Trouble with my motherboard... any ideas

Forums › Desktop computing › Trouble with my motherboard... any ideas

CutCutCut

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#160030 20-Dec-2014 23:40

I'm having an issue with my aging PC. It was having issues forgetting bios settings, and not always booting correctly. It's an old asus p5b deluxe board with a core2duo cup, so I replaced the battery on the motherboard, but things are not looking good. It struggles to boot sometimes, it will start and stop before it actually starts trying to boot. Some times it will boot to the Asus splash screen and then freeze, sometimes it just sits there fans spinning with nothing on screen. If it did actually start to boot it will tell me there is a failed overclock and I can then get to the bios. In the bios, it can't seem to remember the time or date. It well literally randomly fluctuate the time and day on screen after I've changed it. Then when you save and exit, it tries to reboot but just sits there spinning fans, then the cycle continues. I've unplugged any extra hdd and tried using various sticks of ram on various slots, repeating the graphics card. Is there anything else I should try?

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#1201294 20-Dec-2014 23:48

go into bios and set "optimised defaults"

also when turning on ensure only keyboard/mouse is plugged in.

is the power supply and plug all looking good?

try the above, if no luck take to local pc repairer and they might be able to diagnose fault.

Voice gives context

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TLD

902 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1201298 21-Dec-2014 00:02

Good point about the PSU. You could check the voltages in BIOS, or with a meter if the BIOS won't play nicely. One the drive power connectors red = 5 volts, and yellow = 12 volts. If you can navigate the BIOS, I suppose you could check health settings, like PSU temperature. That wouldn't cause the lost time settings though, so probably not very helpful - sorry.

There'll be an Asus forum, and the Tom's Hardware MB forum if no constructive ideas here. A quick Google showed the MD to date back to 2006 if I was reading it correctly. It's not humane to make such an old friend suffer after so many faithful years service.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

CutCutCut

1039 posts

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#1201304 21-Dec-2014 00:30

No visible damage I can see on the board. Yes, I even tried it with just an old ps2 keyboard, same result. I'll check for an optimise setting in the bios. And you're right, I guess it could be the psu, which is more likely to die? I'll check those voltages in the bios
The time and date changing around on screen in front of me is a little concerning, and what made me think it was most likely the motherboard dying.
I think I built it in late 2007, or early 2008, around then, it's served me well. But not worth spending to much trying to bring it back to life probably.

TLD

902 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1201306 21-Dec-2014 00:42

You'd have said if you were getting any posting beeps, but I'm wondering if you are getting any beeps at all? as in, is the PE sounder US?

I just tried Google with 'Asus P5B posting beeps' =really just looking for the error codes, but I got a heap of what might be relevant hits for your situation. Worth a read through some of them methinks.

Good luck.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

solival

160 posts

Master Geek

#1201348 21-Dec-2014 08:37

Check electrolytic capacitors around motherboards. Sometimes they lead to problems. Also, if MB boots, does it work correctly till next reboot?

tdgeek

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#1201370 21-Dec-2014 10:00

I'd unplug every connector/device that plugs into the board and reseat, in case there is a poor connection that is affected by the ambient temperature at the time. Metal expands and contracts with heat and cooling. Power plug, every card, everything. Then power up, see what happens. But if after a new CMOS battery it still cannot renumber the time, that does sound a little terminal. I'm unsure how easy it is to check the circuitry, or to fix that if its failing. Your bound to get a replacement board for next to nothing on Trademe

gzt

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#1201429 21-Dec-2014 11:53

nothing you can do. board is doomed. replace board.

CutCutCut

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#1201473 21-Dec-2014 13:38

I'll try and have one last troubleshooting session with it tonight, but I fear that yes it is gone burgers.
I'll check the beeps again, pretty sure it was just one beep, or nothing at all.
I can't get past the bios to boot properly into Windows. I'll set the bios up, then save and exit. It well then restart but just come up with a blank screen, so hard reboot, and then it send to forget everything in the bios.

gzt

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#1201474 21-Dec-2014 13:39

if you have a second power supply around could try that.

CutCutCut

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#1201477 21-Dec-2014 13:48

gzt: if you have a second power supply around could try that.

Great point, I actually may have an old one sitting in the garage I could try. Will have a look.

TLD

902 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1201479 21-Dec-2014 13:55

Would that be a standard ATX PSU from eight years ago? Have you found the voltages in the BIOS? I think it is going to be under Hardware > Monitor. Temperatures are going to be on the same page.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

gzt

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#1201480 21-Dec-2014 14:00

by the by p5b had issues with north bridge temp in some circumstances imho. also (iirc) bios reported nb temp as cpu temp. but this does not sound related.

richms

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#1201517 21-Dec-2014 14:54

Onboard voltage measuring doesn't show the ripple which is what you get when the caps are dying. Voltages can read well within range and have massive ripple on them.

Checking the PSU is easy if you have access to an oscilloscope, but the onboard CPU power supply is less easy as you need to figure out where to probe.

Richard rich.ms

CutCutCut

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#1206715 1-Jan-2015 09:12

I'm gonna have one last go at resurrecting this old girl when I return from holidays but I'm not expecting it's got any life left in it. I've had done a tiny bit of research as to what I might need fur a new build, I'll make another topic when I know for sure it'll be a new build. One quick question though, dues anybody know for sure if the haswell chips require the newer power supplies? I currently have a seasonic s12 550w I think it is, can I reuse this? Some things I've read say that a haswell chip will work ok if you switch off some of the power saving features, anybody have experience with this?

Sideface

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#1206853 1-Jan-2015 13:47

gzt: nothing you can do. board is doomed. replace board.

+1
Your board is at least 7 years old and has died.
Bin it.

Sideface

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