Boot issue - nothing on screen

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 15:20

I have been given some new hardware to rebuild a dead PC belonging to a friend.

They have given me a Foxconn P4M8907MA motherboard with CPU/HSF already fitted as i understand this is 2nd hand. i don't know what the CPU is as i have not removed it.

They have also given me a new 512mb stick of DDR2 PC2-4300.

So i put the memory and try and boot to the bios.
Keyboard, mouse, monitor connected via KVM,
KVM beeps to acknowledge the system is connected,
Board is sitting on the box it came in, screwdriver used to short the pwr switch pins as i have done 1000's of times on other systems,
PSU and CPU fan start up but nothing else,
No beeps, the monitor LED just sits flashing and no display.

OK i think, it is a PCI-E board but we are trying to use the on-board VGA - its 2nd hand so may be this is disabled in the bios,

Clear the CMOS - tried both the jumper and removing the battery for 5 mins ,
Both resulted in the same outcome,

No PCIE graphics cards sat around so i stick in an old PCI card and get the same result from this,

The PSU is 20pin with the extra 4 pins as a plug that will slot on to the 20pin to make it 24 which is what the board wants, but manual says it can use 20pin so tried both options there as well.
And yes i have the other 4 pin plug connected as well.

Tried another PSU i have here with the same result.

Tried both those PSU's on another system and they both work.

I am out of ideas here, really do not want to go back to him saying it will not work, i can not believe it is dead as no one could have as much bad luck in buying 2nd hand kit as he has if it is indeed another dead board/CPU.

Anyone have any suggestions here?

thanks
Keith

peter212693 · 24 Dec 2007 at 15:23

Try booting it with the RAM out to see if you get some beeps if you do your RAM might be faulty.

This is what happens to mine when I overclock my RAM too much

It knows there is RAM there so its not beeping so it could be faulty.

Thats what I would do first anyway

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 15:31

RAM removed, and an extra speaker fitted incase the onboard one is dead,
Same result - no screen output, no beeps.
thanks for the suggestion Peter

peter212693 · 24 Dec 2007 at 15:33

Any chance you have got another stick of RAM you could try in it?

If you have got a hard drive or a CD drive in unplug them. Keep it booting with the minimum hardware connected as possible.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 15:46

No drives connected at all, just board/CPU/memory and PCI graphics when not trying with the onboard,

The stick in there is the only DDR2 i have in the house

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 17:11

From the number of views going up, and no more replys, can i assume that this board is probably not going to work or has everyone just had a few to many Christmas drinks to really care

ns400r · 24 Dec 2007 at 17:39

If you turn the system on with no memory and/or video card and you have a known working speaker then it will beep at you. If it fails to beep then you'll be looking at a fault with the fitting of the CPU into the motherboard at best and either a faulty motherboard and/or CPU at worst. Just for testing, remove the CPU and give it a quick inspection. Clear the CMOS using the jumper on the motherboard and then refit the CPU. Try things again with no memory to start with.

peter212693 · 24 Dec 2007 at 17:40

sorry, I have been out

I really do think that it could be the memory so try to borrow some to give it a go

Delvis · 24 Dec 2007 at 17:40

If your getting no beeps with no RAM installed...It could be a cpu issue.

As the board will not post if the cpu is faulty / not seated properly/ just being a ****.

Try taking the cpu out of it's socket, and as the board is second hand I would advise checking the pins on the motherboard also to see if any of them are even SLIGHTELY out of place...if they are try and push them back with a scalpel lightly or anything like that.

Put the cpu back in (obviously in line with the notches) and see what happens then.

As it's a foxconn, make sure that the bios jumper or something along those lines isn't moved...We had some foxconn boards in at work that would literally kill themselves if the bios was flashed when the jumper wasn't moved.

Try the above, and post back

**EDIT**

Beaten to it.

Do as ns400r said, and post back to us.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 17:54

removed everything other than the CPU, so no memory no graphics no keyboard/mouse connected etc etc.

Hit the pwr pins fans spin up - no beeps - both with onboard speaker and another speaker i connected to the header,

removed the CPU and hit the pwr pins - PSU fan spins - still no beeps

Im sure this thing is never going to beep at me, surely with nothing in the board at all it should be beeping ????

Going to give the board another good look over before refitting any thing.

ns400r · 24 Dec 2007 at 18:06

Dr Zoidberg said:
removed everything other than the CPU, so no memory no graphics no keyboard/mouse connected etc etc.

Hit the pwr pins fans spin up - no beeps - both with onboard speaker and another speaker i connected to the header,

removed the CPU and hit the pwr pins - PSU fan spins - still no beeps

Im sure this thing is never going to beep at me, surely with nothing in the board at all it should be beeping ????

Going to give the board another good look over before refitting any thing.

The system won't beep with no CPU. Read my first post and I mention removing the CPU and resetting the CMOS then replace the CPU before testing again with no memory.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 18:07

ok had a good look over the board and everything seems to be ok, Pins in CPU socket look straight as well as i can tell by eye, rest of the board looks clean except one set of jumper pins which is a jumper for some sort of protection on the bios to protect it from virus, it cant be flashed while this jumper is closed, all 3 pins for it are bent over slightly,
And as the hole in my thumb can confirm they are very sharp on the end as well, there is no need for them to be that sharp, it just sank into my thumb with no pressure at all.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 18:22

ns400r said:
The system won't beep with no CPU.

Was not aware of that.

ns400r said:
Read my first post and I mention removing the CPU and resetting the CMOS then replace the CPU before testing again with no memory.

CMOS reset with CPU out, CPU had fresh amount of artic silver applied then put back in along with HSF (im not keen on those push pin HSF)

boot again and same result - no beeps from either speaker, tried with monitor connected to on board VGA - again no display,

When the monitor is disconnected it displays the check signal cable message on screen, as soon as it is plugged into the VGA port this goes so it knows it is plugged in - don't expect this means anything other than a circuit is completed but there you go.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 18:28

With the board / PSU etc still sat on a box i grabbed the case and took the pwr switch and pwr led cables from the case and connected them to the board headers,
Trying to use the switch on the front of the case it will not boot at all - no fans - no anything,
yet quickly shorting the pins on the board with a screwdriver fires it up,
what's the difference in using the switch or a screwdriver?

ns400r · 24 Dec 2007 at 18:45

Dr Zoidberg said:
With the board / PSU etc still sat on a box i grabbed the case and took the pwr switch and pwr led cables from the case and connected them to the board headers,
Trying to use the switch on the front of the case it will not boot at all - no fans - no anything,
yet quickly shorting the pins on the board with a screwdriver fires it up,
what's the difference in using the switch or a screwdriver?

Switch is either connected incorrectly or broken.

Sounds as if you have a faulty motherboard or CPU I'm afraid.

Delvis · 24 Dec 2007 at 19:06

Yep, I'd say faulty motherboard or cpu...

Could you try a cpu from another system at all? It would be good just to rule out which of the two are faulty.

Dr Zoidberg · 24 Dec 2007 at 19:07

ns400r said:
Switch is either connected incorrectly or broken.

Sounds as if you have a faulty motherboard or CPU I'm afraid.

That is what i was fearing,

This is the story so far,

Original PC - PSU goes POP takes out the board,
Replacment board bought 2nd hand (i would never pay what they fetch) - Guess what same problem.
3rd Board - will not display anything
4th board (this one) along with a differant CPU and memory - and just for a change its not working.

im so not going to pass that news on untill after boxing day.
I cant believe one person can have so much bad luck buying 2nd hand hardware.
upto now everything i buy 2nd hand has worked and that has been a large number of items but this guy seems to have all the bad luck.