uh oh... machine wont boot, no beeps

[macewank]

A8N Deluxe with an Athlon 64 3000+ .. When you turn the machine on, it displays the following.

Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG, An Energy Star Ally
Copyright (C) 1984-2006, Phoenix Technologies, LTD

ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1805

Main Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+


--

That's where it hangs. No beeps, no messages, no nothing. I've been having random lockups with Guild Wars of late, and I'm assuming that whatever was causing that has hit a brick wall and is now causing this. I've checked around and seen a few people mention the PSU could be the issue. I don't quite remember what PSU I put into this thing (and i've had it long enough that the post regarding it is gone)

UPDATE: Yeah.. this isn't even an edit, but I didn't want to erase what I've written so far as I'm sure it's very relevant to the issue. I removed all USB devices plugged into the machine except for the keyboard and mouse and it booted. While the machine is up, are there any ideas for what tests I can run to diagnose the problem?

 

[stogez]

Check your ram. If you have 2 sticks, try one at a time. Try to borrow a stick and see if that solves the problem.

 

[dfuze]

I would also suspect your ram. Run memtest86 on it and see if any erros pop up.

Just curious though, what are all your components and what brand and wattage power supply are you powering it with?

 

[macewank]

I ran memtest86, though I only ran it for 1 test.. No errors popped up. I'll attempt a longer run at it when I go to sleep tonight.

I *believe* the PSU is made by Thermaltake. I'm thinking its 500W

As for the components here's a paste from Sandra

SiSoftware Sandra

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Speed : 1.81GHz
Model Number : 3000 (estimated)
Performance Rating : PR3256 (estimated)
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Internal Data Cache : 64kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 512kB ECC Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard
Bus(es) : PCI PCIe USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : 1 Processor(s)
MP APIC : No
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1805
System : System manufacturer System name
Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8N-SLI DELUXE
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1005MHz (2010MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 201MHz (402MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : SyncMaster 997DF/927DF/997MB/927MB/927DFI/927MBI
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Series GPU

 

[imported_fixit]

Could be a problem with your motherboard. Also try reseating the RAM.

 

[macewank]

I'll try a RAM re-seat when I get home from work this afternoon. I ran MemTest86+ for 8 hours overnight and couldn't yield any errors, though when I rebooted the machine it froze after recognizing the processor again. I'm thinking the problem has to either be the PSU or the motherboard at this point.

I'm secretly hoping its the board. I hear theres some way cooler Socket 939 PCI-e boards on the market these days?

 

[dfuze]

You can try a spare power supply, but I would guess it's the motherboard. I have the exact one, A8N-SLI Deluxe. I finally got an RMA # from Asus and will be mailing it in tomorrow. I like their 3 year warranty a lot now!

I'm not too sure how good boards are when they come back from that type of thing, so I'm getting a new one and will use the repaired one as a backup. I first got the ABit AN8 32 SLI, but returned it DOA (there are a few other things I didn't like about the board too). Today I will be getting the Asus A8R32-MVP board. Hopefully it'll work on install.

 

[macewank]

how did you get the RMA#?

when i went to the ASUS site it pretty much said the warranty has to be handled by the reseller.. unless i read it wrong

 

[macewank]

ok.. replaced the motherboard (put an A8N-E in the machine.. i dont SLI) .... problem doesn't appear to have gone away.


the power supply is a SparklePower SLP550-SLI .. the CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ ...

i'm wondering if it might be the CPU that's behind all of this? my USB busses are acting up as well now

 

[chusteczka]

The motherboard has now been replaced, BUT your previous motherboard has the new BETA bios v1805 installed. It would have been prudent to return the system to the last known stable bios v1016 if problems are occurring.

The A8N-E motherboard does not currently have a beta bios. Hopefully the latest chipset drivers and the latest stable bios v1013 are installed.

It would seem the 550W SLI power supply unit would be powerful enough for your system. While it is best to test a power supply with a cheap multi-meter, it is also possible, but not as reliable, to check the voltages on an Asus A8N-E motherboard with the PC Probe II utility. Set the alarms for 5% variation. If the power randomly drops below 5%, this may display a failing power supply.

 

[macewank]

Originally posted by: chusteczka
The motherboard has now been replaced, BUT your previous motherboard has the new BETA bios v1805 installed. It would have been prudent to return the system to the last known stable bios v1016 if problems are occurring.

The A8N-E motherboard does not currently have a beta bios. Hopefully the latest chipset drivers and the latest stable bios v1013 are installed.

It would seem the 550W SLI power supply unit would be powerful enough for your system. While it is best to test a power supply with a cheap multi-meter, it is also possible, but not as reliable, to check the voltages on an Asus A8N-E motherboard with the PC Probe II utility. Set the alarms for 5% variation. If the power randomly drops below 5%, this may display a failing power supply.

ding ding... looks liek teh culprit was teh PSU all along (i should've done these tests earlier) ... after a week of running PC Probe II to diagnose etc... my vcore voltage has been jumping around a good bit.. seems like every morning when I wake up theres 7 or 8 warnings popped up about it.

now i just hope thats teh only issue