Help! Still can't get ASUS A8N-SLI to POST

[FastEddie]

You need to put the hs/fan on. It won't boot without a cpu fan plugged into the fan port.

 

[monkeydust]

Yeah, its actually plugged in to the CPU fan connector and seated on the CPU ATM (just not shown in that pic).

 

[FastEddie]

This shouldn't be this hard to set up. What are the odds of you having two bad boards?
The only item left concerns how you mounted the zalmans plate on the bottom of the board. You did use the supplied gaskets, as that's the only item remaining that could be causeing a short.

 

[FastEddie]

And for a single stick of memory, Asus wants it in B1, not A1 like you have it in the pic. But I would be checking the zalman's mounting plate.

 

[hwan]

Are those CD audio and 4-pin power (EZ plug) cables plugged in? Have you tried taking them out?

 

[monkeydust]

Heh, that's funny. I had just removed the Zalman plate and tried booting with that off right before I read your message. It made no difference.

Yeah, I have tried with the audio plugs out and the EZ plug not plugged in (just tried again).

 

[hwan]

Hm...any keyboard or mouse plugged in?

 

[FastEddie]

Originally posted by: monkeydust
Heh, that's funny. I had just removed the Zalman plate and tried booting with that off right before I read your message. It made no difference.

Yeah, I have tried with the audio plugs out and the EZ plug not plugged in (just tried again).

These processors have a thermal overload protection. Trying to boot without a hs/fan will only make it a millisecond or two before the cpu shuts down. You need to have your cooling solution installed at all times when you are trying to boot, so you don't toast the processor.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: monkeydust
Yes, this is how I'm currently configured.

http://home.indy.rr.com/monkeydust/images/comp.jpg

I zoomed in on this picture and I see something you can check.

On the 20pin system panel connector.

I,m looking at my manual, the the pwr and ground for the power switch are pins 5 & 4 counting from the edge of the board, and the connector you have plugged in appears to be covering 3,4&5 with the wires in 3 & 5. In remembering my build my pwr and gnd were seperate single pin connectors.

It may just be I can't see it properly, but thought it was worth mentioning.

An incompatible case plug is possible


And you also mentioned you tried another power supply? What were the 12v specs on that PS?

 

[monkeydust]

The system panel connectors appear to be correctly connected. They match what the manual and the actual motherboard color scheme shows.

Yeah, I know that you have to have the fan plugged in for it to boot. But, you are supposed to get a warning message saying that it isn't plugged in also which I don't get.

I packed everything up and am taking it to CompUSA today. I just don't have the equipment to properly diagnosis the issue. Thanks for all your help. I think I have tried everything I could to get it running.

 

[FastEddie]

Where are you located?

 

[monkeydust]

Indianapolis.

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should take it in to a shop to have them figure it out or just order a DFI SLI board.

I'm wondering if I even can get it to work, if I am going to have problems with my Maxtor drives on this mobo.

 

[FastEddie]

I'm close to Detroit, so that's not an option.

 

[monkeydust]

I just dropped it off at a local PC shop that is gonna rape me on labor. I'll let you know what they find (I'll be shocked if it isn't the mobo).

 

[figfiddle]

Originally posted by: monkeydust
I just dropped it off at a local PC shop that is gonna rape me on labor. I'll let you know what they find (I'll be shocked if it isn't the mobo).

What bios revision are u running as I had this same problem 2 or 3 times for diffrenet issues and can probably figure this out.

 

[monkeydust]

I'm running whatever came on the mobo. I have never once gotten into the BIOS or gotten any sort of video signal.

 

[figfiddle]

Ok do you have any pci devices besides the gpus plugged in?

 

[monkeydust]

No

 

[rockstar]

I had similar problems and read all ~60 pages of the sticky thread, lol. Black screen, no post. Finally, I just put one of my sticks of Ballistix PC4000 into slot B1 and it started up. I tried two different sticks and it worked in dual channel (B1 & A1). Turns out one of my sticks of RAM was bad. I'm surprised it didn't give me any beeps or voice signals. This board will not post with one stick unless it is put into B1 (like the manual says). I did notice in your first picture that the SLI connector seemed to be upside down as far as the picture in the manual goes. My reply is probably too late, but I hope you figure out the problem!

 

[monkeydust]

Thanks. I thought it was going the right direction as pictured in the manual. Anyway, I couldn't get it working with one card either. I tried one stick of ram rotated through each of the slots without any luck (different sticks of RAM with the same process that I know works).

 

[JJLEWIN]

how many memory sticks are you using 1 or 2 ??
which slots are they in a1 and b1 or a1 a2 or a2 and b1 ect....

I had this problem and it was silly error i had put the memory in the wrong slots

 

[monkeydust]

I have tried all ram configurations with 2 different brands of ram that I know work (2 dimms in dual-channel or 1 dimm tried in each of the slots).

 

[mlc]

this is a tough one....

1) Possible weak/dead battery... (though you already RMA's.. so that's doubtful)
2) Shorted case... you eliminated that
3) Make sure video card in seated.... u did that mulitiple times..
4) when trying the single card.. is the card selector in the "single" position ?
5) assume you tried clearing the CMOS
6) how about the power switch itself ? Maybe it's shorting out or something ?// Can you try bypassing it somehow... Also doublecheck all of the pins on the board with respect to the switch.. and only leave those in for the power switch..
7) 1 stick memory in B1... u did this already
8) CPU fried... but this is your 2nd one.. so that's unlikely
9) PSU too weak/defective... 2nd one.. so that's unlikely...

Seems like the case/switch is just about the only thing you haven't tried via a second source... So maybe its related to that.. or the pins from the switch going into the board???
Since you are really desperate.. let's get silly.. did you try an alternate outlet ?

 

[JJLEWIN]

i didn't see if you had replaced both the motherboard and cpu at the same time , I guess if one is shorted it could kill the other or fault psu could have kill one and .........
Just and idea ive seen stranger things happen

 

[monkeydust]

Well, I just got my system back from the local computer shop. They couldn't figure the damn thing out either!

They didn't have an A64 system to test my CPU in. But, they tested both videocards (which worked fine in one of their systems). They tried a few other things that I had also tried as well and never got any video signal or beeps out of the motherboard.

They said it pretty much has to be the motherboard. So, now do I try a third ASUS motherboard replacement or try to get a DFI? I'm leaning towards the DFI.