[Solved] Motherboard dead?? Beeeeep - beep-beep

[Richard_T]

Just when one prolem was fixed along comes another....

 

Ive been having a few issues with non responsive PCI cards, namely a USb card, and a Tv tuner card, with only one pci slot working ( i tried swapping things round, but only the top pci slot seemd to work)

One peice of advice i received was to remove the CMOS battery, and the power, to re-set the bios (?) so i did that, and upon re-inserting a fresh new battery all i got was a long beep, followed by two short beeps.

 

So far ive tried removing every thing attached to the outside of the p.c, disconecting all internal drives, removing everything else, except the graphics card, and ram and still, Beeeeep - beep-beep.

i have also tried removing the graphics card, and still Beeeeep - beep-beep, ive also tried removing the ram sticks ( 4 of them) and trying one at a time, and each time on power up, Beeeeep - beep-beep.

even with everything stripped out/disconnected ( apart from one stick of ram ) Beeeeep - beep-beep ive even tried Ram from another PC and still Beeeeep - beep-beep.

 

I have also tested the voltages on the psu with a psu tester, and they have all checked out OK.

Is it the mother board??

[KenB]

Hi,

 

If you remove cards ( RAM / Video etc ) from the m/board you are going to get POST Beeps.

If these beeps stay the same with cards in or out ............in other words 1 Long 2 short beeps then it looks like a motherboard or Video Card problem.

If the Video Card is not detected you will get POST beeps.

 

Does your m/board have a different slot to put the video card in ?

If so - give this a try.

 

Do you have a different Video Card to try ?

[Richard_T]

ive just tried a 'loan' graphics card, and it booted :( however my new graphics card purchased in october causes the same issue in another p.c :( :(

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, at least you know the culprit now.

However, providing you did nothing more than fit the card you bought in October, and used it correctly after installation, there should be a good chance of a warranty and replacement on it as it has only been in use for less than four months. Not as yet knowing which card or who made it, or how or where you bought it from, I can't give any information of course, but I would be getting in touch with the supplier and asking about replacement or repair.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

the card came from novatech, ive left a message on their contact us system.

its the first thing that ive had to return to an online retailer, so im not too sure what to expect. Portsmouth is a fair distance away from me to be able to pop in to see them.

[KenB]

They should provide a replacement.

 

As Nev says - at least we have identified what is wrong and you now know what you need to fix it.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[Richard_T]

Theyve sent me a return number and an address to post it to ( Portsmouth ) so tommorow its going off to them via recorded delivery.

it looks like i will have to pay for the postage, so i will get a full receipt, scan it ( if i can) and e-mail to to them.

[KenB]

You can ask the Post Office for a copy receipt. They do this at no charge.

Enclose the copy receipt and they may reimburse you the postage.

 

Keep us informed of the progress + let us know when you are up and running again :)

[Richard_T]

posted off today at £5.67 recorded, now its all in the hands of royal mail ( fingers crossed) and hopefuly novatech soon.

 

At some point im thinking of an upgrade, something along the lines of motherboard/cpu/ram bundle, with a budget of around £200 - £250would a mini atx motherboard fit in my atx case?

Edited February 16, 2012 by Richard_T

[Armageddon]

Hi Richard am guessing you ordered you card online , then under Distance Selling Regulations you are entitled to a refund on your postage , and good luck with getting it replaced.

 

Dave

[KenB]

would a mini atx motherboard fit in my atx case?

Yes - I think the mounting holes are in the same place.

[Richard_T]

when i log into the novatech website, and go to returns its on there as received from customer, im guessing that there returns departmewnt doesnt operate over the weekend, as so far there have been no status updates.

This is the graphics card in question http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/atiradeongraphicscards/atihd6700series/eah6770di1gd5.html

 

depending on how all this pans out, im tempted to buy a barebones/motherboard upgrade form novatech, the barebonmes system in a case is only £20 more than just the motherboard on its own., but that may be a few more questons in a separate topic - when the time comes.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

A new m/board will need a new operating system as the one on your old hard drive will not boot up if it detects major changes in hardware.

 

Keep us informed re. the progress with the Video Card.

[Richard_T]

A little progreess update...

Novatech tested the cvard, and decided its faulty, so they have decided to return the goods to the manufacturer for 'repair' the stauts has been goods sent to manufacturer for repair since Monday the 20th.

 

When the motherboard/CPU upgrade time comes, i will probably try to run my windows install from the hard drive just to see what happens

[KenB]

Hi Richard

 

Thanks for the update. Keep us informed of your progress :)

[Armageddon]

Hi Richard just to to add to this I ordered a barebones unit from Novatech this morning I'll let you know how i get on with the build etc , it arrives tomorrow

[Richard_T]

Still no change in status, i was hoping to see some progress today, but so far nothing - still goods sent to manufacturer.

Quite what the manufazctuer is goign to do with the card is another matter altogether, personal expeirince of what happens to things when they get sent back is that they often sit on a shelf/in a box/placed somehwere for quite a long period of time, unless the customer kicks up a fuss.

alot of the time its easier to manufacture a new part, especialy if the tooling is to hand, than it is to rectify something thats faulty.

If were talking about electronics, you could have a capacitor thats running out of tolerance, and causing a high voltage somewhere, which could easily knock out a diode and cause a device to stop functioning, but whats down circuit of the diode, an IC chip? Even if replacing the faulty capaictor appears to solve the problem there could be damage elsewhere.

[Richard_T]

Ive borrowed a graphics card from an older P.C, and now my main system is up and running again( ( all be it with reduced power) and as if by magic, all the 'dead' pci slots are also working

[Plastic Nev]

Hi again Richard, that is good news and proves no damage has been done to the motherboard.

However a small thing niggles me as we haven't yet discussed power supplies. The card that is now away for repair, is it the Asus AMD Radeaon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 as in that link you provided?

 

From what I can find, it requires 400Watts, with a recommended system supply of 600Watts, is your power supply big enough to handle it? If your power supply is below the minimum 400 watts, you may see overheating with an eventual loss of the power supply and possibly another dead card.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

the PSu is a Trust 570 watts psu, all voltages test OK.

[Plastic Nev]

OK Richard, that is just about OK at 570 watts then, could do with being a bit bigger perhaps, but just thought I had better ask just in case.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

I agree with Nev - the 570Watt PSU will be OK.

 

The old Video Card working proves there was a problem with the original.

 

all the 'dead' pci slots are also working

The problem card was probably shorting out the PCI Bus.

 

Let's hope all will be good when the replacement is fitted.

[Richard_T]

Just as a follow up, the repaired card came back, and all is running fine, all the pci clots are active and everything is working again.

All the problems that i had been having with USB devices in certain slots was down to the graphics card throwing a wobbly.

 

the only downside is that i dont know what was repaired/replaced as all i got back was a test shet saying it came in faulty and then passed some tests OK, as i had failed to note any ID marks on the graphics card main pcb, or on any components.

when i had a job hand soldering components onto pcbs we had to put a number/sticker on the board that would tally up with the person soldering/assembling the board, and the parts/batch numbers of the parts used, as well as the time/date of assembly.

[KenB]

Just as a follow up, the repaired card came back, and all is running fine

This is good to hear.

 

I would have thought they would replace the card - either way .....it is working which is the important thing.

[Plastic Nev]

Glad to hear all is OK now, it doesn't really matter in the end as to whether they repaired or replaced the card, it works.

 

A point to note though, mainly for others who may see this, when sending any item back under warranty, where possible do take a note of the serial number.

When it is returned, if the number is the same, then it was repaired. From that, if the number is different it was replaced.

This could be an important thing should there be more trouble later, especially if they say it was replaced, when it obviously wasn't because the serial number is the same.

 

Nev.