Motherboard Dead overnight??

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by allesclar, Jul 17, 2021.

  1. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Hey all,

    Normal common question.

    One of my retro rigs was working perfectly fine last night and i swiitched off properly.

    Left it all plugged in over night, came to power on this morning and nothing....

    Tested the PSU with another motherboard and that powers on. CMOS clear etc and nothing seems to bring anything back to life, the fans dont even spin.

    Should i assume the motherboard has just randomly died? Is around 15 years old....

    No power issues over night.

    Cheers
     
  2. tsunami231

    tsunami231 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    14,725
    Likes Received:
    1,855
    GPU:
    EVGA 1070Ti Black
    could be cpu too?
     
    allesclar likes this.
  3. DannyD

    DannyD Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    6,770
    Likes Received:
    3,783
    GPU:
    evga 2060
    Probably been the relentless heat we're experiencing right now.
     
    allesclar likes this.
  4. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Cheers for thought, i have tried another CPU in the MB and same result. Tried both CPU's in another good motherboard and both post :(
     

  5. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Even while switched off over night?

    To be fair it has a good cooler on it with an Artic 5 compound paste, and the room it is in isnt exactly hot.

    But thanks for the thoughts.
     
  6. tsunami231

    tsunami231 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    14,725
    Likes Received:
    1,855
    GPU:
    EVGA 1070Ti Black
    just thought i know if cpu dont work nothing will boot, but only way to check that is with new cpu. I would assume if the mother has "lights" that light up even when "powered off" are not lit then it would be motherboard.

    Every mother board I have had in last 20+ years have had light on it that lights up even when "powered off" said lights only turn off it psu is switched off unplugged. if there is no light, motherboard is issue. seeing you tested the psu else where and it did work.

    If there is no lights on MB when psu is switched on but power off, I would assume motherboard
    If there are lights on mb when psu is switched on but power off, I would assume cpu.

    Even with that said I seen system not power on if ram is shot too which could also be ram slot being shot. but that would also have lights on motherboard even if it dont boot.

    Red light=standby/off
    Green light= on

    atlest that what been on all my motherboards
     
    allesclar likes this.
  7. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,683
    Likes Received:
    1,611
    GPU:
    Asus STRIX 1070 OC
    Is motherboard completely dead-dead i.e. no sign of life after pressing case Power button? No LEDs on the motherboard?

    If that's the case probably motherboard I/O controller is dead. How old is the motherboard, model?

    Maybe motherboard got the surge over the LAN, fried LAN chip could be in short circuit preventing motherboard to power on. Saw that more than few times...

    Can you check if there is short circuit somewhere on the motherboard, let's say 12V power rail? Maybe one or two mosfets on CPU VRM are in short circuit, that could explain why PSU won't power up (if PSU has short circuit protection).
     
    allesclar likes this.
  8. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Sadly the motherboards i am working with atm dont have a form of an LED indication onboard.

    I have tried with two motherboards, one suspected faulty, and one i know works and posts.

    I have tried both different CPUs in both boths with the results, no switch on for suspected faulty and post with working one.

    Same again with another GPU etc in both boards, same results. Same again for different ram and even ran no ram test in the working one, but still at least powered on.

    Getting to post is not the issue, its more a case of not switching any power on at all thats the issue.

    Two PSU have been tested and both work fine with the known working board. :(
     
  9. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Dont laugh, but is a Socket A/462 MSI KT3 Ultra motherboard.

    There is no o/b LAN and i run lan via PCI. I can try with all the cards out but i dont think it will change much.

    I run quite a complex LAN network, so had there been any spikes, i am sure other devices would have seen them, but saying that they are all predominantly connected via a gigabit backbone via earthed and shielded switches.

    Worth a look though.

    Thanks
     
  10. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    17,016
    Likes Received:
    7,353
    GPU:
    GTX 1080ti
    dead 12v or 5VSB can also render a mainboard unbootable.

    pull the psu out and bridge the jump the 4th and ground pins.
     
    allesclar likes this.

  11. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,683
    Likes Received:
    1,611
    GPU:
    Asus STRIX 1070 OC
    No laughs here on my side :) Still own more than few fully functional Socket A (462) motherboards mostly based on my favorite NForce 2 Ultra 400 SPP chipset, but also have few KT400A and KT266A chipset based motherboards, one of these is even older than your KT333: it's MSI KT266A Pro "something", not sure but think it's more than 16, 17 years old.

    Thing with these quite old motherboards is that electrolytic caps used for VRMs (and almost everything else that needs voltage filtering on the motherboard, solid caps bacthen were pretty rare on cheap and midrange motherboards) are either half-dead or completely dried up. On almost all these old motherboards I had to replace most if not all caps on VRM. It's very likely that KT333 16, 17 year old MSI board of yours has more than few dried up or even shorted caps on VRM, that could explain why PSU won't power up.

    So, do visual inspection for bulged caps first on the VRM next to the CPU socket and then all the rest caps all around the motherboard PCB. Even if they aren't bulged they could be internally shorted od dried up i.e. low capacity or/and high internal resistance or completely shorted. To propperly check every (phisicaly undamaged) capacitor on the board you need to unsolder every single one and test it with the ESR tester or a bit better digital multimeter looking at the capacitance, internal resistance or the simple short. Local electronic genius could be very helpful...
     
    allesclar, HandR and AsiJu like this.
  12. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,683
    Likes Received:
    1,611
    GPU:
    Asus STRIX 1070 OC
    Yeah, with these old "grannys" lots of things could go wrong.

    But from my personal experience beaten from usage or/and age or cheap ass used caps are the most common problem with such an old motherboards.
     
    allesclar likes this.
  13. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    17,016
    Likes Received:
    7,353
    GPU:
    GTX 1080ti
    Aye, i had to downgrade from a asus nforce 2 w/soundstorm to a gigabyte nforce 2 because of cap failure, the gigabyte is still running.
     
    allesclar likes this.
  14. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,683
    Likes Received:
    1,611
    GPU:
    Asus STRIX 1070 OC
    Hmmm... It's weird now when I think about it I'm almost sure never own, most likely never saw, GigaByte board based on NForce 2 chipset :eek: Bacthen I was obsesed with TBred B and Barton 2500 OC, probably around 15 different NForce 2 boards went through my hands because of OC, more than few Asus, MSI, DFI and my favorite OC boards from Epox and Abit. Don't know exactly why but not a single GigaByte NForce 2 board, guess probably because they were not available here on the local market. Pushing these NF2 boards and CPUs to its limits backthen was a fun time.
     
    allesclar and AsiJu like this.
  15. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    13,837
    Likes Received:
    7,597
    GPU:
    ASUS 3060 OC 12GB
    Are any of the caps on the motherboard expanding? like the little silver part at the top ballooning outwards / curved top?

    If the mobo is indeed dead I bet you can find a cheap one on ebay to replace it.
     
    allesclar and SpajdrEX like this.

  16. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    Thanks all.

    I have had a look at the Caps and nothing too obvious. Had blown ones before.

    They are of the good caps too, now cheap import version that plagued MB's of that era.

    I have taken the LAN, Sound, SATA and graphics cards out, even the memory modules and still no power up.

    I will probably get the meter on the 12v and 5v rails abit later, but then again already spoken to vendor where i got it from and they are sending another one out to me (in warranty).

    I was just abit miffed really. Got plenty of other machines that have been running no problem for years....

    Thanks for all the help, keep you posted.
     
  17. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,769
    Likes Received:
    176
    GPU:
    GeForce GTX 1070
    I have had a few motherboards fail with the caps. But was always reluctant to buying capacitors and fixing as to me there was no certain guarantee that would fix the problem and then i have just wasted £5 on parts???

    I do have a few other dead socket A motherboards and guess i could give it a go?

    But then again the vendor wants me to return the DOA board so might have to have a play with another board.

    Annoying really as i have a socket A which is perfect apart from two things. Not enough PCI slots (2) and the PCI slots each have a crushed and bent pin inside the slot. Literally had to bend it upwards and whilst it works, will always be a thought on my mind it could fail. Solid board to be fair other than that.
     
  18. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,683
    Likes Received:
    1,611
    GPU:
    Asus STRIX 1070 OC
    Wait, wait, wait... you got that NF2 board "new", still under warranty!? How?
     
    allesclar likes this.
  19. jaggerwild

    jaggerwild Master Guru

    Messages:
    940
    Likes Received:
    378
    GPU:
    EVGA RTX 2070 SUP
    Replaced the Cmos battery? 15 years old.......
     
    allesclar likes this.
  20. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    17,016
    Likes Received:
    7,353
    GPU:
    GTX 1080ti
    boards this old won't fail to boot due to a dead battery.
     
    allesclar likes this.

Share This Page