Please help me with my motherboard problem before I go insane!! [long] (1 Viewer)

[Jason L.]

I have been trying to put together this brand new system.
FIC AZ11E Motherboard
AMD 900 MHZ Duron
Antec SX-830 300 Watt Case
[Almost Positive this case is AMD Approved]
Hercules 4500 AGP Video Card
256 MB PC 133 RAM
1. I put the system together, powered it up and I didn't get any video output, no beeps [made sure the case speaker was hooked up]. Everything else powers up [cpu fan, case fan, Video Card fan, case itself, drives, etc.].
2. I remembered that this same thing happened to an old FIC AT motherboard I once had. I had the voltage/clock multiplier set wrong, and once I fixed that I got video output and it POSTed. However, this has auto detect so that shouldn't be a problem.
3. I had it set to 100Mhz. I tried setting it to 133Mhz. No change. I set it back to 100Mhz.
4. I tried using a different stick of RAM. No change.
5. I tried using another [working] AGP card. No change.
6. I tried removing any other cards, which only was a network card. No change.
7. I tried using a PCI video card instead of an AGP video card. No change.
8. I tried moving the RAM to a different slot. No change.
9. I looked at the serial number on the top of the Duron, and looked up what the voltage and clock multiplier should be. I turned off the auto detect and set it manually [dip switches]. No change.
10. I took it to some guys I work with. They thought it had to be either the CPU or motherboard.
11. At this point I tried using another CPU. I tried out a 750Mhz Duron. That didn't work either. I tried changing a number of things that I did earlier. No change.
12. At this point I decided to try out another motherboard. I bought a IWILL KK266 plus. This board is auto-detect voltage and clock multiplier, you cannot change it without getting into the BIOS. Same exact thing. I called their tech support number. They said to take out the RAM, and boot up. They said that you should hear it beeping. I didn't hear anything. I made sure the speaker case was hooked up and made sure that I didn't have speaker connection to the motherboard reversed because I tried it both ways.
14. On the advice of tech support, I tried clearing the CMOS, and then setting it back to normal. No change.
15. I tried another CPU, a AMD 1.2Ghz 200MHZ T-Bird. Same thing. I once again tried the other things I had already done. No change.
16. The only thing that I could come up with at this point was that the motherboard was improperly grounded. I took the board out of the case as much as possible while still having it connected. It wasn't touching the case at all. Same problem.
17. I tried using another case. The only other case that I had was a 300 Watt ATX that was used for my Pentium 3 500 MHZ. This didn't work either.
18. At this point, I don't know what to do. I have tried replacing everything. I can never get any video output, and it never posts. It never beeps, even when I take out the RAM.
One interesting thing is that when I was at FRYS, I overheard a guy talking to a salesperson who bought a FICAZ11 [Almost exact same board]/900 MHZ Duron combo, and he was having the exact same problem. Not only that but this guy had a buddy of his who bought the same thing and was having the exact same problem!
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Jason, I almost left without replying until you mentioned Fry's. Let me tell you about them, as my son worked at one for awile.
They get returns back and wrap them back up for sale. With a shrink wrap machine in the back, there is NO WAY that you can tell.
Your best bet is to get a store credit and pick another board out. Find a stack of another board and pull a carton out from the bottom. You'll have much better odds.
Fry's makes a ton of money by buying at liquidation prices. They might be picking up the Egghead leftovers. If someone at Egghead didn't return something back to the mfg in time, - well, Fry's won't have any idea that it is bad.
Glenn

 

[Jason L.]

Well, the FIC that I bought wasn't at Frys. I bought from a mail-order company. The KK266 plus was. The Frys near me [Dallas, TX] doesn't even bother to re-wrap returns. They just put a big return sticker on it and put it back out there. The KK266 was shrink-wrapped.
The first CPU [900 Duron] that I bought was from the same mail-order company. The other 2 CPUs were from Frys.
At least I was able to return everything that I bought from Frys.

 

[Jason L.]

As a last ditch effort, I decided to see if the power supply was the problem. The power supply on my Antec Case was an PP-303XP.
I decided to check out the AMD website for approved power supplies. They had listed a PP-303X as being approved for my 900MHZ Duron.
They sounded almost exactly the same. I called Antec and they said that my power supply should work, that the only difference between the two was that mine will also work with Pentium 4's.
Well, I went and bought a PP-303X power supply, hooked it up, and................it still doesn't work.
It doesn't POST, doesn't beep, no video output.

 

[Chris]

FIC ships many of their motherboards with the "BIOS Clear" jumper on. If the BIOS Clear jumper is on (to clear the BIOS) it will -never- boot and -never- send any power anywhere. I'd check this first, and make sure that the BIOS Clear jumper is in "Normal" not "Reset" mode.

 

[Jason L.]

It's not the Clear CMOS. When you do that you get no power at all. I can get the fans working, case lights up, video card fan works, the KK266 even has a light on the motherboard itself that works.
Here are my latest developments:
1. I took the PP-303X power supply back for a refund.
2. I told my working Pentium 3 500MHZ & ABIT motherboard and put it into the Antec SX-830 case to see if the case itself was bad. This worked. At least I know that the case does work. It may not work with AMD Durons but it works.
3. I took the Hercules 4500 and put it in the Pentium 3 system. That worked. So I know the video card works.
So that leaves either the chip or the motherboard. I have used 2 motherboards and 3 CPUs and they haven't worked.
A co-worker of mine said that he had a similar problem. He said that he replaced the CPU fan with a much better one, and it worked.
That will be my next step, as well as a e-mail over to tech support at FIC.

 

[Abdul Jalib]

My suggestions in order to try:
1. Press down on AGP card, make sure it's seated, and remove all unessential PCI cards and make sure remaining ones are seated.
2. Make sure memory is seated, check memory BIOS settings.
3. Make sure CPU cooling fan is connected and all other power connections are made.
4. Try better CPU cooling.
5. Try different memory.
6. Replace the motherboard.
7. Get a higher watt power supply.
------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Philips_HDTV/joinClick to subscribe to Philips_HDTV discussion group

 

[SamRoza]

I recommend what most already have.
Make sure all non-essential items are removed from the board. Makes sure RAM is seated. Make sure the CPU is properly seated as well. Both of these will cause the same problems you describe.
Once when I was building a computer I ordered everything from an online dealer. It was a PIII and when everything was plugged in I got nothing. No POST, no beeps, not video-Nothing.
Apparently the board was bad, and that fried my processor, the replacement board didn't work because the processor was already fried.
Had to start from scratch, and didn't get a refund on anythign!
So it goes...
Sam

 

[Carlo_M]

As an intermediate level computer builder, I would recommend joining a forum, like www.arstechnica.com (you have to click on the forum link, this is to the main page) and post there if you haven't figured it out in a day or two. Those guys (while prone to flamebaiting like any other PC forum) can be a real wealth of knowledge.
I second most of what was suggested above, FWIW.
Good luck!