Serious problems (won't boot...)

not again...Ok, so I accedentally put the power connector on my floppy drive in wrong so that the 12v on the cable was connected to the ground on the floppy (over to the right one pin)...dont ask, i got distracted, low light...anyway, so I powerd up and some sparks flew and it shut itself off and I think I smelled a bit of smoke...not good. Unplugged, turned off the PSU, turned off the surge protector, then turned everything back on. heres where the problems really start. As soon as I flipped the power switch on the back of the PSU, the comp turned on. I didn't hit the power button on the front or anything. the fans came on and so did the fan controller, but nothing showed up on the screen (the status light on the monitor changed from orange to green and back continously) and the cd drive wouldn't open. I tried resetting the CMOS, nothing. The good news: The floppy drive and hard drive appear to be working fine (I've got em both in this computer that I'm using to type with).

Help?

no post sounds like mobo damage, but i cant think why didnt the ps "protected" the mobo... maybe it protects everything out of the input, but in it...

well, i hope theres nothing wrong with it


to put it simple, unplug everything but the video card, memory and cpu, no try if it wont post remove memory

if there are no beeps you are pretty much f*cked, you would need to try another cpu and try the mobo on a known working cpu to isolate the problem

good luck

Maybe I can get this thing RMAd, I just got it 2 days ago...

I dont have another 939 CPU to try in it

I dont understand why, if the floppy (the source of the problem) and the HDD (which was on a seperate line comming out of the PSU) are OK, why the mobo, which has 2 dedicated lines comming out of the PSU, might be dead.

Are there any fuses or anything, specifically on the mobo, i should check?

Is this covered by warranty (I didn't OC anything)?

technically (sp?) speaking your not liable for warranty since it was your fault, no matter it was a mistake... but hey, how will the find out?

i think ( dont quote me on this) that the psu just isolates in-out currents, your problem was current already in the psu so i believe you could have fried pretty much anything plugged to the psu

just try everything in another system, but no beeps make me think its the mobo

LoneWolf121188 said:

Is this covered by warranty (I didn't OC anything)?

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Sadly no, which is why I refuse to work on PCs when Im tired or in low light. Simply because the consequences are so great

Sparks are not a good sign at all. If you dont have spare parts to test perhaps you should go to a local mom&pop store and see if they can test your stuff.

I have a spare everything but CPU. I also found that the PSU is fine (tried it in the comp I'm using now). I tried an older 250W PSU connected to just the vid card and the mobo, and it sporadically turned on and off without me pressing the power button...the chipset fan, the onboard power led, and the PSU fan turned on and off randomly, even for a few seconds after I pulled the plug (I assume this is just capasitators discharging)...I've got the whole day free today, so I'll try each component individually in another comp, except the CPU.

What could have happened to screw up the mobo? I mean, all the devices seem to be fine, the PSU is fine, all I did was connect a 12v to a ground (and where a 5v should have been, there was a ground comming in from the PSU, so that shouldn't have done anything), and all that should have done is blown a fuse or something, right? that shouldn't have killed the mobo...I mean, its grounded for a reason. the mobo has 2 dedicated power lines, so why should something happen to them and not the devices?

LoneWolf121188 said:

I tried an older 250W PSU connected to just the vid card and the mobo, and it sporadically turned on and off without me pressing the power button...the chipset fan, the onboard power led, and the PSU fan turned on and off randomly, even for a few seconds after I pulled the plug (I assume this is just capasitators discharging

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those sympthoms look more and more like a mobo in coma, lets us know how it turns out...

PhobMX said:

those sympthoms look more and more like a mobo in coma, lets us know how it turns out...

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Now thatt you mention it.... I recall hearing about how the Asus SLI boards ahve been having issues with cold booting. Similar to what he has. Im not exactally sure where that thread was at or the solution, but Im sure that it exists.

Sentential said:

Now thatt you mention it.... I recall hearing about how the Asus SLI boards ahve been having issues with cold booting. Similar to what he has. Im not exactally sure where that thread was at or the solution, but Im sure that it exists.

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huh? I'm not quite sure I know what you are saying...

Anyway, more good news and more bad news. The RAM and HDDs appear to be OK, I put them both into an older machine (the one with the 250W PSU) with a 478 P4 proc on an brand new Asus P4GE-MX (the mobo that was previously in there died, thats why I started this thread with "not again")...have yet to try the CD drive (it was free anyway) or the Audigy 2. The bad news: looks more and more like the mobo died (I was hoping it was the PSU...I needed to RMA the case anyway cuz the front panel temp LCD was DOA). Of course, I'm not sure if it was the mobo or the CPU, and the CPU is off the RMA time (7 days, what a ripoff). I dont think anything else could be the problem...

Whats this about mobo comas and cold booting?

more weird behavior...I disconnected the front panel from the mobo, including the power switch. It still turns on as soon as the power cable is plugged in. I also disconnected the 12v on the mobo, still turns on (I tried disconnecting the 20pin, doesn't turn on). This is whats really bugging me. Something is asking for power, something is still alive in there, but what? Also, the gfx card comes on too, so something is sending a signal over the PCIe bus...that means the southbridge is probably fine (I think). Also, why would the mobo short from applying 12v to the ground pin on the floppy???

LoneWolf121188 said:

more weird behavior...I disconnected the front panel from the mobo, including the power switch. It still turns on as soon as the power cable is plugged in. I also disconnected the 12v on the mobo, still turns on (I tried disconnecting the 20pin, doesn't turn on). This is whats really bugging me. Something is asking for power, something is still alive in there, but what? Also, the gfx card comes on too, so something is sending a signal over the PCIe bus...that means the southbridge is probably fine (I think). Also, why would the mobo short from applying 12v to the ground pin on the floppy???

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"comes on" means post?

try the graphics card and the audigy just to be sure

also, dont hessitate to rma the case since the panel was DOA..

PhobMX said:

"comes on" means post?

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I wish. No, what I mean is, the fans start spinning, the monitor does the orange-green status light loop/cycle thing, and the power led on the mobo comes on.

I tried everything except the CPU and gfx card (its PCIe, I only have AGP boards) in my old machine (thats where most of the parts came from, anyway), and it was working fine until just a moment ago. I was making sure nothing was lost from the HDDs, so I was playing a movie file in Windows Media Player, and it froze. Ok, whatever. killed the power, then tuned it back on. guess what: the monitor status light cycled from orange to green and back in a loop. Uh oh...This was using the new PSU, btw. I will try the old PSU now and see how it goes.


I think I will RMA the case, as I will be RMAing the mobo (already sent the request to ZZF) and will have to wait for that to come back...I knew I shouldn't have put the A64 case badge on just yet (anyone know where to get another one?)!

LoneWolf121188 said:

think I will RMA the case, as I will be RMAing the mobo (already sent the request to ZZF) and will have to wait for that to come back...I knew I shouldn't have put the A64 case badge on just yet (anyone know where to get another one?)!

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geez, well something is definitely fubared, lets hope its the cheapest part.

for the case badge newegg sells them

Maybe you should pay me to build your next rig

Edit*
I also accept food.

Super Nade said:

Maybe you should pay me to build your next rig

Edit*
I also accept food.

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Tofu? Soy milk? I have lots of that (...parents... )

Case and mobo sent...

I can't belive I sent BACK an A8N-SLI when so many people want an SLI board...

LoneWolf121188 said:

Tofu? Soy milk? I have lots of that (...parents... )

Case and mobo sent...

I can't belive I sent BACK an A8N-SLI when so many people want an SLI board...

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id say "why did i fubar an a8n now that so many people want them?"

lol man, jk