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this must be my month for questions

msi 645 ultra/sis 645 chipset
P4 1.6a @133 or whatever
256 pc 2100 DDR slot 2
256 PC 3000 DDR slot3
win2kpro/sp3
radeon 8500
intl nic
onboard sound
usb ms mouse
regular ps2 kb
400 W PS

everything was new last march/april


ok, here's the deal. this machine had been 100% stable for about two months @133 fsb. it's got more headroom but i haven't had time to fool with it.

bought a stick of mushkin pc3000 ddr and needed to check it out after i received it. decided to drop it in this machine because the case was already off.

throughout this fascinating narrative nada=slight twitch of cpu fan


power down, unplug, remove old ram install new ram - nada. all i get is a slight twitch from the cpu fan
4 red dots on the msi led thingy - which means cpu damaged or installed wrong
cpu was removed inspected - nothing vivible - had plenty of AS no scorch, etc.

unplug - clear cmos nada
remove cmos battery and let sit for 15 min nada
unplug power leads and let sit nada

reset ram vid nic cpu nada

shake case vigorously to dislodge andthing causing short - nada
remove mobo and inspect nothing visible and there were no odors etc at any time

set mobo on carboard box outside case, hook up power connectors atx/p4 hook up power and reset switches, install vid - nada

reset cmos, etc.

tried all the memory in the house - crucial pc2100, ocz 3000, mushkin 3000 - same result

mushkin works fine in my athlon system as do other sticks from P4 system



any and all ideas welcome

TIA

any ideas from the morning crew?

Perhaps something was in the ram slot?

Did you ground yourself?

I have the same mobo and haven't heard any reports of it just up and dying. Not an immediate help but you may want to look into getting a PC geiger

its a port 80 boot diagnostic/fsb monitor

I've found mine invaluable for situations such as this

http://www.deviantpc.com/reviews/pcgeiger/index.shtml

Oh yeah...one last thing....depending on the date of manufacture some 645u's had bad/weak batteries....if you have a spare/dead mobo try using that battery

geiger that looks like a nice toy ro ~$80 - maybe Sir Chimp will get one for reviewage and have a giveaway! I have another p4 compatible ps that I can try - i have had PS go south before for no apparent reason


it is just odd how it won't do anything at all - very similar to what you get with an "overambitious " overclock,, but clearing the cmos doesn't help - i can scavenge a battery to test it as well - don't have any more p4s laying aroung, but i can't imagine that there's a problem with the cpu - oh well i'll play with it for awhile and rma it if I can't figure it out

perplexing though since this mobo has been rock solid and i've swapped a lot of fan/hs combos and memory before and have been running FAH 24/7 at 133 fsb at 44 C for months

oh well,


thx for the tips!

Did you try another cpu? Possibly try the various rams slots.

Does sound like either the cpu or power supply. I'd try another of each if you have them. And of course could be the mobo.

Blame intel.




btw, you have a pic of you "shake case vigorously"? I'd like to see that.

I'd tend to doubt it's not the CPU

I've had a dead p4 in my 645U and it powered on the fans/drives just never booted.

To the extent this means anything, I had an ABIT mainboard die on me when I added RAM. Adding the new stick just killed it... Funny thing, the stick was fine and worked in other boards....

i tried all the ram slots - don't have any more p4s in da house

i'll have one of my assistants take some photos of case shaking - it is a somewhat lost art

thx guys

Like Otto said, motherboards can be so darn weird. You do something simple, then bam.

Happened to me a few months ago. I just removed the old chipset on my shuttle mobo, same way I did on another I have. Put a new chipset cooler on, and after that the mobo would not boot. Tried everything, it is dead. I was very careful as I'm sure you were.


Then tonight I drilled out 2 holes for the rear case fans. Went to boot, no boot. But I got a long beep. The video card came out of the slot just a tad. Pushed it in and all is well. For now.

well. i rechecked everything i did last nite and swapped ina different battery - still no go - i got a new mobo from the nice fedex man today and dropped into the case where the other one lived and it boots up fine, so i think the power source is ok. Mr. Win2k doesn't remember exactly where his boot files are because the new mobo probably has a different internal address that the old one but we'll deal with that down the road


btw my xp1600+ with a dr thermal is running 1400 @ 33 C in an shuttle ak35gt2 rev 2.2 - in my ak31 rev 2 with an sk6 is was 50 C - go figure - both open cases

In my tests I found the dr thermal is better than the sk6 (using a quiet fan). Using a screamer fan with the sk6 will probably make it better.

Ain't no option for me though.

I was using a Dr Thermal initially on my rig but I didn't like the noise (it's not bad, but this tower is at head height right next to me and against a wall).

I switched to a Thermaright AX7 with a quiet Sunon fan. Funny thing is the CPU (AMD XP 2000+) runs 10 degrees cooler with the AX7. Now granted I used the pad with the Dr. Thermal and I'm using Artic Silver with the AX7 and that's probably making some difference.

The Dr. Thermal is getting raffled off at the next Red-Eye LAN party - I'm donating that and my SBLive Gamer+.

my dr thermal doesn't have a screamer fan - just whatever came with it - when i get the win2k stuff sorted out and do some serious oc, i'm gonna try a monster delta fan using a 3 speed switch lying in my box of tricks