MOBO or BIOS dead?

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pjcoxy

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#11393 19-Jan-2007 17:19

Hi,

Gigabyte ga-8st667
Pentium4 1.5 Ghz
award bios

I was using some recording software on my PC, stressing it out using lots of memory and the software I was using stopped responding, I couldn't shut it down by hitting the "x" so I killed it in task manager.

I then shut down my PC (start, turn off)and it hung on the "windows is shutting down" screen for a couple of minutes, so eventually I held in the power button for about 5 seconds to power it off. Now when I turn it back on again nothing happens. The fans start and the CD ROM powers up but no bios beep, nothing on the monitor either.

I took the case off and on one of the capaciters (the little round tower like things that stick up on the motherboard, I think thats what they are) had some brown residue on the top of it, Im assuming this is a "leaking" capaciter meaning the motherboard is now dead, im guessing this is what they do if they overheat or something?

The other thing I would like to try is to flash the bios incase it is corrupt or something and not even getting as far as trying to start up the machine. My motherboard manual does not mention how to flash it using jumper settings (This had worked on previous machines) so I assume it cant be done on this motherboard, their is flashing software it mentions, if you can get in to the bios, but I cant get that far so how do I do it, is it worth it anyway or do I just accept that the mobo is dead?

I have powered it back on again and now I get a short pause where it used to beep then a serious of beeps in quick sucsession that just continue.

so basically im guessing MOBO or BIOS is stuffed?

any suggestions to assist in trouble shooting this would be great

Thanks

freitasm

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#58368 19-Jan-2007 18:17

Search on the Gigabyte website for the manual... There's usually a list of the POST (Power On Self Test) signs, including the beeps. The sequence will tell you what's wrong.

One alternative is to reset the BIOS. Some motherboards will have a key for this, other motherboards will reset if you remove the backup battery. Again, check the manual.

pjcoxy

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#58381 19-Jan-2007 20:00

Yeh I know that mate, already said so in my post.

rscole86

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#58382 19-Jan-2007 20:04

if you do find out that your mobo is dead becasue of the capacitor you can try badcaps.net for instructions on how to (if your lucky) fix your mobo. Or ultimately destroy it

freitasm

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#58384 19-Jan-2007 20:21

pjcoxy:
Yeh I know that mate, already said so in my post.

Yes, but you didn't say anything about trying to remove the backup battery (usually for five minutes) or checking the POST beep sequence for the sign of what's wrong... Sorry if it sounded repetitive, just trying to help.

grant_k

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#58393 19-Jan-2007 22:36

pjcoxy: I have powered it back on again and now I get a short pause where it used to beep then a serious of beeps in quick sucsession that just continue.

On some motherboards, a continuous succession of beeps indicate faulty RAM.

Because of the way your PC locked up when the fault occurred, there is a good chance that this has happened because your RAM has failed.

If your PC has 2 or more RAM modules, remove all but one of them and try to boot up again. If you get the same result, then substitute the RAM module with one of the others you previously removed, and try to boot up again. You may be able to eliminate the faulty RAM module in this way.

If however you have only one RAM module installed, then try to borrow another RAM module to see if it fixes the problem.

Because your Mobo is pretty old (given that you are using a P4 1.5GHz) the difficulty will be in getting the correct type of RAM to suit. Most likely it will be DDR 266MHz RAM in a 184-pin DIMM which you should still be able to buy at DSE. If they only have DDR 333MHz or 400MHz, that is OK, it will still work. Just make sure it is NOT DDR2 RAM, because that will NOT WORK.

If you can't manage to borrow some RAM, you could always take a punt and buy another module. However, the fault may well turn out to be either the Mobo (likely) or CPU (unlikely).

Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to buy a new motherboard that is compatible with your CPU. The best you could do is find a second-hand one on Trade Me. The RAM you have will also not be compatible with a current-generation motherboard. So you are probably looking at replacing the whole set of Mobo, CPU and RAM unless you are lucky and the fault turns out to be just the RAM.

Good Luck and let us know what you find.

Cheers,
Grant.