12-12-2006, 11:22 PM
This is proving to be more complicated than just a fan not spinning on the MB.
It turns out I don't have a suitable substitute power supply to try; my power supply does meet the specs however. Anyway, I emailed ASUS, the MB manufacturer. I received a reply which I am posting at the bottom of this post. Following their directions, I still got no post when I removed the MB from the case. But after I removed the CPU, I was able to force a post/vocal post error to the effect there was no CPU. The MB fan still does not spin. A couple of times during my multiple starts it tried to spin, but did not succeed in spinning. So -- I could have an issue with the CPU as well as the MB fan? How do I test the CPU? Remove the old thermal paste, apply new paste and retry it?
It turns out I don't have a suitable substitute power supply to try; my power supply does meet the specs however. Anyway, I emailed ASUS, the MB manufacturer. I received a reply which I am posting at the bottom of this post. Following their directions, I still got no post when I removed the MB from the case. But after I removed the CPU, I was able to force a post/vocal post error to the effect there was no CPU. The MB fan still does not spin. A couple of times during my multiple starts it tried to spin, but did not succeed in spinning. So -- I could have an issue with the CPU as well as the MB fan? How do I test the CPU? Remove the old thermal paste, apply new paste and retry it?
Quote:
Dear Sir/Madam,
There are a couple of reason that your system may not be sending a signal to your monitor or giving you any post beeps. The first thing to try is to insure that we are not having something as simple as a grounding/emi interference problem. Start by taking the motherboard out of the case you have it in, set it back up on the cardboard box that it came in straight to the card board(do not use the antistatic foam, plastic, or an antistatic mat as these can keep your system from posting) if you do not have the box then use a phone book, newspaper or some other completely non-conductive material. Connect up to the motherboard just the bare minimums needed to post your system up the cpu(w/heatsink and fan), video card(connected to monitor), memory, power supply and powered speakers if your board has our vocal post reporter. Power the system up outside the case, if you are now getting video and post then we need to take some extra steps before mounting the board back into your case to prevent it from not posting again, the easiest remedy for this is to get some standard black electrical tape and make a cross over the brass or metal standoffs you are mounting the board into, this will accomplish 2 things, it will insure against a metal to metal contact and it will lift the board up away from the case insuring that no solder points are sitting to close to the case generating an emi field.
If out of the case you are still getting no post/no video then we need to try and force a post/vocal post error, remove your cpu from the socket and power the system up if you then get post/vocal post errors such as no cpu installed then we will need to have the cpu tested to insure that it is functioning properly, go thru each of the main components that we had left connected to the board to verify they are working. Another reason your board may not be posting is if your board came with a bios on it that will not support the cpu you have installed, please go to the link provided below and check to see if your board required a bios update to work with your cpu:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx.
Power can also be a factor when you are having a no post/no video situation as each power supply manufacturer differs in the way they rate their wattages you can have huge difference in the actual amount of power the power supply can push out. When choosing a power supply the best method would be to check the side of the power supply under DC output and verify what each of the voltage rails can distribute. We recommend that the +3.3 voltage rail which powers your cpu and your video card can supply at least 28 amps, the +5 voltage rail which powers up all of the IC chips on your motherboard be able to supply at least 35 amps, the +12 voltage rail which powers all drives and fans be able to supply at least 18-20 amps and the +5VSB which will be the determining factor for bringing your system out of standby mode be able to supply at least 2 amps.
You may also want to try clearing your CMOS settings using the CLRTC(CLR_RTC) jumper or solder points and removing the battery this will set the bios back to factory defaults and may resolve a bios conflict that can cause the problem you are having. To do this first locate the CMOS battery and the CLRTC jumper/solder points in your user manual on the page with the drawn motherboard layout this is usually in the first section of your manual, next unplug your power supply cord from the back of the computer, pop the battery out and move the jumper cap or short the solder points for fifteen seconds after doing this then reverse the procedure.
After trying all of these steps and verifying all other components as working then please contact our RMA dept.