Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.soyo (More info?)
I posted this a few months ago but didn't really get any responses, so I'm
trying again.
Early last year, I built a new main box - Soyo KT-4000 Ultra Dragon
Platinum, XP1700+, 60GB Deskstar, 2 ROMs, Ti4200, w2k; except for the mobo,
nothing fancy. Over time, it developed this strange mechanical noise during
boot-up; a 'labored' sound, like a fan motor going bad. But it always booted
fine and ran fine.
In about March or April of this year, I pretty much rebuilt the whole
thing - new CPU, PS, case, single ROM, FDD, all new fans. I upgraded the vid
card, too, but don't recall if it was right before or after. So, in addition
to the vid card, the only things that I carried over which contained
mechanical moving parts over were the HDD and the mobo, with its little
Northbridge fan.
The labored noise was still present. I tried unplugging the Northbridge fan
(though it was hard to imagine that little thing making that loud of a
noise) and subsequently also replaced the HDD; neither action helped, nor
did trying other vid cards.
The real problem, though, is that it suddenly developed a habit of not
booting successfully. Right off, I checked Soyo's site and found a BIOS rev
that added Barton support and I installed that, as the new CPU was a Barton.
Didn't help with the boot problem.
What happens is this: normally the box beeps once when the power is turned
on, beeps again after ~30 sec., the monitor makes that static-y crackling
noise, the boot screen appears and the boot process commences.
When it does not boot, instead of the crackling monitor noise after the
second beep, there is a third, long beep, the screen stays black and the
boot process doesn't start. Pushing the power button restarts the sequence.
Sometimes it boots successfully on the first attempt, sometimes it takes 7
or 8 tries before it finally boots.
It strikes me, and I hope I'm using the right terms here, that the boot is
failing because the video subsystem is not intializing.
I installed MBM5 to see if maybe it's a power problem and it seems maybe it
is - the 3.3v and +5v are good, but the +12v is ~+10.xx, the -12v is ~-5.xx
and the -5v is 0. (In comparison, I just put together a little Shuttle XPC
and MBM5 shows proper voltages across the range on it.)
I would tend to think that it's not the PS, though, as (1) it's a good
quality one (Antec 350w) and (2) I was getting the same laboring noise (if
not the boot problem) with the old PS.
It seems to me that the mobo is defective/damaged and is not properly
regulating the voltages. Could this be a likely scenario?
I should add that when the box is up and running, it's rock solid and runs
beautifully. I haven't experienced any strange/wierd/oddball problems or
anomalies, 3DMark and Sandra report normal performance, etc.
I'm running 333DDR and that's set properly in the BIOS and I reset the
proper FSB for the Barton in the BIOS, too.
Are there any settings in the BIOS I should double check?
Any help/advice/pointers with this rather agravating problem will be greatly
appreciated. Now that my Ti4200 is back in this box (I swapped the newer
card into the Shuttle), I want to upgrade but am hesitant to do so until
this problem is resolved. I'm willing to go with a new PS but am also
considering trying a new mobo. TIA
I posted this a few months ago but didn't really get any responses, so I'm
trying again.
Early last year, I built a new main box - Soyo KT-4000 Ultra Dragon
Platinum, XP1700+, 60GB Deskstar, 2 ROMs, Ti4200, w2k; except for the mobo,
nothing fancy. Over time, it developed this strange mechanical noise during
boot-up; a 'labored' sound, like a fan motor going bad. But it always booted
fine and ran fine.
In about March or April of this year, I pretty much rebuilt the whole
thing - new CPU, PS, case, single ROM, FDD, all new fans. I upgraded the vid
card, too, but don't recall if it was right before or after. So, in addition
to the vid card, the only things that I carried over which contained
mechanical moving parts over were the HDD and the mobo, with its little
Northbridge fan.
The labored noise was still present. I tried unplugging the Northbridge fan
(though it was hard to imagine that little thing making that loud of a
noise) and subsequently also replaced the HDD; neither action helped, nor
did trying other vid cards.
The real problem, though, is that it suddenly developed a habit of not
booting successfully. Right off, I checked Soyo's site and found a BIOS rev
that added Barton support and I installed that, as the new CPU was a Barton.
Didn't help with the boot problem.
What happens is this: normally the box beeps once when the power is turned
on, beeps again after ~30 sec., the monitor makes that static-y crackling
noise, the boot screen appears and the boot process commences.
When it does not boot, instead of the crackling monitor noise after the
second beep, there is a third, long beep, the screen stays black and the
boot process doesn't start. Pushing the power button restarts the sequence.
Sometimes it boots successfully on the first attempt, sometimes it takes 7
or 8 tries before it finally boots.
It strikes me, and I hope I'm using the right terms here, that the boot is
failing because the video subsystem is not intializing.
I installed MBM5 to see if maybe it's a power problem and it seems maybe it
is - the 3.3v and +5v are good, but the +12v is ~+10.xx, the -12v is ~-5.xx
and the -5v is 0. (In comparison, I just put together a little Shuttle XPC
and MBM5 shows proper voltages across the range on it.)
I would tend to think that it's not the PS, though, as (1) it's a good
quality one (Antec 350w) and (2) I was getting the same laboring noise (if
not the boot problem) with the old PS.
It seems to me that the mobo is defective/damaged and is not properly
regulating the voltages. Could this be a likely scenario?
I should add that when the box is up and running, it's rock solid and runs
beautifully. I haven't experienced any strange/wierd/oddball problems or
anomalies, 3DMark and Sandra report normal performance, etc.
I'm running 333DDR and that's set properly in the BIOS and I reset the
proper FSB for the Barton in the BIOS, too.
Are there any settings in the BIOS I should double check?
Any help/advice/pointers with this rather agravating problem will be greatly
appreciated. Now that my Ti4200 is back in this box (I swapped the newer
card into the Shuttle), I want to upgrade but am hesitant to do so until
this problem is resolved. I'm willing to go with a new PS but am also
considering trying a new mobo. TIA
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