Will not POST unless motherboard (yes, mobo) is very cold. (new to me)

[J-S]

So I'm having issues with my computer. It will not POST; no beeps, only fans and lights and peripherals. The only way it will beep is if I remove the memory, then it gives me the no memory beep. Put RAM back in, nothing. This is what I've done for troubleshooting (yada yada, read toward the bottom for some interesting info).

- Reset CMOS using multiple methods (jumper, battery, hold power button).
- Insert key trick.
- Replaced CMOS battery.
- Working PSU; no change.
- Working vid card; no change.
- Remove RAM; gave error beeps.
- Remove CPU; no beeps.
- Remove vid card; no beeps.
- Remove everything but vid, cpu, and ram; no change.
- Remove CPU, leave RAM in; no beeps (leads me to believe CPU is functional among other reasons explained later).

Now here is the interesting part. It is cold out here and on the way home, I put the comp in my car which was pretty cold. Got home, plugged it in, POST! I was like WTF! Played with the BIOS and set all the defaults (was already there due to the CMOS reset but did again for good measure). Exited BIOS and rebooted; then nothing. Same as before. The cold weather had apparently done something.

So the first thing I think is, the CPU. I say ok...I test this further. I put the comp outside for a bit to cool it off and take it inside again. Turn it on, POST! So the temperature drop has confirmed my temp theory. Time to test each individual component to see what is liking the cold. Utilizing the freezer, I test each component. NOTE: condensation plays a role but I decided to take the chance.

CPU in freezer for 15 mins (cold): Pop it in, no POST. Ok not CPU.

Memory in freezer for 15 mins (cold): Pop it in, no POST. Ok, not RAM.

Motherboard without CPU and RAM in freezer for 15 mins(why the hell should this work, right?): BAM, POST!

Why in the world, why oh why would the motherboard care about it's temperature? I think a ship to ASUS may be in order. Bad mobo you think? CPU seems fine, right?

NOTE: I was getting a weird error before all this started where the harddrive would start and stop over and over when booted into windows and eventually give a blue screen of death and reboot. Eventually, it didn't boot at all.

System Specs:
Asus K8N4-E Deluxe
A64 DTR
PQI 1gig 3200
HiS x800xl

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Jeremy

 

[fAlCoNNiAn]

try to make sure the chipset is seated properly.

 

[stool]

Could be an exceptionally hot north bridge. If the CPU was bad, you wouldn't get a POST, no matter what. (BTW, I find beep codes very unreliable). Whatever the reason, I'd say the mobo needs an RMA.

 

[orion456]

Sounds like a faulty mobo component, capacitor maybe, that makes better contact cold than hot. Probably slowly became intermittent and now its close to being toast. RMA 4 sure.

 

[K15]

Cold+warm=condensation. There is a poor connection somewhere and when you make it cold, then start it up in the warm room, the moisture makes a good connection. Removing the RAM is the only thing that helped, I would bet the slots on the board or the RAM itself is bad. Removing anything else doesn't do anything, seems to make sense to me.



Edit, ^^^like he said, a bad cap could be the problem too, didn't think of it.

 

[Ven0m]

It may be NB, but also, it may be some kind of microcrack on mobo. So if it's not NB cooler, I'd RMA it.

 

[ghettocomp]

the cause of that is a micro fracture in the traces on the motherboard, that "probably" is near the CPU. probably a spot where you might have hit the board with something like a screwdriver while removing or inserting the CPU fan?. The Actual crack might not be visible. I'm sure it is on one of the traces because if you jiggle some of the caps a little bit, it might post then. but the freezer thing tells me that the traces are the most likely. while the mobo is cold, you will have good contact.

Unless you want to freeze your mobo every time you want to use your computer, it may be considered toast. RMA it.

 

[J-S]

wow, you guys know your stuff. the idea of a crack makes sense, although i haven't hit it with anything, i suppose it could have happened during installation or something. if it is indeed a crack, would asus have a problem replacing it under their warranty? should i even mention that it may be an issue or should i just say hey, it doesnt work and don't mention the cold thing?

i'm glad it's not my cpu...thanks a ton guys (or gals, can't tell). you've been exceptionally helpful.

 

[5|*42]

I would just RMA, say it doesn't post (which isn't lying).

 

[Centurion]

I would probably just say that it doesn't post. Companies usually don't care to know the reason behind why their hardware fails, I would assume they just test it and trash it when they get it. Costs way less money to manufacture a new one than to pay someone to fix one.

 

[Electron Chaser]

Everything sounds like a MB problem until I read the part about the Hard Drive starting and stopping which makes me lean towards the Power Supply in the PC. Do you have another PSU you could through in there to test? What PSU are you using now.

 

[Tyreal]

I also suggest you rma the motherboard.

What psu are you using right now? i'd also like ot know.

 

[J-S]

Called Asus, mobo is being RMA'd. The PSU I'm using is the one that came with the tower (500W). I initially suspected that to be the problem but went and got a new one and tested it; no beeps. Apparently, it wasn't the PSU. Can't tell you the brand off hand of either (I'm at work).

For the record, I've had very good luck with Asus boards in the past, this is the first problem I've encountered with them. The support I've gotten from them took all of about 10 minutes on the phone which includes talking to the tech support and then the RMA representative to schedule an RMA. I'm very pleased with the support thus far. I will keep you all posted on the rest of the RMA process (getting another board, etc.)

Thank you all again for your quick responses. It's good to have a community like this around for us tinkers; yes, it's a word. . I will attempt to contribute as much as I can here, seems like a great group of people.

- Jeremy

 

[Ven0m]

Nice to hear it.
I've written abotu microcrack as I had that issue with my previous mobo - A7V333. It was moved a lot and treated pretty bad and after some time it sometimes booted, sometimes not, used to hang / restart. When it didn't want to boot, sometimes pressing some points used to help. So I got A7V880, as I'm rather satisfied with ASUS mobos.

Microcracks may usually be caused by cumulation of 2 problems:
- something went wrong during manufacturing process, but mobo has passed all tests
- stress to mobo made problem appear

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

FYI, when Windows gives you a BSOD, it will shut off the HDD, too!! That's a feature of Windows. If it's rebooting and you hear the HDD shut off then turn back on, that's Windows doing that!! That's how I can tell that there was a stop error. When Windows isn't happy about something, that's it's reaction.

 

[5|*42]

I can understand how making it cold would fix a micro crack temporarily, but what would happen when the board warms up? Wouldn't the crak open up again, and the computer would mess up?

 

[WarriorII]

FYI, when Windows gives you a BSOD, it will shut off the HDD, too!! That's a feature of Windows. If it's rebooting and you hear the HDD shut off then turn back on, that's Windows doing that!! That's how I can tell that there was a stop error. When Windows isn't happy about something, that's it's reaction.

I've noticed that too. that's how i know i went toooooo far on the O/C.

 

[J-S]

5|*42,

I completely agree. Whenever I get it cold and boot it up, it runs fine until I either reboot or turn it off. The longest I've ran it since discovering the cold issue is about 20 minutes. Perhaps it would have the same symtops again given more time...I don't know.

The fact that it will run as long as I don't reboot leads me to believe that it may be a capacitor issue. Now, I don't know exactly HOW a capacitor works, only that it holds a charge for a given period of time. Perhaps a contact initiation is needed but further contact has already been made thus negating the need for continued added conductive material (condensation)? Hope you got that because I barely did

As a microcrack gets hot, it should break the contact, thus causing the computer to reboot on it's own. That, however, doesn't appear to be the case. Granted, I haven't tested for a period longer than 20 minutes. Upon initial POST, it will boot up just fine but if you reboot it within 5 minutes, it will not POST and will need to be cooled again.

Very strange.

 

[J-S]

UPDATE:

Ok got the mobo back from Asus on the 4th of Januarary. Sent it out the 16th of december so including the holidays and such they met their 10 business day deadline.

I took the liberty of "modding" my old motherboard before I sent it so I'd know if they simply stuck a new serial on my old one and sent it back. Fortunately, they didn't do that. They sent me a new one.

It seems to work fine. It has the lastest bios and a new chipset fan (I assume because of the old ones dying on everyone).

Overall I'm pleased with the RMA process. There could have been a little more communication involved on their part but I suppose what I got was expected. They were friendly on the phone and the whole thing was pretty straight forward.

Thanks everyone who gave me suggests with this thing. Hopefully my new one doesn't crap out on me too...

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

With bad caps, the problem probably would get worse until you can't use it anymore.