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Motherboard won't power up

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by abadillo

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I just bought a new bundle of a Shuttle AK32A motherboard and an AMD K-7 1.1GHz cpu. The problem is that the motherboard won't start. The CPU fan works but I don't get no video display and no beep codes. I switched memory, but still won't work. It can use DDR or SDR memory but I don't think it has to go in pairs, right? I appreciate your help!

11 replies

by acattr

You want to have as little number of variables as possible.

remove any extra pci cards, disconnect all drives, change video card or monitor. if video card is built in, look in manual for instructions on disabling so you can use a pci or agp one.

by thechas

I recommend that you start by resetting the CMOS memory.

There is likely a setting or 2 that is memory type dependant.

Next, some socket A motherboards work best when you manually set the CPU speed in BIOS settings.

I have had several AGP card and case mismatches. The card sets far enough into the slot to prevent the BIOS beeps for no video, but not far enough for the video to function.
What I do to check this, is I remove the bracket from the video card, and carefully seat the card into the AGP socket.
If this allows you to boot, the next step is to either install longer motherboard mounting spacers, or modify the video card bracket to allow the card to seat a deep enough.

Chas

by rboggio1

I just had a problem like this about 6 weeks ago. Same symtoms you describe. The CPU was actually dead. When I had it replaced the second CPU was dead also. My supplier said they have had an unusally high return on AMD processors over the past couple of weeks. Just a thought.

by abadillo

Oh gosh! how can I do this! I think every one were correct on the answers to this one. Everybody helped a little but I have to award it to somebody so I will give it to rboggio 'cause he he had the right guess. Turn out to be a bad CPU. But I had tofollow the process of elimination provided by wcpaik, thanks buddy! I took it back to the supplier and they tested the mobo and the cpu, at the beginning the tech thought I had fried the cpu 'cause I had use the wrong kind of cpu fan, but when he took it out it looked OK. They exchanged it w/o problem, I guess they are aware of the late high perecentage of returns on AMDs. I still like and trust AMD, I have never had a problem with upgrades with AMDs. Thanks to everyone! and thanks rboggio!

by wcp

There are a number of possibilities why your computer does not show any display.
Follow the steps below and stop when your problem gets resolved.

This could be a mismatch between your CPU and the Motherboard (MB) Front Side Bus Speed (FSB).
For example, if you set the FSB as 133MHz and your CPU runs at 100MHz, there would be no display. You have to change the FSB to 100MHz.

Your MB may have gotten shorted because you may have installed additional studs. A stud is a metal part that spaces between the MB and the case. See if you have any additional stud under the MB that could not be screwed because there is no hole to screw. This will short the MB. Remove any such stud.

Boot your computer with the minimum requirement.
This means you only need Power supply (PS), MB, CPU, CPU fan, RAM, Video card, and Keyboard (KB).
Disable Floppy Search from BIOS.
If you get the display, one or more of hardware (HW) you disconnected are causing the problem. Connect one at a time to find the culprit.
If you still have no display, one or more of the above HW (except CPU fan, KB and RAM because you already tried with different RAM) are causing the problem.
You have to have known good replacement (at least PS, CPU, and Video card) to find the bad one.

1). Start with PS. Replace it with a known good PS. If this does not resolve your problem, go to next step but keep the replacement.
2). Replace the video card. If the MB has a built in video, disable it in BIOS if you can so you can use the replacement. If this does not resolve your problem, go to next step but keep the replacement.
3). Replace the CPU. If this does not resolve your problem, you conclude the culprit is the MB by a process of elimination.

If you do nothave the replacements, take your computer to a dependable technician for troubleshooting.

by zimfjsl

I've had this problem before and it turned out that I didn't have the processor seated correctly. If this is not the problem, you should try and swap out the processor with a known good one. I don't think you have a memory problem because you would be getting beeps.

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