Motherboard mounting issue - bad earth?

slipd · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:35

Hey guys,

Just swapped a new motherboard which I know is 100% into an old case for a mate - the case is awful, really cheap and nasty! Anyway, it has 3x of its own risers built into the case that forms part of the chassis, and only requires 3 additional brass ones. That's fine but I can't get the bloody thing to boot! It powers up but there's not post/vga output etc. Could there be a bad earth or something? Should I be using those red little washes at the back of the board where it comes into contact with the onboard riser?

Help

stulid · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:40

Build it outside of the case on a box or something and then see if it works, you can start the board up by shorting the two pins with a screw driver to replicate the power button.

I take it the GFX is on-board the motherboard/CPU?

Space Monkey · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:41

Will it still boot with the same setup but out of the case, that'll tell you if the case is the problem?

slipd · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:51

Just looking at the cpu compatibility list for the board - its possible that the chip I've put in from the old board isn't compatible, even though its the same socket... would and incompatible cpu give this kind of result?

Stinger53 · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:53

if its the same socket it should be compatible. wat cpu n motherboard have you got?

edit: sorry didnt read the post properly. ifs its not listed in motherboard manual i dont think it will work

slipd · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:55

Stinger53 said:
if its the same socket i should be compatible. wat cpu n motherboard have you got?

Its an am2 board and an athlon 64 x2 4200 chip.

stulid · 21 Feb 2012 at 22:56

Well if its not on the list then its not coming in

slipd · 22 Feb 2012 at 12:53

An update: I've got the new board to post etc. so I know there isn't an earthing issue

Thing is now, I'm getting media read errors when trying to install windows - various discs, all known to be fine

Its leading me to believe that the optical drive may be a fault?!

I've been having issues for a few weeks and I finally decided that it was the motherboard that was at fault (see here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18367728&highlight=username_sam.wheale) but could it be possible that the optical drive is responsible for these problems?

stulid · 22 Feb 2012 at 12:57

Try a different SATA/IDE cable first.

slipd · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:24

Different drive, different cable I reckon! The machine has been 'completing installation' (windows 7 disc) for the last 30 minutes... admittedly, its an ide drive on the same cable as the hard drive its writing too, but still. It shouldn't be taking that long should it? Its also making a bit of a scratching noise reading the disc

On the plus side, I've not had an error messages yet?

stulid · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:29

Having the DVD drive on the same ribbon cable as the HDD will slow down the HDD transfer rate if I remember correctly, taking it from UltraDMA mode3/4 or something to something called PIO mode which is all the optical drive can mange.

Any new replacement DVD drive is going to be 2nd hand also.

slipd · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:32

Yeah, I always knew it would be a bit slow but I think nearly an hour is taking the p**s a bit

I've got a newish drive (perfect working order) ready to try once this current effort has failed - still claims to be going atm...