Reviving socket 939 board - immediately powers on, no POST

I seem to remember retiring my single-core Athlon 64 system because somewhere around '09-'10 I found a nice deal in a Fry's ad for a 7750 plus mobo combo. I was under the impression that the old components still worked, but apparently that's not the case.

Before I powered on the board(MSI K8N-SLI-F), I did notice a couple of bulging caps on the board. I took them out, tested them, and their capacitance was essentially nil, like one was 29pF out of the original 470uf. I ordered replacements, installed them, and then hooked everything up. Without touching the motherboard, as soon as I flip the switch on the PSU, the CPU and GPU fans start up. No video. I need to find an old speaker to see if there's beeping.

Possibilities?

I'm thinking maybe more bad caps? I may pull a few off at random and check. Also, there are a couple that are at a slight angle, even if they're not bulging.

Another potential problem is the video card I dug out to test with is a Radeon 6850 with a PCI-E 2.1 slot. The motherboard's manual states that it's PCI-E version is 1.0a. If this is the issue, would that cause the current symptom?

I realize the system is practically worthless, but I had some good times with it.

Well if they're at an angle, they may have bulged from the bottom. That happens, too.

Also, if there were more caps like the ones you replaced (same model), they're probably dead too. Just not necesarilly bulging.

Sometimes when I put weight on stacked mobos I need to flex them very slightly after a longer period of inactivity.

Without a VGA, I think the board should beep three times.

Yeah I figured I may just have to replace every single cap to be sure. Not a huge expense, just a bit of time.

michalrz said:

Sometimes when I put weight on stacked mobos I need to flex them very slightly after a longer period of inactivity.

Click to expand...

Can you expound on this? While this mobo was boxed, I'm curious.

Without a VGA, I think the board should beep three times.

Click to expand...

I'll pull the card and see if that's what happens.

No issue if it was boxed. I have a bad habit of stacking older, worthless boards on top of one another. I think they flex a bit, so a few times I got them to work by just flexing them the opposite way -_-

Also, have you replaced the CMOS battery and cleared the jumper?