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Debugging a New PC Build
It’s been years since I built a PC and there’s plenty that’s changed, so since my lab needed a new PC, I decided to buy some components and out one together. I did it at home so my kids could help. Unfortunately, it hasn’t had such a happy ending—I can’t get it to boot. Through a series of experiments, I’ve decided it’s either the motherboard or the CPU, but I can’t decide which.
I’m using a ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard and a AMD Athlon 4200 CPU. I don’t have anything in the motherboard right now except the CPU, the RAM, and a cheap video card. On occasion I can get the thing to come up to the point where it displays the splash screen with an invitation to push TAB to see the POST results or DEL to enter SETUP. I’ve even gotten it past that to the POST results (nothing interesting) once.
My theory going into today was that the CPU was overheating and shutting down, so I reseated the heatsink on it several times (cleaning it thoroughly and applying thermal compound). That hasn’t seemed to do anything. The CPU heatsink never gets hot—so it’s shutting down before much heat gets transfered to the sink
At this point, I believe either the CPU or the motherboard is bad, but without a spare one of one or the other, that’s hard to do. Does anyone have any ideas besides RMAing them both?
Posted by windley on August 25, 2007 11:19 PM
Comment from Bryant at August 26, 2007 12:09 AM
Result of a quick google:
http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48305
I've got an Asus motherboard myself, and I get awfully nice performance out of it (especially since it's going on 3 years old) but it took some tweaking. Good luck!
Comment from Scott Barlow at August 26, 2007 2:40 AM
Phil -
Does the MB make any sounds when booting?
What power supply are you using, and that watts?
Have you tried different RAM?
Instead of RMA, could you return to the store which you purchased from?
Scott
Comment from Scott Barlow at August 26, 2007 2:51 AM
You might try clearing the CMOS after taking everything out except the CPU & RAM (including cables) by using the jumper setting in the manual
Comment from Scott Barlow at August 26, 2007 3:07 AM
Sorry - last post:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070711040113234&board_id=1&model=M2N32-SLI+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070630140609171&board_id=1&model=M2N32-SLI+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
Sounds like this board is notorious for this behavior!
Regards,
Scott
Comment from Jeb at August 26, 2007 9:50 AM
Have you checked something as simple as when you mounted the motherboard that it isn't grounding out to the mounting posts or case somewhere? Make sure it's grounded where it's supposed to be and insulated everywhere else.
Then put only one memory module in and see if it will boot. If not, swap to another, etc.
Comment from koreyel at August 26, 2007 3:38 PM
Like a ghost in the machine... tainted RAM can manifest itself in different ways with each reboot.
You might try swapping out that out...
Comment from Gabe C. at August 26, 2007 8:45 PM
The heatsink wouldn't necessarily show heat if you were overheating - a poor contact and the processor would overheat quickly and without transferring heat.
Also, what does it do when it fails - does it lock up, does it restart? Does the screen show anything, go black, or go white?
Finally, I second that you should try another power supply if you can. They can cause a wide host of issues.
Comment from Jeff Barr at August 27, 2007 1:32 PM
Are you sure that you have your RAM in the right slot or slots?
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