HELP - LOTS OF INFO ON MY PROB THX EXPERTS

[TillerMaN]

Hi,

I have a AMD Athlon 1333 Ghz Processor, my motherboard isa Socket A, M817 Apmtron, the link to it is as follows :-

http://www.amptron.com/html/m817lm.html

The problem is, that during playing a game or something I think, the screen froze, upon reboot, it would not start up, although I could hear the fans running fine. I thought hrm, as I'm clueless on hardware maybe processor fried or mobo fried. I have no idea how to test, but nothing untoward seemed to have happened like that, at least no clues to that.

So I thought Power Supply but as fans were running it couldn't be that, I then had to get my old comp working to get on internet etc and left it for a while, I also put power supply into old comp and it worked fine. Anyway, I was talking to the person I got comp from and he said his power supplies had caused some probs because they are not AMD approved, so I went look at list and he is right that particular model was not AMD approved but it had worked for 2-3 months so WTF? Can it suddenly stop working? He says I need to get a AMD approved PS and this will fix it.

If this is so how come the Fans work , the LED's on front of case DO NOT come on, could it be MOBO not working or Processor DIED? Could it really be Power Supply, I have tried 3 power supplies NONE are AMD approved, you would think one would work and the one that originally ran it, you would think it would work sometimes even?

Anyway anyone had same experience in this maybe or tell me how to know to figure out problem of what is broken thx??

Iain

 

[OTR]

It probably is the power supply. Just to rule out the motherboard, plug the power from a good PS and test it. No need to remove the mobo, just bring the cases close together. Let it run and see what happens. Problem with PS's going bad is that they are often sporadic/random problems. Sometimes they work fine and other times they don't. When you say the fan works, are you sure it's not the power supply fan?

I've been down this path. Tested the PS on other systems and worked fine. Replaced the motherboard and had it running all night, got ready to deliver it the next day and the thing wouldn't start. Returned motherboard and bought a new PS, no problems since. I ended up having to return the motherboard.

 

[TillerMaN]

Hi,

Thanks for help , let me clarify even more :-

The fan on top of the processor which I connect to the PS runs fine with any power supply, my other case fan which has a connection the the MOBO also works fine, the PS fan obviously works fine. The LEDS on front of case do NOT come on at all and also obviously the comp does not start go to bios etc.

You say to test MOBO just to plug in from other PS but I have done that with 3 diff power supplies, none of them AMDapproved by the way and same results with all as above! My friend says I must get AMD approved one!

Iain

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

it doesnt have to be amd approved. that's just a personal thing alot of folks run non-amd approved power supplies, im running one right now, never had a problem.

anyways, could be a dead cpu. have any extraS?

 

[TillerMaN]

No,

Thats the prob I dunno what to buy, MOBO, Processor or Power Supply. Pity there isnt some obvious way to test whats not workin then I can replace easily.

Iain

 

[nightowl]

You may want to try to reset the BIOS on your motherboard. It is a long shot but it just may reset something that is causing your computer to not boot. Also, if that does not work try removing all of your PCI cards except for your video card and try to boot.

 

[Duvie]

< So I thought Power Supply but as fans were running it couldn't be that, I then had to get my old comp working to get on internet etc and left it for a while, I also put power supply into old comp and it worked fine >

This doesn't mean crap...POwer supplies can initially perform then began to drop their voltage rails as they cannot not deliver what the board needs. That is why it is perferrable to go with amd approved to try to avoid these tough to diagnos issues...

< it doesnt have to be amd approved. that's just a personal thing alot of folks run non-amd approved power supplies, im running one right now, never had a problem >

Why he is right many can get non-amd approved to work it is playing a carp shoot on having stability. You see it isn't quantity such as wattage that counts as much as good quality. Amd is often testing this. He is full of crap that it is just a personal thing. If he actually hangs out here in the technical portion of the forums and not just at off-topic, for sale and trade or hot deals he will know that many ppl have had issues corrected cause they didn't use recommended and approved power supplies. I expect more out of a platinum user. However he may just spend his time in the other less technical forums...


< Pity there isnt some obvious way to test whats not workin then I can replace easily.
>

there is...Do you have the pc speaker hooked up??? Does it give any beep codes at startup??? This often can help diagnos a cpu failure, vid card problem, and ram problems. Make sure all are seated properly and pushed all the way in for good contact. If you get no beeps IMO it will be attributed to a bad or dead mobo...

edit: One reason many power supplies may work regardless of amd approved listing is:
It may just have never been tested...Too many brands out there to test...

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

<< If he actually hangs out here in the technical portion of the forums and not just at off-topic, for sale and trade or hot deals he will know that many ppl have had issues corrected cause they didn't use recommended and approved power supplies >>

so i guess it's not safe to run enermax power supplies then no? because nothing above the 350w is AMD approved. but looking at the rigs here, i count tons of users with 431w and 550w powering their rigs. dont seem to have any problems there. but what do i see? a lot of people (especially at overclockers.com) having problems with the approved 350w enermax (low 5v rails).

just because it's not on their recommended list doesnt mean it will give problems. plenty of people use non-approved supplies and they work fine. it's all dependant on the quality. it's personal to the effect that if you want the added security, you could go with an approved. id much rather run the 431w non-approved enermax on my system (not this 800mhz) than be running the 300w or 350w approved.

the enermaxs were just examples.

 

[Duvie]

True...often I think amd doesn't test lower wattage solutions for unknown reasons as well as all other brands...However do not go around and suggest that the amd approved power supply issue is a waste and doesn't matter cause it sures does...

Size doesn't matter as much as quality and that is true by amd cpus which are picky when it comes to clean power...Quantity is more of a concern for systems that have heavy use of peripherals such as multiple harddrives and cd devices, several case fans, multiple non powered usb devices, etc.

 

[HereThereandEverywhere]

I was under the impression..vaguely...that Enermax uses Deer...and that Deer + AMD = BAD...that is what I HEARD though...