P5K Deluxe suddenly won't boot 1

[NFI]

Hello,

a bit of a long-shot this, but I thought somebody might have an idea I haven't tried yet...

I have a PC with the following spec;

MoBo: Asus P5K Deluxe
CPU: Q6600
RAM: 4x1GB OCZ PC2-8500
VGA: ATI Radeon 2900XT 512MB

It's been working fine for just about 12 months until today, when I turned it off for the first time since last Christmas. Now it won't turn back on... I had the same problem the last time I turned it off (to add 2x1GB DIMMs)and I got around it by upping the memory voltages and reinstalling the RAM, but this time, it just isn't having it.

So far, I've tried the following;

Taken everything off the mobo except the CPU: it beeps that there's no RAM...so the mobo and cpu seem to be OK.

Put one DIMM back in: no beep, the CPU fan goes to full speed and gradually comes back to low speed over about a minute. No screen output or beeps.

Replaced the VGA card: same as above.

Tried each DIMM individually in each of the slots in turn: same as above.

Reset the RTC RAM using the jumper and removing the battery: same as above.

Left it running for an hour: same as above.

So now what? I can't believe all four of my DIMMs have spontaneously died - why won't the bl@@dy thing boot?!

Any thoughts will be much appreciated,


Thanks,

Paul

 

[Prydonian]

Next thing I would try is to breadboard the MOBO. Remove it from the case, place it on top of a non-conductive surface and connect only the bare minimum - PSU, KB, Mouse, 1 stick of memory and the video card/monitor.

This will eliminate the possibility of the MOBO shorting against the case.

Mike

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran!

 

[JimInKS]

If you have some slower RAM you might try that.

The first thing that popped into my head was that the power circuitry for the memory might have died since you were running 4 sticks of RAM at above spec voltage. I am not sure if there is an easy way to measure memory voltage on the MB.

I suppose it is also possible that the higher voltage damaged all your RAM. I assume you didn't bump the voltage that much, but who knows.

I had a batch of bad Crucial RAM that just got flaky after a few weeks. It drove me nuts.

 

[G0AOZ]

You don't say how many drives you've got attached, or what the rating of the PSU is.

The Asus website is off-line right at this moment so I can't check your board. Does it have a 20-pin or 24-pin power connector, and does the PSU you're using also have a 24-pin connector (if applicable)?

Are you also plugging in the 4-pin additional power connector?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[BadBigBen]

No screen output or beeps.

NUMBER and Pattern please! this is crucial info for the assessment of the situation...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[NFI]

The prize goes to JimInKS

The problem was the RAM voltage again - apparently a known problem with the P5K board and high speed (1066MT in my case) RAM...

Of course, I exacerbated the problem by resetting the RTC RAM, which set my RAM voltages back to auto, which were never going to work...

Using a stick of lower speed RAM, I got the stupid thing to POST, managed to bump up the RAM Voltage to 2.20V and it booted fine with the 4x PC8500 sticks installed. I think what's going on is, as the RAM ages (it has about 5000 hours on it by my estimate), it's gradually drawing more power, which only becomes evident at startup when, I guess, the power demand is higher for some reason.

Many thanks to everybody who came up with ideas

Paul