AA8XE Shuts Down after WC Install

Hi All,

I recently built a new rig with the a AA8XE, P4 3.2Ghz(640) in May. Iinsatlled a new T-Take BigWater CPU Cooler the other day and when I restart the rig it goes through its config checks, Alarm starts and it shuts down. It never gets far enough to boot. Everything was re-installed the exact same way as it was when it was running brilliantly.
I reset the BIOS to disable the CPU & HS shutdown alarm I had configged so the lack of a fan attached to the CPU fan connector would'nt cause the system to shut down. It does anyway. Is it possible the BIOS dicn't reset? I even removed the battery as the possibility occurred to me that the jumper BIOS reset was'nt working properly to no avail.
I don't want to go too far into everything I tried as it would make a long list. Let's just say I ried everything I could think of which was, I thought, quite alot.

Can anyone help? has anyone ever run ino this prob with this board? I ruled out the CPU being fried for a host of reasons... It is new, I did'nt change, replace or remove it and the CPU being fried wouldn't cause the alarms and shutdown...would it? could it?

Again, can anyone please HELP, I am STUMPED

try plugging a fan into the header anyways, it never hurts

Sneaky said:

try plugging a fan into the header anyways, it never hurts

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Tried that unfortunately it not only did'nt work it made the mobo shutdown IMMEDIATELY..before initializing sequences even. that's what made me think it might have something to do w/CPU but that does'nt make sense since not being able to lve that header open could cause serious conflicts installing non-standard HS/Fan & CPU blocs.
Thanks 4 the responz tho.

Perhaps it's overheating. I would pull the block off and double check everything. Almost sounds like it's not making good contact. You made sure the pump is working properly?

batboy said:

Perhaps it's overheating. I would pull the block off and double check everything. Almost sounds like it's not making good contact. You made sure the pump is working properly?

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I did do just as you mentioned, Twice. I lapped the Block to 1500 grit wet/dry and used Arctic Silver Thermal on the Block. It is not the contact and to the best of my knowledge AA8XE MoBo does'nt have an alarm for CPU overheat in default BIOS mode...Does it? If you have any additional suggestions I would appreciate any and all comments as I am running out of ideas. I have sent a mail to Abit but have not yet recieved a response.
Thanks for the idea tho.
P.S. I did check that not only the pump but that the entire cooling system is working and has been primed and bled of air and flowing freely. Thiis thing has really got me baffled. Please keep the suggestions coming though as that's the best way to ultimately hit on the solution.
Thanks in advance for all input!

Yes, the AA8XE does have a high temp alarm set by default. There is a high temp shut down too. The other two things that can set off an alarm is voltages being out of range or fans running too slow. By default, the BIOS will shut down the system if the CPU fan fails. These can be changed in the BIOS of course.

Now REALLY Stumped

batboy said:

Yes, the AA8XE does have a high temp alarm set by default. There is a high temp shut down too. The other two things that can set off an alarm is voltages being out of range or fans running too slow. By default, the BIOS will shut down the system if the CPU fan fails. These can be changed in the BIOS of course.

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Keep' em coming BatBoy , and everyone else please. As I mentioned, I tried to reset the BIOS numerous times, and anyway even if I had'nt, I can't change the settings in the BIOS if I can't get to the BIOS, all I can do is reset, which would'nt clear defaults. It's like 3DFlyer's Avatar
"Keyboard not Found!...Press any key to Continue".
Additionally, I have an AeroCool Gatewatch Sys Ctrllr and the the temp of the CPU (sensor attached to area on the underside of Block) never rises above 22°C before shutdown. So, I am pretty confident at this point it does'nt have to do w/temps.

have you tried uninstalled the W/b then installing say the stock hsf to see if you can get into bios? there is a setting in there if fan rpm is too low it will auto shutdown...it couldve been enabled somewhere

If the CMOS has been reset, then the CPU fan fail shutdown option was enabled again. This means the system will shut down if there is no fan connected to the CPU fan header. I already suggested pulling the block off to check the contact. While it's off, do what Illyest suggested and put the stock heatsink on to see what happens and to get into the BIOS to make some changes. What I did on my watercooled system was to connect a case fan onto my CPU fan header, so if I ever reset the BIOS, I could still boot. The fan header for the CPU has 4-pins, but if connected correctly, a standard 3-pin connector will work fine.

Disheartened but Not beaten

Thanks again for the replys,

That's definitely true, the CPU fan shutdown will have been re-enabled after CMOS reset. With that in mind I did try to connect the stock HSF to its header while the water cooler was still installed to no avail. When I did this it didn't even get to alarm shudown stage, it shut down IMMEDIATELY...and I do mean immediately (i've been trying to figure out what this might mean). As you know batboy the fan header on our mobo has a guide which would make it pretty hard to plug it in incorrectly even if one didn't know what they were doing. I can tell from you responses that you know what you are doing, and I do as well as I used to be a hardware tech and programmer at a company in San Francisco that sold, repaired and maintained restaurant & store POS computer systems. I only mention this so you can get an idea what type of experience I have with circuit boards and other computer equip.

Please keep the new ideas coming as I am getting more baffled by the second.
Right now I feel like , pretty soon I'm gonna get

what power supply are you using?

Perhaps something is shorting out on the mobo? It could be the PSU\voltage aswell. It could be alot of things.

RangerXLT8 said:

Perhaps something is shorting out on the mobo? It could be the PSU\voltage aswell. It could be alot of things.

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It could be a lot of things? Hooooo...you think lol. Talk like that just makes me want to : more.

Know Nuttin: I am using a HiPER 350W, good BASIC PSU but no where nearr the power i need for all i'm running. I am ordering a HiPER Typer-R Modular 580W (630 Peak) from OVC (overclock.co.ok for us Americans) as we speal.

I am thinking of contacting Abit today for an RMA as i have just about run out of things to try. If I had the wiring diagram for the mobo I could do some live testing of various components on the board as I do have some electrical test equip such as a Multi, TDU, etc
I spent TEN, count em 10 hours on this prob alone yesterday, talk about frustrating

Thanks for all the help, please keep thideas coming as we may possibly solve thru serendipity.

Could it be possible that the CPU fan header could've failed causing the Fail Fail to reset everytime?

I'm starting to wonder, becasue he's already hooked a fan up to the thing, and reset the CMOS and he still can't get to the BIOS.

I know this is about as aggravating as it gets. You can't do anything if you can't see anything. This is worse than a blind flash! lol

Have you tried removing everything from the case and setting up a bare bones system just to see if you can get to the BIOS. If you do that, you'll eliminate alot of stuff from the equation. It's even possible it could be hardware causing it, so I'd eliminate all possible casues first.

Don't kill me if it still doesn't boot. Just trying to analyze first and narrow it down.

BTW, it's nice to know my Avatar is famous now! lol

Pull the board out of the case and make sure that the block is not shorting out ANYWHERE it could be touching someting near it and causing the problems. Also make sure that no thermal paste got loose on the board causing a short. and for good measure check the ihs on the processor to make sure you didn't accidently crush the core.

It's Fixed!!!

Thanks for all the help guys. It appears that the PSU was not powerful enough and was causing a shutdown due to its inability to handle the load. I have since ordered a HiPER Type-R 580W from Overclock. I don't think you folks have HiPER products in the States yet. They are a UK brand and are very highly regarded here. If they start selling their stuff in the USofA I would recommend them highly.

sounds pretty confident. did you test it yet or do you just think it has to be the psu?

though the water cooling setup will definatly put a large load on your psu, some choose to use a seperate one for that purpose

Time4aMassiveOC said:

sounds pretty confident. did you test it yet or do you just think it has to be the psu?

though the water cooling setup will definatly put a large load on your psu, some choose to use a seperate one for that purpose

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DUUUHHH, What do you think?
I am VERY confident, and yes I have tested it. It is working "COOL" both figuratively and literally. PSU is 580W with a 630W peak under load. I have put a multimeter on it to ck the loads and there is power for wattage to spare. In addition my core is now at 27° Idle as I write this and is running 37-38° load running Prime95 and various futuremark utils. These temps are the best I have experienced on any machine and i'm fairly confident they are correct as i am using both on-board and external sensors which never differ from each other by more than 2°.
So no more against the wall, at least for now

By the bye, thanks for the info on the sep PSU but as of now i don't think it's necc.

sounds awesome, glad to hear it. ::nudges psycho with his elbow for OC results::