Motherboard won't boot...where to start..

[ianm2]

Hi Don't think I actually asked specifically about this.

I am getting my knackered dfi mobo back, so I will try it again and build a computer with it to see how it is, but...

if it has had it, and won't boot to windows, which was the problem, where do I start in trying to get it fixed? I am handy electronically.

thanks in anticipation...:)

[Sir_ReeL]

Don't boot, or don't post? Start with the simple stuff first. No overclocks, stock voltages, default cmos(bios) settings. Known good ata hd to rule out sata probs. Ram is often the problem. A lot of info at DFIstreet. Lotta B.S., too; they are the ultimate fanboys. What's knackered with it?

[ianm2]

I can't recall precisely, now I took it to my brothers, 230 miles away, for him to sell as poss. duff, but I will get it back in 2 or so weeks to install, set up, and see precisely what is going on with it.

I seem to recall it posted, but didn't boot.

Will keep informed, and perhaps try the people;) at dfi street:D

I have a feeling tho its bust totally, but may even be a bad bios chip.

I just wondered if there were tell tale signs on a mobo., like a popped cap, or something physical, that would give the game away. Alas, it looked ok from inspection, I have never had to fix one b4, so don't really know where to start.

It did run fine at first, but was running with a sata drive, there seem so many potential glitchy areas, its a real learning experience, I thought building a pc was just plug them all in, configure bios, and away you go.

If it was cheap I would just chuck away, but its a bit pricy($200), and seems a shame.

What happened is that it seemed to get rather hot around the processor socket, poss. due to me rushing a prior build, and not fitting the HSF properly. fortunately my chip survived.

[jonnyGURU]

Bad BIOS chip?

Of all of the components on a motherboard, that's keeping an optomistic attitude hoping you have a bad BIOS chip. :D

Seriously, there's a big difference between no post and no boot so you'll need to figure that out. Because if it's just a no post, then you just strip it down to just a motherboard and CPU and should still get beep codes. IF you don't even get that, but know the PSU and CPU are good, then you can try another BIOS chip since that's the only part you can really "swap out" on a motherboard. But if that doesn't work, it could make for a great dart board.

[Sir_ReeL]

Bad BIOS chip?

Isn't that pretty rare? The first thought might be: Update to latest bios? _ReeL

[jonnyGURU]

Isn't that pretty rare? The first thought might be: Update to latest bios? _ReeL

Yup. Very rare. When I had "the time" to go through all of the dead motherboards that had to go back to the vendor, and could quickly and easily switch out the BIOS chip to see if the no post situation was merely a bad BIOS, I'd have to say that only one out of a dozen boards would come back to life after switching out the BIOS chip.

What's funny though is when I would get the "slef diagnosis" customers on the phone with a dead motherboard, 9 out of 10 times they would say their board is dead because of a "bad BIOS," so it's not an unusual assumption.

My personal favorite is the "bad batch" theory... as if we're talking about stale cookies or tainted Tylenol.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

My Aopen AK79G-Max corrupted its own BIOS once after I tried to push the memory a bit too hard... was the first board I'd ever owned to do that. Made me very glad for the backup BIOS on that board :)