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Diagnosis on (what I believe) is grounding issues?

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ps2cho

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
So this is a recurring problem that I am having on my HTPC...

It will not boot after a few days...just no POST.
I pull it out of the case, and it works fine. I figure its a grounding issue. I reseat everything, same issue a day or two later....and it won't give up.

I've checked all the standoff's and I don't have any excess or misplaced ones.

Any ideas on what else to try here?
 
Tried a different PSU?

Have you let it sit outside of the case a few days?
 
No on both. I guess I can give that a try although I was using the PSU still inside the case when I was testing everything. I just removed the mobo and placed it on a box on top of the case.
 
No on both. I guess I can give that a try although I was using the PSU still inside the case when I was testing everything. I just removed the mobo and placed it on a box on top of the case.

Just leave it on top of the case for the normal amount of time it takes to have a boot failure, then try.
 
Pulled it out of the case again, and its now no POST even on the desk.
I got an older motherboard + cpu + ram out...plugged it into the PSU and it booted fine. So obviously its not the power supply and I have eliminated grounding issues since its outside the case.

I just also tried replacing the DDR3 RAM with one from my server and no luck.

Is it safe to assume the motherboard is dead?
 
Yes, probably the mobo. The only other option would be the CPU and given the behavior pattern that's not likely. Did you check for bent pins in the socket (Intel) or the CPU (AMD)? Don't recall whether you stated whether this was an AMD or an Intel system.
 
After checking out newegg, there's no point since there is nothing that is realistically going to give me any more features. I'll just RMA the motherboard and pay the shipping costs...

Hopefully I'll report back in a few weeks with success and a functional Media Server once again.
 
Well got the replacement board in -- looks brand new. Still no POST.
This is driving me CRAZY!!

I switched the processor into another working FM2 board I have -- booted fine.
CPU = 100% OK.
Swapped RAM again. 100% OK.
Plugged SAME PSU into another computer. Booted fine.

Did I really get another dead board or is there any other possibility here?
This is run outside of the case on the box the board came in, so there is zero grounding possibility.
 
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Are you sure you didn't get back your old board? That's a favorite tactic of motherboard manufacturer RMA departments. They test it superficially and it seems fine so they send it back to you. It's like going to the doctor but that ache or pain is temporarily gone when you see the physician so he can't don anything about it. But it returns after you get home.

And even if it is in fact a different board than the one you sent in it could be a used board someone else turned in that was "refurbished" but not really fixed.
 
I don't think so because it smelt new and it had plastic over the Southbridge heat sink.

What a pain...
 
Have you tried using different RAM in your board? Maybe there is an incompatibility there. It happens occasionally. We see it often when people try to use Kingston RAM with AMD motherboards.
 
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