dvdplayer and cd writer in the right ide slots.
ea of my HDD are ea in 1 ide slot.
What else am I missing??
hmm
thanx

[BipolarBill]

At this point, you have a decision to make. Either the motherboard is detecting a CPU problem where there is none, or the CPU is indeed bad. It could be both. :(

I recommend that you order a new CPU and motherboard. Once you have two new pieces, you use the process of elimination to zoom in on the problem. Once you have, you will have a spare CPU or motherboard. :) You can either sell the leftover, build another PC or RMA the sucker. You can also RMA the defective part! In the end, you should just be out shipping charges if you play it right. :cool:

By the way, I'm familiar with Cheapeake. I lived there when I was stationed at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Those were interesting times. :rolleyes: LoL!

[$1500-P4 gamer]

They make a device called PC doctor. I'm getting one for just these reasons. You plug it in the pci slot and it does post and no post tests. So if the pc doesnt turn on its still gonna tell ya whats wrong. The cpu and mem are things it tests aswell as the mobo. Best $80 tool for pc's I've seen yet. Works alot like those that you plug into the parallel without being so expensive. you ever hear of them BipolarBill?

[BipolarBill]

you ever hear of them BipolarBill? Yep. Just now! :p

I'm off shopping... <tralala....!>

[GatorBait]

OMFG, BipolarBill ... I was BORN in Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Small world, ain't it?

[BipolarBill]

Heh...if you're around 24-25 years old, I may have helped bring you in. I did some duty in the Delivery Room of the old hospital in 1977. One crazy night, we delivered 4 screaming meemies in 45 minutes. What a mess! It was fun. ;)

That hospital building dates all the way back to the mid 1800s. It's really spooky.

[LOGGER]

I shut my new puuter off by unpluging it at a critical time when the bios was doing something.
the puuter would come on for a short time and then stop.
i have a th711raid mb ..I had to jump the clear bios terminals and then it worked after i went in and set all my settings again

good luck