Problem with Shuttle K45 build... might be CPU

A

achensherd

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
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I'm building a Shuttle K45 system at the moment, and after piecing everything together, the system turns on but fails to POST, the monitor doesn't seem to be receiving any signals, and the hard drive does not spin up (the monitor and hard drive are known to be good). I've tried several different configurations to try to trim down the list of possible causes, including testing only the CPU and several different sticks of RAM (also known to be good) on a different motherboard. Unfortunately, the result is the same: system turns on, but nothing else happens. The only common denominators then, I think, would be the CPU and the PSU. I tend to think it's the CPU, but I wanted to see what others might think before I go back to Fry's tomorrow to exchange.

Any thoughts?

Specs:

Shuttle K45 (w/100-something-W PSU)
Intel Celeron 430
Team Elite 2GB DDR2 800
Airlink101 WiFi adapter
 
IIRC, those are notorious for having issues, and its probably not the CPU. I think my coworker went through 4 of them until he got a stable one. Shuttle even wanted him to send them his CPU/RAM so THEY could test it -- screw that! He filed a report with the BBB and they finally sent him a new xpc (same model), which worked fine out of the box, if I'm not mistaken.

Some things we tried before the new one came...
- make sure nothing is grounding out the system (metal ribbon connector for front panel stuff)
- clear CMOS by removing the battery
- use paperclips (modified with needle nose pliers) or if you have a chip extraction tool, remove the BIOS chip for 10 minutes
- tried another PSU (ATX)
- remove any drives and add-on cards while troubleshooting (CPU/Mobo/PSU/RAM only).

All of those worked... for a little while. Either by the time he got home from work or soon thereafter (few days later), he started having problems again. By the end of all that troubleshooting, the window for returning for full refund from Fry's was over, and he was stuck with it. It was his fourth one from Fry's (all previous were exchanged).

Shuttles are finicky, and returning it to Fry's for a replacement will probably yield yet another finicky one, unfortunately.
 
Drats, I was hoping I could rule out the Shuttle. I've tried resetting the CMOS, including removing the battery, but that didn't work. I'm thinking it's the CPU, because when it was installed on the cheapo ECS motherboard that it came bundled with, it yielded the same result: turns on, but doesn't POST. Other than the RAM (all four sticks of which I know are good) and PSU (which could be suspect, but it does power on without fail), it's the only part that I think could be the culprit... unless I managed to run into a bad Shuttle and a bad ECS. *Sigh*... it's going to be a long day at returns/exchanges :(.
 
Well in that case, it could very well be the CPU, lol. I either missed that bit of info in your first post or it wasnt there (didnt know you tried the cpu in an ecs board), but getting two bad parts from Fry's isn't a far stretch either, lol. :p
 
Problem solved: it was the RAM. For some reason, neither the Shuttle K45 or the ECS board liked my Team Elite RAM :(. After returning the K45 and exchanging the previous Celeron for another one, I put everything together again using the ECS board, and encountered the same problem: no POST. Since I was trying this out next to another computer, I switched out the RAM in that one and installed it into the computer I'm working on, and voila, it boots up and POSTs. I then put the Team Elites in the other computer, and it boots up successfully, too. I guess the more recent motherboards don't like my Team Elites? :confused:
 
No, they're not high-end Teamgroup RAM. I wouldn't expect anything other than basic RAM to work on the Shuttle or ECS boards :p. They're basic DDR2 800 1.8v 5-5-5-15 DIMMs. The fact that they work on an older ECS AM2 board does confuse me, though.
 
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