DOA Motherboard Upgrade?

[TBoneit]

Actually when it doesn't boot a quick power button press won't work. the quick press only works after the motherboard displays video. To shut off before it displays video or if it won't post just hold the power >5 seconds.

[pchan]

1. Need to apply a thin layer of heat paste on the CPU before you mount the heatsink.

2. Reset CMOS, just connect the jumper (please refer to the manual) for about 5 seconds and switch the jumper back to the original position. Try power up again.

[CobraPilot]

Tboneit, thanks for the "5-second" suggestion: I learned something new, and it works just as you said.

pchan, I used heat paste when I installed the m/b, and I've cleared the CMOS: Nothing.

I continue to get no beeps from the speaker, but as I wrote earlier, the original eMachine's configuration had NO speaker installed, so I've scrounged one from an old computer. However, I'm not 100% sure I'm hooking up the speaker properly.

The internal speaker pin configuration, according to the m/b manual, is:

1: VCC
2: Key
3: GND
4: Signal

However, assuming "key" refers to the "missing" pin (3 pins, 1 place where a pin could've been but is snipped off), the actual configuration of the m/b shows "key" at the #3 position.

My scrounged speaker and wiring includes a 4-pin connector, but it has only 2 wires, making me wonder what the "VCC" is. I've tried these 2 wires in several combinations, but get no audible beep whatsoever.

[TBoneit]

The speaker hooks up to pin 1 and pin 4.

IOW the two outside pins. Any computer speaker should work.

Time to throw yourself on the mercy of a loacl repair shop. Or just decide to upgrade. Call for a RMA or just return the motherboard before it can not be returned. Generally I haven't seen Intel CPUs go bad. If it were the older Athlon I'd tell you to turn it over and see the bottom has a baked/burned look however this one is a intel.

If you can just return the Mobo, get a replacement that will fit with a better CPU. Watch for memory types and get one that takes what you have.

You tried hooking up the speaker with no memory, It should give a series of beeps if it is alive at that point.

Put the mobo on a wood surface with just memory and the power supply on it. check for video. Look in the manual for a cpu type jumper. I have seen some mobo's that have a jumper that needs swicthing depending on what type of intel is in it.

Good Luck

[CobraPilot]

Still no beeps from the speaker . . . . even attached to pin 1 and 4.

You're probably right about the "bite the bullet" and take it to repair shop . . . . I tend to take too long trying to fix things myself . . . .

[pchan]

@ CobraPilot,
Maybe it's best to bring it to the repair shop.

[TBoneit]

You can take so long trying to fix something that you go past the return period. Beware of that trap.

[CobraPilot]

Before I "bite the bullet" ==>repair shop . . . .

I took the heat sink off the CPU and turned on the PC just long enough to detect a heat build-up by the CPU, then quickly turned it off.

Is that ANY indication the CPU's okay? If it is, then the m/b being DOA becomes an even stronger possibility . . . . Just wondering.

[Tonny]

Just RMA and then go to Fry get a combo mobo Intel Pentum D 805 &ECS board for $99.98. Fry will test your CPU and MOBO if it is not boot. For OS use Emachine hardrive and new keys for WIN is required but not required activate. Hope it is help

[CobraPilot]

Thanks for the suggestions, Tonny.

About the only thing left of the old eMachines is the case and CPU. The harddrive was removed prior to my getting it (to be used as backup on my daughter's new one). I've got and OS or two to use, IF I get the *#&$&$ thing to boot!

As to Fry's, hadn't thought about that as an option.

[CobraPilot]

'Twas, indeed, a bad CPU . . . . Got a new one and all is well--so far!

Thanks again for all who offered suggestions, links, etc.

[CobraPilot]

My apologies to all those who responded to whom I didn't provide this loooong overdue final report:

It turned out to be a bad CPU. Local shop pulled the CPU, put it into a m/b they had, confirmed it to be bad.

I bought a new CPU and it booted perfectly the first time.

Since then, I've been wondering if the original m/b would work with a new CPU, or did the original CPU fry because of a bad m/b?

Chicken and egg again!

[TBoneit]

Finding out whether or not the motherboard fried the CPU could be solved by installing the new CPU in the old motherboard. That could get expensive if indeed the motherboard fried the cpu.

In general the CPU will outlast the motherboard. We get a steady stream of people looking for motherboards for their older CPUs where the board went bad.

Of course they also don't want to pay for new to use older legacy type parts. IE P3 CPU, SDram VGA Video etc.

BTW thanks for the final report.