Atom System Problems

pennywise · 3 Nov 2008 at 01:18

Ahoy,
I recently purchased one of these fine Intel Atom motherboard/CPU combi's, but I can't for the life of me figure out what's going on. It'll power up, but won't boot, as in, every component is getting power, but nothing will display on the screen. A little info...

- I bought this along with a picoPSU and a 120W power brick, 1GB RAM, 120GB 2.5" hard drive and a slim laptop DVD writer.
- Everything is connected up fine as far as I can see, i.e. all components have power. The picoPSU didn't come with an ATX_12v power cable, so I bought one from [a potential competitor

] and hooked it up, thinking this was the problem. This also didn't work :mad:

- I thought maybe the power supply was faulty or insufficient, so I hooked everything up to my main PC with a 530W PSU (Hiper Type-R). Strangely, this worked and everything seemed to be fine, I was getting my boot screen and everything was loading up as it should. I plugged the picoPSU in again, and once again all I was getting was activity from the actual components; nothing on the screen.
- Again, thinking it was the power supply, I grabbed a 250W PSU from an old case I had in the garage... no response from this at all. I know it works since it was powering an old AMD system over the summer.
- After dismantling this again I plugged the picoPSU+power brick in again... fans, activity from the components... nothing on the screen.

I've probably overlooked something extremely basic but it's doing my head in... has anyone any advice for me? Any help at all will be very much appreciated.

cokecan · 3 Nov 2008 at 02:12

seeing as everything worked ok with your 530watt psu the issue seems to point towards the picoPSU. I know that there can be power issues when using full sized drives etc with them but as you said, your using a lappy hdd and slim lappy dvd drive.

It could be the ATX_12v cable. In one of my old shuttles it displayed pretty much the same symptoms you've described when i forgot to plug the ATX_12v cable in.

I guess something you could try is connect the picoPSU up as normal but leave the 12v connector out, then hook up the 12v connector from your 530watt psu to the board nd see if it powers on properly and boots. You will need to bridge the green wire and any of the black wires in the 20/24pin connector on your 530watt psu to get it to turn on without being plugged into anything (Do this before you plug it into the mains

lol)

gt_junkie · 3 Nov 2008 at 15:36

Looks like a PSU issue to me as that should run the system fine.

For comparison i use a 120w pico psu with a 102w power brick on a system comprising of an e7200, Intel ITX mobo, 4gb DDR2, laptop dvdrw drive and full sized 3.5" sata hdd with no problems. Idle wattage is 63w and load wattage is around 87w.

I also used a molex to 12v adapter with no issues.

gt

craptakular · 3 Nov 2008 at 15:54

it defo sounds like a faulty power supply or adapter. Out of interest what case and power supply are you guys using?

I know GT is using a flash hoojum one

im basically wanting an atom based system that can run 2 x 3.5" HDD and one ide lappy drive for the os, so I need a psu and case to suite.

A case with 2 x 3.5 and 1 x 2.5 is impossible to find.

pennywise · 3 Nov 2008 at 17:25

Oxy said:
it defo sounds like a faulty power supply or adapter. Out of interest what case and power supply are you guys using?

I know GT is using a flash hoojum one im basically wanting an atom based system that can run 2 x 3.5" HDD and one ide lappy drive for the os, so I need a psu and case to suite.

A case with 2 x 3.5 and 1 x 2.5 is impossible to find.

Heh, I'm using no case at the minute (just the mobo on an anti-static bag on a wooden desk) but I'll be building one from lego soon since I couldn't find one that suited my needs either

The power supply is a picoPSU 120W and a 120W rated power brick. I'd post links here but I'm not sure if the site that sells them would be classed as direct competitors or not :O

I'll try to RMA it anyway and hopefully they'll replace it for me; I've been sitting looking at this thing for the past 2 weeks and it's been doing my head in not being able to get it up and running

craptakular · 3 Nov 2008 at 20:17

You gonna make your own case? seriously? That would be awesome...

Erm if you could e-mail me some screenshots of the case when you build it that would be great *Cough*

deansjunk at hotmail co uk

hehe

pennywise · 3 Nov 2008 at 21:21

Indeed I am. I'm taking my inspiration from this guy...http://www.poseidonguild.com/legos/

Mine will obviously turn out horrendous looking in comparison, but it's the only way to get everything that I want fitted into a small case

Oh and I almost forgot - Thanks for the advice everyone

entireweb · 5 Nov 2008 at 13:20

Oxy said:
it defo sounds like a faulty power supply or adapter. Out of interest what case and power supply are you guys using?

I know GT is using a flash hoojum one im basically wanting an atom based system that can run 2 x 3.5" HDD and one ide lappy drive for the os, so I need a psu and case to suite.

A case with 2 x 3.5 and 1 x 2.5 is impossible to find.

Morex Venus 669

pennywise · 18 Nov 2008 at 00:59

Bump... problem is still going on, changed RAM sticks, tried yet another PSU... the board can't be dead since it still works with my main PCs PSU! Ahhh...!

gt_junkie · 18 Nov 2008 at 08:30

Hey pennywise - sorry you're still having issues.

Apologies if you have already noted this in the thread - don't have much time available to read through thoroughly so have skimmed.

First question regarding the ram is whether you are running them at their correct voltages? I only ask as quality DDR2 from the bigger manufacturers quite often needs a jump over the stock 1.8v supply. It may need anything up to 2.2v to be stable.

Unfortunately i don't have my atom with me so can't check to see if you can modify the memory voltage but i'd imagine you should be able to.

What i will say is that if you can't boot (and consequently make it into the bios) at all i'd pick up a cheapo 256mb stick that is rated to run @ 1.8v and get into the bios that way. I'd then change the DDR voltage to what you need and save and shut down. Swap out the boot ram for the larger performance stick and it should boot!

It is strange that with a normal PSU it works though - that is a puzzle!!!

Beyond that i'm completely stumped.

gt

webwibble · 18 Nov 2008 at 10:25

This might sound like a rather dumb question but you really arent putting the MB or Pico PSU on an antistatic bag are you? They are conductive.. thats how the static gets dissipated. Try sticking them both on bits of A4 paper instead... your main PC PSU can sit on top of anything as the metal case is already grounded so maybe there is something subtly different about how you tested the Full ATX PSU and Pico PSU that you didnt think of in terms of what was sitting where....?

Obviously you may well have thought of this anyway and if so then unfortunately I am as stumped as everyone else!
>Heh, I'm using no case at the minute (just the mobo on an anti-static bag on a >wooden desk) but I'll be building one from lego soon since I couldn't find one that >suited my needs either
>The power supply is a picoPSU 120W and a 120W rated power brick. I'd post links here >but I'm not sure if the site that sells them would be classed as direct competitors or >not :O

pennywise · 18 Nov 2008 at 13:12

Thanks for the responses again folks, much appreciated.

I set them flat on my wooden desk after the initial foray with an antistatic bag, but still the same thing. I tested the full ATX PSU when it was still in my case, I just pulled the cables out and hooked them up with the mobo sitting on the desk. I might dismantle the whole thing tonight and try various combinations to see if I can get some response, but I'm feeling less and less interested with the whole thing as time goes by... I tried it with YET ANOTHER 120W power supply last night that came in my InWin mini-ITX case, but still the same response :| I'll give my 530W PSU a try later on when I get home, just in case the last time when it worked I wasn't dreaming or something...

Oh, and thanks for the advice GT - I'll see if I have a spare lump of DDR2 lying around and give it a try, if I can.

gt_junkie · 18 Nov 2008 at 13:28

pennywise said:
Oh, and thanks for the advice GT - I'll see if I have a spare lump of DDR2 lying around and give it a try, if I can.

No problem fella - all the best of luck with it!

gt

Guardsmon · 18 Nov 2008 at 20:15

webwibble said:
Try sticking them both on bits of A4 paper instead..

um, paper is made out of wood. and trees are conductive - hence when lightening likes striking them... wouldn't that defeat the whole point :confused:

I'd rather some plastic or laminate.

I've got a 330 Atom arriving tomorrow and I'll be using either a 60 or 120W brick PSU so hopefully I won't be getting this problem. Will let you know if I come up with any ideas.

Col_M · 18 Nov 2008 at 21:31

I'm keeping an eye on this thread as I fancy swapping my case psu for a picopsu. I hope you get it sorted.

Guardsmon said:
um, paper is made out of wood. and trees are conductive - hence when lightening likes striking them... wouldn't that defeat the whole point .

Trees are conductive up to a point when alive as they have sap in them which contains a fair bit of water. A desk or a piece of paper would have been dried making it a very good insulator. Paper used to be used as a dielectric in capacitors due to it's insulating properties

pennywise · 18 Nov 2008 at 22:08

Update - tried it with my main PCs PSU again, both inside and outside the case, same thing happening now

I don't have any spare RAM around here since it's my Uni house and I won't be home until the weekend, so I can't try gt's idea quite yet.

I've got a pal at work who's going to run a PAT test on the motherboard to see if there are any problems on it. If there are... it's getting RMA'd, since it hasn't worked properly since the day I got it. If not... I'll RMA it anyway and hope for the best.

Guardsmon · 18 Nov 2008 at 22:30

Thank you Col M for enlightening me. I won't go trying to attach 2 wires together with a peice of A4 in the future

Sounds like you might as well RMA it tomorrow if you're going to RMA it even if it works

pennywise · 20 Nov 2008 at 15:57

Another update - my mate in work tested the board with his PAT tester and it came back saying that there was some sort of problem with the graphics chip, which would explain why it displayed on the screen once then never again.

Arranging the RMA tonight, hopefully it gets replaced pretty sharpish.

gt_junkie · 20 Nov 2008 at 16:30

pennywise said:
Arranging the RMA tonight, hopefully it gets replaced pretty sharpish.

Bad luck fella! At least you tracked down what it was.

You going for a direct replacement or refund?

gt

pennywise · 20 Nov 2008 at 18:56

gt_junkie said:
Bad luck fella! At least you tracked down what it was.

You going for a direct replacement or refund?

gt

Aye I'm glad I've found out where the problem lay, and at least I have something useful to say when I send in the RMA form other than "it's broke!"

I'll probably just go for a direct replacement tbh, I could try for a dual core since the price difference isn't all that great but I'm not really that bothered; I'm looking for something that'll run a few hard drives and download a ******** of stuff (and do it efficiently), not a number crunching monster.