PC wont boot...bios dead?

[kelsinni]

Hello to all members
Im facing some problems with my PC…
I have a Foxconn G31MXP (http://www.foxconnchannel.com/ProductDetail.aspx?T=motherboard&U=en-us0000416) with a Intel core 2 Duo E6450 and 2x2Gb DDR2 800 and a ssd 128gb kingston. When i first mount everything a couple of months ago all went ok and running normal till some days ago.
Primary the PC wont boot at 1st time…just till the 2nd or 3rd try that i was enable that the system booted. When it happened all was OK in Windows…all normal.
Now its almost impossible i can boot the system. Dispite the spinning of the cpu fan and the lights of power get on i cannot get the bip of the internal speaker and the PC wont boot.
I have already try another PSU (brand new one), another CPU (my old Celeron), another mems and eliminate all the possibility of some hardware error from HDD’s, Flopys, CD drives, USB cables, Sound Cables…ALL of that.
I tought that problem maybe a bricked bios so with some cost i acheived boot the system from a pen with a new bios and flashed it. The process went OK (i tryed too with the last 3 bios version from the Foxconn website) but the problem remains…
Do you guys know what can be the cause of it? Dead bios? Dead motherboard? (at first look all the capacitors look good without any aparent problem)
I have run out all the possibilities that i know…

Thanks in advance for all the help

 

[DAKz]

As a rule if the processor is dead it won't boot no matter how many times you try it, same with a mobo, if its dead its dead. BIOS if there is an issue with a BIOS setting it will stop and ask you to enter setup, if BIOS is corrupted then it is always corrupted.
The next time it does boot go into BIOS setup and load the default or the optimal settings. After that I would disconnect everything from the mobo, all drives all but minimal memory, etc till you can get it to boot regular, once that happens start adding the other stuff till you can isolate the issue.
Also a nice little trick is to remove the power and BIOS (CMOS) battery hold the power button for a minimum of 30 seconds to drain the board and then replace the battery and the power cord and power it on again. This should force the BIOS back to original settings for the last time you flashed it. Honestly if it came into the shop like that I would reseat the RAM and look for a faulty memory stick before I got into flashing the BIOS.

 

[kelsinni]

The CPU is OK because i tested with my old one too...the same about the RAM modules. I tested with my old too and one each time...to be from the RAM modules all the 4 modules had to be bad...

The PSU is brand new too. Besides that i tried to boot it with all components disconnected: 1st just with 1 ram module and with the SDD
2nd just with 1 ram module too and with just the pen bootable
It keep happened so there is only one target: the motherboard

As i told too in one of the times i had made flash the bios with a different bios version from the one that were giving me troubles...when i enter the setup i made load the default values and when i got save and exit...it wont boot again...

I think that is almost impossible test all components of a motherboard (for me it is) so i turned my attention to the most probable component...the BIOS.

I made a long clear CMOS too (no battery and the jumper set to clear CMOS) during more that 24 hours but nothing too...

I will try to do that trick that you told but honestly i doubt that it would do the trick...

Another guess?

Thak you again for the help

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

More likely a bad board, bad socket pin or bad caps. I would check the pins.

 

[kelsinni]

Maybe but as i told by a nude eye look al seems ok...for me and my knowlege i cannot test nothing more

 

[DAKz]

caps are easy if there is any bulge at the top of them they are going, but since this is booting "sometimes" then to me I would almost have to think its not a BIOS issue, not a psu issue, would look beyond the mobo for a cause, unless this thing has no cooling at all.

 

[kelsinni]

caps are easy if there is any bulge at the top of them they are going, but since this is booting "sometimes" then to me I would almost have to think its not a BIOS issue, not a psu issue, would look beyond the mobo for a cause, unless this thing has no cooling at all.

I have already get a MSI G41M-P25 on ebay because its nothing more i can test...it keeps doing this all the time.

Actually i even get flashing another bios version and seems that its not from here too...

Almost sure that is from the mobo but i cannot understand from where...

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

caps are easy if there is any bulge at the top of them they are going, but since this is booting "sometimes" then to me I would almost have to think its not a BIOS issue, not a psu issue, would look beyond the mobo for a cause, unless this thing has no cooling at all.

Possibly bad solder joints if it only boots sometimes.

 

[DAKz]

Possibly bad solder joints if it only boots sometimes.

Bad solder joints are easy, blow dryer, easy fix!

 

[kelsinni]

Bad solder joints are easy, blow dryer, easy fix!

And in what part of the board is most probable that occur? Behind it? On the CPU socket? mem sockets?

That blow dryer can be a regular hair blow dryer or a most powerfull one?

Thks again

 

[kelsinni]

Hi there...
im gonna try to put a little hot on it with a blow dryer as told...
Can you please tell me if that process is use to apply on the back of the mobo or in the front?

On the laptops with the graphic card dead i have read that people use to put the mobo on the kitchen oven wrapped on a alluminium papper...this works here too?

I really need some tips on this because i never donr it before and would be very glad if i can recover this mobo to work fine again...

Thks in advance

Cheers

 

[DAKz]

Hi there...
im gonna try to put a little hot on it with a blow dryer as told...
Can you please tell me if that process is use to apply on the back of the mobo or in the front?

On the laptops with the graphic card dead i have read that people use to put the mobo on the kitchen oven wrapped on a alluminium papper...this works here too?

I really need some tips on this because i never donr it before and would be very glad if i can recover this mobo to work fine again...

Thks in advance

Cheers

At our shop we use a reflow machine, we also have a hot air gun, I am guessing you don't have access to either of those, do the component side of the board, with as hot a hair dryer as possible, if we use the hot air gun at the shop we usually set it for around 270, but remember you do not want to melt any solder and create a solder bridge, we use a temp monitor to try and bring the component temp up to around 180-185.
As far as the oven trick, I have heard of it, never seen it work for very long as you can cause issues to other things on the board, when we reball a video chip we use foil to protect the surrounding areas, and we use a clear flux liquid to help the process, We do maybe 10 boards a day this way mostly HP and Mac's our success rate with HP is 100% with Panasonic around 90% and the mac boards we run about 95%, this can be used to solve a host of issues from no power to video issues. I went into detail explaining so that you could see how and what we use, we have saved oven baked boards, which there is no mistaking since they are "golden brown", but there are some that we couldn't save as well because the damage from the cure was worst then the original damage.

 

[kelsinni]

OK DAKz...i think i understand how the process works.
When you said "do the component side of the board, with as hot a hair dryer as possible" this is the front of the board (where is CPU socket, ram slots, pci slots,...)?

I will try with an normal hair dryer and see what happens. If that didnt work i will try to get a hot air gun of a friend and do the same...

In what conserns of the oven i think i will forget that

Thks again

 

[DAKz]

OK DAKz...i think i understand how the process works.
When you said "do the component side of the board, with as hot a hair dryer as possible" this is the front of the board (where is CPU socket, ram slots, pci slots,...)?

I will try with an normal hair dryer and see what happens. If that didnt work i will try to get a hot air gun of a friend and do the same...

In what conserns of the oven i think i will forget that

Thks again

Do the component that is causing the issue, if its a video chip then do the chip, (we are talking video cards and laptop boards here, if its the northbridge then do the northbridge, etc. Also check your caps around the cpu socket very close, any discoloration or puffiness replace it.

 

[kelsinni]

Do the component that is causing the issue, if its a video chip then do the chip, (we are talking video cards and laptop boards here, if its the northbridge then do the northbridge, etc. Also check your caps around the cpu socket very close, any discoloration or puffiness replace it.

The problem is that i really dont know what is that component that is causing the post problems...my guess is the northbridge (where is the graphic card) but that is just a guess...

Do you have any opinion what can cause this problem?

Thks

 

[DAKz]

The problem is that i really dont know what is that component that is causing the post problems...my guess is the northbridge (where is the graphic card) but that is just a guess...

Do you have any opinion what can cause this problem?

Thks

Without seeing it would be hard to say, do you get anything on the screen? or does just the lights and no video at all? Does the drives spin? watch the HDD led and see if its loading, a lot of activity a pause then more activity then an occasional flashing?
If it wouldn't boot before how did you flash the BIOS?

hard to say based on the description of the problems, will it boot into hiren's?
do you get a boot logo at all?

 

[kelsinni]

Well...all the tests that i have done i can almost certanly exclude this possibilities:
- CPU (because i tested with my old 100% functional Celeron D)
- PSU (because i first tought that were certain a PSU cause and bought a brand new)
- RAM's (because i tested with another Kingston pair totally functional)
- SSD (because i try to boot from USB without the sata cable connected to the SSD and did not worked too)
- Any Floppy, DVD rom component (because i disconected them)
- BIOS problem because after 10 tries i finnaly acheive a normal boot and flash an old version of the bios and the problem remain)
- Any case wire connected with the mobo (because i remove the mobo from the case and just plug the power button wire to it)

The simptoms are allways the same:
when i power on the button the power led get on, the cpu fan spins, the HDD that i have has 2nd hard drive gets power because i ear it, the HDD led get on but the pc internal speaker does not make the initial beep and the PC dont post...besides that i cannot get any picture or else on the monitor and further the light of the monitor became has no cable (DVI) has connected.

In average on 10 or 15 tries i got 1 sucefull boot and past it all goes normally without any problem...

Any guess?

Thks

 

[DAKz]

Well...all the tests that i have done i can almost certanly exclude this possibilities:
- CPU (because i tested with my old 100% functional Celeron D)
- PSU (because i first tought that were certain a PSU cause and bought a brand new)
- RAM's (because i tested with another Kingston pair totally functional)
- SSD (because i try to boot from USB without the sata cable connected to the SSD and did not worked too)
- Any Floppy, DVD rom component (because i disconected them)
- BIOS problem because after 10 tries i finnaly acheive a normal boot and flash an old version of the bios and the problem remain)
- Any case wire connected with the mobo (because i remove the mobo from the case and just plug the power button wire to it)

The simptoms are allways the same:
when i power on the button the power led get on, the cpu fan spins, the HDD that i have has 2nd hard drive gets power because i ear it, the HDD led get on but the pc internal speaker does not make the initial beep and the PC dont post...besides that i cannot get any picture or else on the monitor and further the light of the monitor became has no cable (DVI) has connected.

In average on 10 or 15 tries i got 1 sucefull boot and past it all goes normally without any problem...

Any guess?

Thks

Not sure what all that means so lets try this remove all ram but one stick. remove ALL hard drives. If your using a add in video card, pull it and use the onboard vid, boot into BIOS or Hiren's (prefered), basically you want the bare minimums to see if it works, a psu, a cpu, a board, a dvd drive, and minimum RAM

 

[kelsinni]

I have already done just that. place just one ram module in slot1 and try...then in slot2 and try...nothing happened. Besides that im just using the mobo video card onboard...i dont have any pcie videocard to test with it. With all components excluded remains the onboard video that are in north bridge right? That was the place where i tought to point the hair dryer first...

What you think?

 

[DAKz]

I have already done just that. place just one ram module in slot1 and try...then in slot2 and try...nothing happened. Besides that im just using the mobo video card onboard...i dont have any pcie videocard to test with it. With all components excluded remains the onboard video that are in north bridge right? That was the place where i tought to point the hair dryer first...

What you think?

If you tried it at the barest possible and still did not boot then look at the ram, still unclear on if it's loading the OS or not this can easily be figured out by watching the hard drive activity light.