Back from holiday, PC doesn't boot any more

[pmonett]

Hmm. I come back from a week off and find that my 2nd home PC doesn't POST anymore.
If I unplug the video card (an X850 - leave it in the slot but remove the additional power connector), I get a clear message on screen asking for said plug to be reinserted. Once that is done, however, on reboot the PC doesn't even get to the point where it displays anything.

The config is as follows :
ASROCK 939 Dual Sata motherboard
AMD XP 4000
ATI Radeon X850
2 GB DDR
2 x 200GB IDE HDDs (7200 RPM)
2 x DVD-RW
500W PSU

I tried clearing the CMOS, to no avail. There is no fan problem, as the disks boot and the fans whirr. The optical devices go through their normal blinking, then nothing.

I have the BIOS report SMART info on each startup, info that I read regularly. There is no reported disk issues - at least not from SMART.

I'm wondering - could the graphics card be at fault ? Could there be an issue with one of the HDDs despite SMART not reporting anything ? Could the PSU be going down the drain ?

Any suggestions ? Questions ?

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[acewarlock]

Well excuse me!

 

[kjv1611]

Alrighty then, glad that's all out of the way.

Some like Paypal, and some don't - that's just fine and dandy.

Now, on to the matter of the thread...

pmonett,

Let us know what/if you end up getting this sorted out, and whether you need any further assistance.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[pmonett]

No problem, I certainly will.
I am waiting for delivery this week of an MSI K8N something or another. When I have it, and have mounter the PC around it, I will let you know how it goes.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[pmonett]

Okay, I have finally got an MSI K8N Neo4-F.

One thing impressed me : the PSU power connector is 24-pin, but the manual allows connecting a 20-in PSU - and it actually works !

Unfortunately, I still have a problem : the graphics card fan does not get into motion. If I turn it manually, it turns fine, but on power-up it doesn't budge at all.

Now, just to validate the configuration I slotted in the old PCI card I had and lo ! The board booted fine and I could go about the BIOS and set things to my liking.

So, the board is working, the PSU is working, the HDDs are fine, but the X850 still does not start.

I made a further check with my old 6800 Ultra that I still had, and the same thing happens - the fan does not turn.

At this point, I am ready to conclude that, for some reason, the PSU is not powerful enough. It's a 500W one, so I'm a bit skeptical.

The mainboard was supposed to have a USB extension thing MSI calls a D-Bracket. It has 4 LEDs on it that are supposed to help debug boot issues. Unfortunately, it would appear that my version was delivered without this gracious little tool, so I am at a loss as to what the issue could be.

I have the speaker connected, but it does not beep at all when I use a PCIe card. The BIOS is from nVidia, but I can't seem to find any beep codes to tell me what the error is when there are no beeps. Does nVidia use beep codes ?

Any ideas ?

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[pmonett]

I found something new, and extremely unpleasant.

The tests done above were done with the motherboard not fixed to the chassis backplane. The motherboard was resting on a slab of wood above the chassis.

Now, thinking that I'll find a solution tomorrow, I have just finished slotting in the various elements to a properly fixed motherboard.

I slot in the audio card, no problem. I try inserting the X850 Pro, and it won't fit.

Actually, it is physically impossible to fit it in, the rear pin of the last, short, set of pins is situated on top of the motherboard connector edge. In other words, either there is a 2 millimeter mistake in placement on the motherboard, or it is not compatible with my X850 Pro connector.

Now, the motherboard manual clearly states that it is a PCIe 16x connector, and although it doesn't look like the one I have on the ASROCK 939 Dual Sata board, I'm willing to take that declaration at face value.

The X850 Pro clearly states it is a PCIe 16x card as well.

So what is the problem ?

Ideas ?

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[pmonett]

Right, I found the issue : it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm stupid.

Indeed, when I took the Asrock motherboard, it was because it was 939 but also because I could my 6800 Ultra - which was an AGP card.

When I upgraded the graphics, I took a X850 Pro - AGP.

Thus I have been trying to put the wrong cards in the wrong slots.

Now the MSI board no longer has an AGP slot, so I'm going to have to go and fish out a true PCIe card from my stock.

I know I have something lying around, so we can consider that problem solved. Now if only I could forget how ridiculous this is . . .

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[kjv1611]

Right, I found the issue : it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm stupid.

[ROFL][ROFL][ROFL][ROFL][ROFL]
[ROFL][ROFL][ROFL][ROFL][ROFL]

[ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2]
[ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2]
[ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2][ROFL2]

Hey, that sounds like MY line!

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[pmonett]

Well it's time for another update. The reason ? I have discovered that SMART is not all that smart.

I was always convinced that SMART would tell me when one of my discs had any kind of problem. I have just found out that SMART does not track one particular issue : temperature.

I'll skip the long story and make it short : I was trying to reinstall Windows now and could never get to the end of the format cycle. I downloaded SeaTools and, when I ran it, got the very unpleasant surprise of reading that one of the discs got a red warning on over-temperature.

So one of my discs overheated and SMART said nothing on the next boot.

Well I know my motherboard was out, since I tested it without any discs and with a PCI video card and it still didn't boot, but I can't help but imagine the number of people who, faced with a crashed computer, went and spend loads of dosh on other components because they were sure that their HDDs were okay.

I'll never take SMART for granted again, that's for sure.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[kmcferrin]

Yeah, SMART only monitors for certain types of errors, typically either sector errors or mechanical failures. A S.M.A.R.T. alert is a good indicator of impending failure, but drives can certainly fail (or be in an impending failure state) without triggering a S.M.A.R.T. alert.