Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
In article <a4p561pjjmi7voshsf0o98th1tmqqo5spd@4ax.com>,
Foolforspam@hotmail.com wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:04:21 GMT, Foolforspam@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> >On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 12:47:07 -0800, "Kent_Diego"
> ><None@Nomicrosoft.com> wrote:
> >
> >>> ,,,, but this happens every time I turn on, also
> >>> the time stamp of the system is midnight on January 1st 2002 and when
> >>> I correct it and exit via F10 it does not save the new date and time,
> >>
> >>It has to be the battery, battery connection poor, or jumper not connected.
> >>
> >>-Kent
> >>
> >
> >Thanks for the reply. The jumper`s definitely connected. How can I
> >tell if it`s the battery?
>
> Didn`t have a volt metre, as Paul suggested, so thought I`d go mad and
> spend 1.99 on a new battery and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks guys,
> it worked! That`s the good news......
> The bad news is I now have discovered a new problem. I can`t seem to
> get the MB to recognise any IDE drive I connect to the secondary
> connector. The primary has a hard drive and a cdrom, and that`s fine,
> but I also have a second hdd and a dvdrw I want to connect. I`ve tried
> using the two from primary connector on the secondary connector, but
> no luck. I`ve tried just one drive on it, still no good. I`ve tried a
> different cable, and the one from the primary, but still it dosn`t see
> anything on secondary connector, just gives a POST message of
> "secondary master fails".
> Ideas greatly appreciated.
When you were working on the motherboard, did you use a screwdriver
to extract the battery from its holder ? Did the screwdriver slip
and hit the motherboard next to the battery holder ?
The reason I ask, is I notice in the picture of the motherboard in
the manual, that the battery holder is right next to the
secondary IDE connector.
If this is a new motherboard, either return it to your vendor
or send it back to Asus using RMA.
There are occasional reports of IDE ports failing to work, and
sometimes clearing the CMOS brings them back to life. In your
case, removing the battery, clears the CMOS anyway, so I cannot
see repeating that procedure making any difference.
I see the report of "secondary master fails" as being ominous,
in the sense that many kinds of failure result in no message
at all. It almost suggests a pullup resistor got scraped off
the board or something - like a logic signal is stuck in a
state that the controller does not expect.
Another test you can try, is the cardboard test. Remove the
motherboard from the computer case, pull the power supply, and
assemble the system components on a work table. I've assembled
two whole systems this way. Place a thick phone book under the
motherboard, to lift it high enough off the table, so that the
AGP and PCI card brackets have room to hang free of the table
top.
To start your tabletop system, a momentary contact of a
screwdriver tip, to the two pins where the power switch normally
goes, should be enough to get the computer to start.
With the motherboard sitting on the phone book, there are no
brass standoffs or bits of metal to make contact with the tracks
on the motherboard. If the symptoms disappear, it is safe to
reassemble your system.
When fitting the motherboard and AGP video card to the
computer case, I leave the motherboard screws a little loose.
I insert the AGP card, and insert a PCI card in the last slot.
Then, adjust the motherboard for two criterion. What you want,
is the brass standoffs sitting underneath the motherboard,
should be centered as well as possible, with each screw hole
in the motherboard. But, you also want the AGP and PCI card
to fit smoothly into their slots. You can hold the motherboard
in place with just a couple of screws, while you adjust the
position of all the hardware.
For best fit, you should use the standoffs that come with the
computer case. Each computer case can use a different length
of standoff, and for alignment purposes, only one length
of standoffs is correct for establishing the right relationship
between motherboard height above the motherboard tray, and
getting the PCI and AGP brackets to fit properly with the
computer case.
Good luck,
Paul
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram