BP6 won't boot at all -- how to diagnose?

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natrin
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Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:51 pm

BP6 won't boot at all -- how to diagnose?

Post by natrin »

A few days ago I went to minimize Photoshop, and my screen just went blank. Reset wouldn't work. Had to power off by holding power button. Went to bed. Next day, tried to boot, and nothing! No beep codes, no video signal sent to monitor. Only sign of life was CPU fan running (also, HDD and CD drives were getting power). I then took everything out except the video card (and also tried another video card as well, to be sure), with the same result. Is this likely to be the capacitor problem that I've read about on this forum, in particular the EC10? I don't see any catastrophic damage to capacitors, but I don't know if I am able to discern the difference between a healthy cap and a bulging one. Can anyone suggest how I can proceed to narrow down the problem? Thanks! Nate
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

Was there a funny smell recently?
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
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Dave Rave
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Post by Dave Rave »

my only BP6 that played up presented a funny series of rebooting and playing up and not quite working properly.
it didn't out and out die. and not work again.

you'd be best to minimalise the system, no HDD of FDD or CD, just the vga, and check the memory is working. change memory sticks ?
and reset the bios.
and get back to us.
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

look at the caps. look for bulging or leakage.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
natrin
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Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:51 pm

Post by natrin »

Thanks for the comments. To answer your questions:

No, there was no funny smell.

None of the capacitors are visibly leaking or bulging.

As I mentioned, I did take everything out except video card (including CPU and RAM), hoping to get at least a beep code, but there was no sign of life except the power supply fan running. I also replaced the CMOS battery.

Any other ideas? Thanks... Nate
Dave Rave
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Post by Dave Rave »

is it dusty ?
a slight build up of dust can possibly turn nasty after a hot and humid day.
try a clean soft paint brush over any ares of dust accumulation.
respecially around the memory bank next to the cpu where it gets blown on.

also, try a new power supply. it might have blown a voltage rail.
natrin
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Post by natrin »

I blew most of the dust off with compressed air, but there are still some grungy areas. I will clean those up and see if it helps. Is there a way I can test the power supply output to see if it's faulty? It's a pretty new unit... Nate
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

d'oh I always miss the simple stuff.

Since the system just stopped in its tracks the PSU should have been the first recomended thing to test even before looking at the caps.

Are you using uni or dual cpus?

FIRST, before tearing everything apart pull the ram and try a different ram stick.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
Dave Rave
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Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:28 am
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Post by Dave Rave »

it is possible to buy a cpu test unit ...
(crap)
(stop typing drunk)
a PSU test unit ...
plug it in, turn it on, it has an LED and shows that 12v and 5v is close to where they should be
natrin
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Post by natrin »

OK, so I'll focus on the power supply. Can I just take a voltmeter and measure the output? Which colors are supposed to correspond to which voltages? Thanks for all the good suggestions. I did fiddle around with the RAM configurations a bit, to no avail, so I finally took everything out, hoping for at least a beep code. Nate
Dave Rave
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Post by Dave Rave »

the black would be an earth.
the others are all different.
12v, 5v, 3.3v, -5v and possibly -12v
just make sure that all the yellows are all the same.
natrin
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Post by natrin »

Well, I made a stupid mistake. I was measuring the voltages on the ATX connector. Everything looked ok, and I was going through them again to make sure. Got distracted and accidentally shorted two of the connectors together with my voltmeter probe. Spark, pop, slight smell. One of the connectors was +12 V, and the other was +5 (I think). The pins were 8 and 9, I believe. Now the board not only doesn't boot, but also doesn't respond to soft on and off--when I switch on the PSU, there's power, and I have to switch it off at the PSU as well. Is there any hope for reviving my board now that I've given it some extra damage? Thanks...Nate
purrkur
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Post by purrkur »

First off you have to check and see if you have damaged your PSU or not. That is the first step. Hook it up to another computer and see if that computer starts up or not. It should be OK if it is a higher quality component. If not then it could be damaged.

If you can give your PSU a clean bill of health then that is good. If you cannot, find another PSU to hook up to your BP6. Remove everything from your BP6 except memory and graphics adapter as well to minimize things that can go wrong and/or things that can be damaged. Try powering up again to see what happens.

As for if it is possible to revive it is anybody's guess. Is there any visual damage on the board? Asking if it can be revived through the web like this is like calling a car mechanic, telling him that your car won't start and then asking if he knows what's wrong :)

Good luck
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
640MB PC100 memory
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Dave Rave
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Post by Dave Rave »

I wouldn't put it in another computer.
what if it blows up the other motherboard too!!! ?

you need to know which is the two pins to short and hold to turn on the PSU like the PS switch from the MB does. and see iff the PSU fan comes on
purrkur
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Post by purrkur »

Dave Rave wrote:you need to know which is the two pins to short and hold to turn on the PSU like the PS switch from the MB does. and see iff the PSU fan comes on
That might not be enough. I have seen power supplies break only one voltage output while the others have been working fine. It gives the illusion that the PSU is working fine while one voltage is non-existent.

Also, depending on how the BP6 is broken could also damage the power supply that you connect to it.

Messing about this way isn't entirely without risks if you don't have the correct equipment to work with or if you are not sure what you are doing (and the implications of your actions).
2x533MHz@544MHz, 2.0V
640MB PC100 memory
Realtek RTL-8139 NIC
Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB hdd
Debian Linux stable with 2.4.8 kernel
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

purrkur wrote:Messing about this way isn't entirely without risks...
What he said.

Ok,
Im the local specialist in "junk" regeneration. Guessing by what you said you probably pushed the 5volt input to 12volts and prossably fried IC chips.(only the delicate stuff like CMOS and 440BX). If so the board is toast.

To test it get the following:
PSU from a system that you know is working.
RAM...make sure you use an expendable chip...like a 32meg PC66 or whatever is lying around.(dont use a PC133 256meg).
ISA video card.
pc internal speaker.
Sounds like you might be thin on luck so to soft switch it on...get a switch or jumper lead with wires so you can't short the wrong leads on the board.

Hook up the BP6 with PSU, soft switch, ram stick, and speaker only. If the board is salvagable it should beep its complaint that there is no video. If there are no beeps then unplug the PSU from the wall and add the ISA video card. Try it again. If no video activity then pitch the board and don't risk any more componants.

Good Luck
David
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
Dave Rave
G'Day Mate!
Posts: 894
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:28 am
Location: Sydney Australia
Contact:

Post by Dave Rave »

recently got an old Compaq style Pii 350 from my bro-in-law, saying it's fine but the on-board vga doesn't work.

I took it to a friends place, turned it on, beep beep beep, as expected.
got the trusty soft paint brush, brush brush brush, blow, power, beep, boot screen.
a little bit of dust goes a long way to annoying.
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