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Not always posting...

S

steakman1971

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
2,433
I have a Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H, AMD Athlon2 2.4hgz. This system has been very stable since December 2009. I use it as an HTPC - mainly running Boxee.

This week, it developed some problems. I can't get it to POST reliably. Sometimes I can get into BIOS, sometimes cannot. Rare occasions, it will boot into Windows - but generally freezes pretty quickly. It is basically hosed right now.

I opened the case looking for a hidden peanut butter and jelly sandwich (kids!) - none found. It's relatively free of dust bunnies, fans are spinning, nothing visually wrong.
Next, I reset the bios using the jumper. Same results. Next, reseated the RAM (although the case hasn't been moved since December). No help.

Other relevant information:
Memory is OCZ, 2GB. It's matched to the CPU (speedwise).
No overclocking - just stock. Boxee is not a very demanding program.
2 Western Digital 500GB drives. One has Vista Professional installed.
1 Western Digital 1 TB drive.
DVD-ROM, Toshiba.
Power supply is OCZ - 700W if I recall.

I've taken all the drives out of the equation by disconnecting power and data cables. Same results. Sometimes it POSTS, sometimes not.

Any advice appreciated. I'm leaning towards a mobo failure.
 
try a different power supply


i had an OCZ PSU and it was the cause of my lockups/non posts and a bunch of other stuff that was wrong with my computer.....got myself an Antec TruePower New 750 and never looked back :p


but honestly, the PSU is probably failing, I had pretty much the same symptoms(except It took the PSU 30 minutes or more of being plugged into the wall to even give my system the power to get to BIOS)
 
Either PSU or memory would be my guesses since you can sometimes get in and sometimes not.
 
I tried a new Antec PSU today. I'm getting the same results. Actually, the computer is no longer posting. I tried the new PSU and the old one - I get power, fans spin up - but no beep/no video/no post.

I don't think the HD's are spinning up either.

I read on another forum that sometimes the integrated video fails on these boards. I don't see a jumper to disable the video - otherwise I'd try that.

I will try taking out the memory to see if I get any different results. I don't have extra ram here to test. (Guess I should have bought some parts when I was out.)

Thanks for the suggestions on what to look for.
 
as long as you put a dedicated graphics card in the IGP automatically disables its self..

best option would be to minimalize the test.. disconnect everything you dont need from it.. take the motherboard, psu 1 hdd and a graphics card (or try the igp) and run it outside the case.. just to make sure you dont have a short anywhere.. try running it with 1 stick of ram in different slots see what happens..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
as long as you put a dedicated graphics card in the IGP automatically disables its self..

best option would be to minimalize the test.. disconnect everything you dont need from it.. take the motherboard, psu 1 hdd and a graphics card (or try the igp) and run it outside the case.. just to make sure you dont have a short anywhere.. try running it with 1 stick of ram in different slots see what happens..
Click to expand...

+1

just want to add, when you try it outside of the case, don't just rely on one stick of ram....after trying a single stick if your results are the same, swap to a different stick of ram, and repeat(until you either get it to work, or you run out of ram)....

good luck
 
Thanks again for all of the suggestions. The mobo has a 3 year warranty - I'm going to see if I can send it to Gigabyte for evaluation/replacement. I already submitted an RMA request.

For the record, I've tried the following (based on suggestions):
1. Tried another set of RAM.
2. Tried no RAM - expected some beeps, nothing.
3. Reseated the processor.
4. Tried a dedicated video card.
5. All tests were done with the mobo out of the case. I also visually inspected the mobo for foreign objects, popped capacitors, etc. Looks brand new.
 
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