MSI K8T Neo completely dead, anything to try?

[RoadWarrior]

Hi guys,

I'm desperately trying to get some useable systems up and running, I've got a K8T Neo, history unknown that won't even twitch the fans when I goose the power header. CPU on it is a 3000+ Newcastle that came with.

The BIOS is soldered on, so not likely to be able to hotflash it. I've tried 4 PSUs on it, which power up Socket A boards fine, they're various not all that great units between 300 and 475 watts. The 300 is a sparkle, they claim to have fairly beefy rails. I thought one of them should at least POST if, even if it would be too weak for drives, good gfx etc as well.

Caps looks excellent, no heat marks on any of the MOSFETs or anything looking burned.

So, is there any common failure of these I could check for, or odd tricks to get them going?

Don't have any other s754 boards to test the CPU.

Thanks,

Road Warrior

 

[QuietIce]

How's the GPU ...?

 

[RoadWarrior]

I've got 3 that POST on older boards, an AGP 4x GF2MX400 a 4x/8x Xabre 200 and an 8x Radeon 5500pro. Haven't tried older PCI cards yet, because the older boards I'm using to test have onboard graphics and while putting an AGP card in them disables them, putting a PCI card in doesn't, either that or all the PCI gfx I've got are dead.

Tried different sticks of RAM, according to MSI, Samsung TCB3 and TCB0 are certified, and I've got some of that and tried it. Certified PSUs include a 400W Deer brand (So it can't be that fussy!) and the 300W sparkle I've got. The other ones aren't listed but have higher 12V ratings.

Noticed there was a BIOS update because it tries to run RAM In DIMM 2+3 @400, well with RAM marked for PC3200 or DDR400 it still doesn't boot. DIMM socket 1 is rather gungy, tried it a couple of times but msotly been trying single sticks in 2 and 3 until I clean it.

I think it would have to be at least spinning fans to try a floppy BIOS recovery right?

I've left the battery out, left the jumper on clear for half an hour, shorted across the battery contacts, power disconnected...

Had a keyboard connected, and tried hammering the spacebar and powerbutton on that (Got an ASUS board once that had KB powerup enabled, that seemed to be immune to CMOS clear, and appeared dead until I hooked KB up)

KB lights don't flash at all when trying to power up. So probably KBC doesn't even begin to bootstrap the BIOS.

 

[SeasonalEclipse]

There is the oven trick...

 

[QuietIce]

If there's stuff in that RAM slot that makes you not want to use it that could also be causing the problem ...

 

[RoadWarrior]

There is the oven trick...

LOL I miiiiight try that if I discover it will boot with a 10lb weight sitting on the chipset.

If there's stuff in that RAM slot that makes you not want to use it that could also be causing the problem ...

Yeah, it's greasy/tarry dust, either been in a smokers house (Doesn't smell that bad) or the kitchen, found my bottle of alcohol, so will clean all the slots and try it again.