How to tell if my mother board needs replacing

[randles tech]

i am having a problem my system goes on for literally 1 second the front fan turns slightly aswel as the the cpu fan there is a red led and a green led that is constantly on when the power cable is in there is no beeps at all i have read and tried everything on your trouble shooter but still i can not identify the problem.

My specs are as follows

xfx geforce 8200 mother board
amd athalon 64 x2 dual core
ati radion 4670 gpu
600w atx alpine silent psu
1x kingston 2gb ddr2 ram
1x ocz tech 1gb ddr2 ram
2 system fans

i have replaced my psu and literally took my system apart to nothing and rebuilt it using your check list and the xfx user manual trying with just basic hardware connected ie cpu, 1 stick of ram, gpu.

I have tried it every way but it is still the same no matter what, i am starting to think it is either the MOBO or the CPU, is there any way to know what i need to replace without it costing me money to find out?

also if i did have to replace my MOBO what would be a good replacement for the xfx geforce 8200 mother board.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[randles tech]

In addition to this i have reset the cmos and took out the battery for 30 minutes and put back in still noting i have also done all the above out of the case so that rules out the case shorting the psu i have tried 3 seperate psu's with the sam problem on each there is no burn marks or charred smells i have noticed that there is no thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink could this be the problem i am at my wits end and almost about to take my system to eclipse computers for a diognostic but as you know this will cost money so i was wondering if anyone else could come up with any idea before i go folking out money i havnt got...

 

[sicknasty19]

If you have a friend with identical computers take each component out of your rig and try it in his individually. My mobo is being replaced because I had the exact same issues luckily for me i needed a new processor too so i wont be using the old one when the two new items come tuesday. I tried everything else and I also replaced almost everything in my computer and I was still unable to start.

My first suggestion.... albeit an overall unrecommended thing to do, take your heatsink off the CPU and start it up... see if you get ANY heat from it. just hold your finger to it and start it. It wont burn you right away if it is working but you will notice a warming. Mine would run with no video but the processor wouldn't gain heat even with it running for 20 minutes with no heatsink... thats horrible.

 

[randles tech]

If you have a friend with identical computers take each component out of your rig and try it in his individually. My mobo is being replaced because I had the exact same issues luckily for me i needed a new processor too so i wont be using the old one when the two new items come tuesday. I tried everything else and I also replaced almost everything in my computer and I was still unable to start.

My first suggestion.... albeit an overall unrecommended thing to do, take your heatsink off the CPU and start it up... see if you get ANY heat from it. just hold your finger to it and start it. It wont burn you right away if it is working but you will notice a warming. Mine would run with no video but the processor wouldn't gain heat even with it running for 20 minutes with no heatsink... thats horrible.

Ok tried that but as soon as i hit the power button the whole system starts for a split second then turns back off not giving the CPU enough time to generate any heat unfortunately i do not know anyone with an identicle system but i have tried my PSU, HDD, GPU, DVD Drives and RAM in another system and they all work fine my CPU was not compatible with that system so I still do not know if it is the MOBO the CPU or both.

 

[sicknasty19]

I'd just be worried about buying a mobo and it being the processor or buying a processor and it being the mobo. I just replaced both as I have said for the same reason and if the 775 mobo's weren't so bad I would have stuck with my older processor too. None of the 775 come with 1600Mhz ddr3... mine did so I had to replace both parts just to make a purchase that made sense and not over spend for something outdated and used on ebay. I would suggest replacing the mobo at first an hopefully that will fix the issue. Thing is, if you have enough money to get both just get a solid upgrade in your range. Another thing you might want to do is look for discoloration of the processor. If it is discolored from heat more than likely it burned out. Its either one or the other though. I did what I had to hopefully you don't find yourself spending 350 upgrading both.

 

[randles tech]

The thing is now most new MOBO's come with DDR3 as standard so no doubt i would have to upgrade my RAM aswell as i am using DDR2 i really think that it is my MOBO that has died do you know of any Boards that will take my processor and DDR2 RAM?

 

[sicknasty19]

Not many. if your comfortable giving me your address via personal message ill send you 4 gb of ddr3 at 240 pin that i had replaced for faster ram.

 

[randles tech]

Not many. if your comfortable giving me your address via personal message ill send you 4 gb of ddr3 at 240 pin that i had replaced for faster ram.

PM sent mate thank you so much for your generosity

 

[johnnyq1233]

Have you tried to power up without the gpu in..sometimes a dead gpu will cause this condition..I had a gtx285 do this on me 3 months ago...

 

[unksol]

Your system is old enough it may have capacitor issues. It's EXTREMELY unlikely to be the CPU. But If either are bad it's really not worth fixing, you need a new board/CPU and memory.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

 

[randles tech]

Its deffo not the GPU as i have tried it with and without it being installed and come up with the same problem and i pretty much no now i am facing a MOBO, CPU replacement and with the help of sicknasty19 the ram also i have checked over the wiki link just posted and checked my capacitors nothing seems out of place but i am no expert on the actual mother board itself and wouldnt have the means to fix so from this thread i clearly see the parts that need to be replaced i will let you guys know if i have any luck once the new parts come through..

Thanks for your suggestions

 

[randles tech]

After many hours of trial and error trying to figure out what the problem is i realised that i never tried something very simple,

I removed the 4pin CPU connector so just the fans 1 stick of RAM and the heatsink fan was connected and it fired up then i plugged back in the 4pin CPU connector and it cut out again leaving me clear that it is my CPU that I have to replace.

Now my question is would an AM3 socket AMD Athlon II X2 3.2ghz CPU work ok in my AM2 socket MOBO????
and where would be cheapest place that takes paypal to buy one????

 

[randles tech]

Now i am unsure again because even with the CPU taken out of my system as soon as the 4pin CPU pwer connector is in it is shorting out still does this mean that that specific port is fried???

 

[randles tech]

Best answer selected by randles tech.