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General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Raptor on December 25, 2011, 11:59:10 PM

Title: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on December 25, 2011, 11:59:10 PM
Killed my last motherboard, ordered a replacement,

Asus PCI-E SLI

Took out the old one and put in the new one, however I am still not able to get it to turn on. When I try turning it on, I get 1 long beep, 3 short, pause then 1 short beep.
Nothing shows up on my monitor.

Looking online I decipher there is a RAM issue, I switch slots, take out, try each one but no success. My RAM has been working before I killed my motherboard, don't want to go buy new RAM if it is not necessary.

Any other thoughts? or explanation of why my newly bought RAM is not working.

Hopefully my last thread about this.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: 68valu on December 26, 2011, 01:11:52 AM
are you sure the motherboard supports the ram version you are installing?

does the new motherboard support the CPU?

just maybe a possibility

                                                                                                                          68valu
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on December 26, 2011, 01:24:21 AM
I ordered the exact same motherboard, so everything is compatible.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on December 26, 2011, 03:04:40 AM
Killed my last motherboard, ordered a replacement,

Asus PCI-E SLI

Took out the old one and put in the new one, however I am still not able to get it to turn on. When I try turning it on, I get 1 long beep, 3 short, pause then 1 short beep.
Nothing shows up on my monitor.

Looking online I decipher there is a RAM issue, I switch slots, take out, try each one but no success. My RAM has been working before I killed my motherboard, don't want to go buy new RAM if it is not necessary.

Any other thoughts? or explanation of why my newly bought RAM is not working.

Hopefully my last thread about this.

And then it turns out you killed your ram and your old motherboard was just fine. Thought of that? From what I figured from your text your ram was not 'newly bought' it has been in use in your old motherboard. So it may have been that the motherboard killed your ram when it died - or the problems with the computer were always ram related and the motherboard was fine.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Bizman on December 26, 2011, 03:25:50 AM
Or, as an even worse scenario, your PSU spiked and fried both the mobo and RAM, not to mention your GPU...

I'd recommend to test both the memory sticks and the GPU in a known good environment, i.e. in another computer. If they are good, then try a trustworthy PSU in your own machine. Or vice versa.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Getback on December 26, 2011, 09:43:57 AM
Have you got all the power connections in? Make sure everything is in completely. That could be the 24 pin and the 8/4 pin by the cpu. Then you may have a pin for the video card.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on December 26, 2011, 10:25:05 AM
or the problems with the computer were always ram related and the motherboard was fine.
The old motherboard was killed in a flashing gone array incident.

Picked up new RAM today, no luck, same beep code.

Hoping it is not my GPU (just bought 3 weeks ago)
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Bizman on December 26, 2011, 11:37:10 AM
The old motherboard was killed in a flashing gone array incident.

Picked up new RAM today, no luck, same beep code.

Hoping it is not my GPU (just bought 3 weeks ago)
Do you mean it was killed while flashing the BIOS? If so, then do try with another PSU. There's also a reason for any kind of incidents, and any electric instability is poison for flashing.

After that, if you still get the same beeps, remove the GPU. If you don't have any replacement handy, try to boot without it to hear if the beeps are different. Actually, it would be good to unplug all devices, leaving only the processor and one stick of RAM and a known good GPU when trying to find the reason of the beeping. No hard disks, opticals, nothing. Only the motherboard, PSU, GPU and one memory module at a time. If you have fitting spare parts, try them. When you can boot to POST, you can add a module, one at a time and reboot.

Remember, for troubleshooting purposes the spares don't have to be exact equivalents with your original setup. Any matching component will do, because you're only going to boot the rig, not play games. Even a decade old PCI video card would do for checking, if the problem lies in your GPU or it's slot or power.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on December 30, 2011, 11:30:43 AM
Just bought a new video card, and RAM. Same beep code.

1 long, 3 short, pause then 1 short.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Bizman on December 30, 2011, 04:53:15 PM
Repeat: Check first with another PSU. Test your memory, GPU and if possible, your processor on a different motherboard.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on December 31, 2011, 05:09:07 AM
Your beep codes, one long followed by three short beeps indicate the video card is not found or the video ram is bad. The final short beep means that everything else is working. This from my ASUS manual.

Make sure that power is getting to the auxiliary plug to the video card.
If you have an old plain vanilla PCI video card laying around, use that instead of the PCIe card for your initial boot into the BIOS. At the least you should be able to see the diagnostics on the screen and you should manage the BIOS. Once in the BIOS, you may need to tell it to use your PCIe port.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Getback on January 02, 2012, 04:50:09 AM
Is that a modular PSU btw? If so make sure both ends are plugged in correctly. I've had this happen. Try a different PSU if you have one around.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 04, 2012, 06:23:09 PM
Your beep codes, one long followed by three short beeps indicate the video card is not found or the video ram is bad. The final short beep means that everything else is working. This from my ASUS manual.

Make sure that power is getting to the auxiliary plug to the video card.
If you have an old plain vanilla PCI video card laying around, use that instead of the PCIe card for your initial boot into the BIOS. At the least you should be able to see the diagnostics on the screen and you should manage the BIOS. Once in the BIOS, you may need to tell it to use your PCIe port.
This sort of fixed my issue. I had to go buy a PCI card (expensive for how old and crappy they are)

I logged into the BIOS and changed the video card settings to PCI Express, turned off the PC and put in the PCI-E card, took out PCI card, but nothing. Same error code.

Put back the PCI card and it works fine.

What do I need to do in BIOS to get the PCI-E slot to read?


Next Problem:
The installation CD that came with my motherboard does not support Windows 7. Most recent was Windows Vista. Can I get it to install the drivers without changing to an older OS?
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: guncrasher on January 04, 2012, 07:41:03 PM
check the mobo website.  they should have all the bios/drivers online.

http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1

can you post a link to the mobo you bought? 


semp
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 04, 2012, 08:13:13 PM
check the mobo website.  they should have all the bios/drivers online.

http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1

can you post a link to the mobo you bought? 


semp
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5NE_SLI/#CPUS
Asus P5N-E SLI
This one has Revision 0505 on it (bit more out dated)

I downloaded the BIOS revision 1406, but have not updated yet. Having difficulty with that and the CD doesn't run.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: guncrasher on January 04, 2012, 10:28:55 PM
forget the bios update.  what you are interested are in the drivers.  yours is different than mine.  but it appears that you need the mobo drivers (chipset, raid, audio, etc.).  see if they have a utility that will automatically d/l the drivers and install them.  for example my mobo has the live update 5 utility that I run then select the drivers need and it will d/l and install.  you can also just d/l them and install them manually.


semp
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 04, 2012, 10:32:33 PM
...

What do I need to do in BIOS to get the PCI-E slot to read?

Okay, put the PCI card back in without the PCIe card, then install the driver for your PCIe card. You'll have to decide which driver you want to use, the original from CD, one you saved to disk (right lol) or the latest download from the mfg. Be sure to get the driver from nVidia or ATI whichever, not the third party mfg.

Once you've installed the driver, swap out the PCI card for the PCIe card.

Edit:
Boot back into the BIOS and select the PCIe card again in case Windows didn't do it for you when it installed the video card driver.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 04, 2012, 10:46:59 PM
Don't touch your BIOS until you have the video card issue solved. If you need to RMA the MB it'd be best not to tinker with the BIOS and once you confirm you have a way to use the video card, you can start the process over again at any time, and probably will several times before you're satisfied you have the system running at it's peak.

Before you update the bios, make sure you have the current one backed up to removable media. Including the flash utility. I love the new USB method but it's probably not available for you MB. I hope it's not 3.5" floppy required unless that's what you have.

If things go the crap trying to update it, then so long as the flash utility is good, you'll be able to reinstall the original. That's what you should have been able to do with the original MB.

Once you have a stable system, only then try the BIOS update. And by stable system, I mean the minimum hardware needed to run windows. No third party cards other then the video card if you can help it.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 04, 2012, 10:59:26 PM
Oh, and to make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves...

When you told the BIOS to use the PCIe card, and rebooted, you should have heard a single short beep. That says the video card was recognized and everything including the power connection to the card is working. If not, then you still have problem, unless you told the BIOS to boot silently, which I can't recommend.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 05, 2012, 01:08:28 AM
Here is where I am:

BIOS updated to 1406
New CPU installed and working

Still having Video Card issues.

I installed the latest drivers for my PCI-E card.
Checked the BIOS and it has PCI-E selected as primary display source.

When I boot with PCI card, I get 1 short beep that means all is ok and I can see what would normally display in the screen (although resolution in windows not correct because I have not installed drivers for this card)

When I boot with PCI-E card, the video card's fan turns on, but screen remains blank and I get beep code indicating an error with my video card.

Not sure if there is a port or something in the BIOS I need to open for my PCI-E card to work or not.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 05, 2012, 01:41:59 AM
Ouch. The rest of this you've probably already thought of...

Okay at this point it's a guess but it's clearly the video card or Power Supply. Either the card isn't getting the power it needs, or the card has gone bad. It happens, my venerable old 9800 Pro bit the dust a few weeks ago, probably caused when the old power supply went bad. Do you have access to a working rig you can test it in? A friendly computer shop willing to test it cheap or free, maybe where you've been buying parts recently? Did you flash the video card rom? Can you RMA the PCIe card? If you paid too much for that PCI card, maybe exchange it while buying/upgrading to a new PCIe card? I still recommend purchase of a cheap $10 to $15 PCI video card to have on hand when things like this happen. All a PCI card needs is VGA port and perhaps a dongle for your monitor.

At least you have that rig back among the living with pretty clear evidence where to go from here.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 05, 2012, 03:07:14 PM
Ouch. The rest of this you've probably already thought of...

Okay at this point it's a guess but it's clearly the video card or Power Supply. Either the card isn't getting the power it needs, or the card has gone bad. It happens, my venerable old 9800 Pro bit the dust a few weeks ago, probably caused when the old power supply went bad. Do you have access to a working rig you can test it in? A friendly computer shop willing to test it cheap or free, maybe where you've been buying parts recently? Did you flash the video card rom? Can you RMA the PCIe card? If you paid too much for that PCI card, maybe exchange it while buying/upgrading to a new PCIe card? I still recommend purchase of a cheap $10 to $15 PCI video card to have on hand when things like this happen. All a PCI card needs is VGA port and perhaps a dongle for your monitor.

At least you have that rig back among the living with pretty clear evidence where to go from here.
How can I test my PSU? I don't have a spare to test with. Currently everything is running fine EXCEPT the PCI-E video card. I went and got another PCI-E card to test and it still did not work.

I think it is either:
a BIOS setting
my primary PCI-E slot
my PSU
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 05, 2012, 05:15:13 PM
That's hard to diagnose.

A bad power supply could cause both PCIe video cards to come up bad but the MB would report it in the boot beeps.

If the BIOS setting isn't holding for PCIe video, that would explain both PCIe cards not working, and a clear single short boot beep.

As you suggest, if the MB's PCIe slot is bad, though unlikely, both cards would malfunction, but I'd expect the boot beeps to report it.

I learned a long time ago that what a user reports isn't always what's really coming up on his end. That said, going on what you've said, I'd have to go with a missing or bad setting in the BIOS. If you have the manual, start there, if not, download the current manual for your current MB. Look for a setting to enable the PCIe x ## and another one to direct the MB to enable PCIe video. Beyond that, I don't know how I can be more helpful in the forum venue. There might be tech support or an ASUS forum for your board specific board somewhere.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 05, 2012, 06:11:28 PM
Thanks for the help

The PSU is still good so it is either a BIOS setting or a dead PCI-E slot

Going to see what I can come up with... Tired of messing with this.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 05, 2012, 09:14:24 PM
I bet.

Good luck with it
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Bizman on January 06, 2012, 02:22:12 AM
Did you get another PSU somewhere? Or do you just suppose your PSU is still good just because you can boot with the PCI video card?

It sounds weird, that you have changed your mobo, memory and vidcard and still can't boot the combination. It doesn't seem likely that both of your mobos have the same fault, or that both of the GPU's are defective from the box.

So far I have never seen a motherboard that doesn't boot to POST with default BIOS settings as long as all components are good. Playing with the settings comes after a succesful boot, not before. Otherwise building computers would be too time consuming to be profitable for the builders.

There is no cheap way to test a PSU. The cheap testers are merely telling the voltages and warning if they are too far from defaults. What they don't tell is, how much load the PSU can handle. Thus the easiest and cheapest way to test a PSU is to change it. For testing purposes anything with a suitable adapter or plug for the GPU will do. For a boot test only the GPU and motherboard plugs are needed.

Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Raptor on January 10, 2012, 09:19:57 PM
A new mobo (second mobo purchased in a month) and all my problems are gone. PC running better than ever. Was hoping it was something else but I am glad to be done with that ordeal.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Easyscor on January 11, 2012, 02:48:09 AM
I'm very glad to hear that. I did not suspect a brand new MB to be your problem. It's rare to have a DOA MB but it does happen.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Copprhed on January 11, 2012, 05:10:51 AM
Have you plugged the power in to the video card securely? It sounds to me as if there might be a problem with the new mobo's PCI-e slot. It's NOT a driver issue, IMHO, as drivers don't cause post issues.
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Copprhed on January 11, 2012, 05:12:34 AM
D'uh...figures that I'm a day late and a dollar short
Title: Re: More Motherboard Woes
Post by: Getback on January 11, 2012, 11:04:34 AM
Good to hear Raptor! I started wondering about the MB. I'm not sure if you got it from NewEgg but I sometimes think they send out returned items. When I built my Daughter's computer I had many of the same issues. When I got the original MB it had a part missing. Nothing I didn't already have so I didn't worry about. Just could never get that thing to work. Tried different Power supplies and connecting and reconnecting cables and so on. When I finally said this is just not going to work.  I told them it was bad and what I had done to try to solve the problem. They paid for the return postage almost without question. When I got the new MB I had it up and running in a couple of hours.