Assistance upgrading motherboard

[kaizer0002]

I got a new computer last year (the first I had assembled for me instead of building from scratch) and it's been cursed since day 1. After replacing a few components while it was still under warranty, and reviewing issues other people had with my components, I determined it was in all likelihood my motherboard malfunctioning. However, by this point the parts were no longer under warranty. Fine, whatever, so I bought a new motherboard and got no post beep after installing it. After confirming that all the cables were properly hooked up, I sent it back for a replacement under the belief it may just be a lemon. My replacement suffered the same issue - no post beep. I had a friend help me put it together this time to confirm I'm not crazy and we couldn't get it to work. I still have my old motherboard lying around and after about 30 minutes I got that one hooked up and bootable, meaning that all the other components must be fine. I am returning my new motherboard for a refund as I've concluded that it was wasn't compatible with my other components despite the fact it seemed like it should work on paper.

So, my question is this. These are my original components:
AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU
4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Gigabyte GA-770T
Xion PowerReal 700W PSU
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

This is the motherboard I tried to replace the original motherboard with:
ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Can anyone tell me why this motherboard wouldn't work and potentially recommend a new one? I like ASUS boards and would rather not pay over $150.

[geek hoodlum]

Hi and welcome to Computer Hope!

I'll be posting this Asus link for others to easily check the specs of your motherboard.

[Transfusion]

No post beep in my experience has been:
1:) Bad PSU 12V 4 Pin connector
2:) Bad/not seated properly CPU
3:) CPU Fan (Some CPU fans apparently cause some motherboards to fail to post and boot-I have yet to discover why...)
4:) Bad RAM, which is not the case as your old motherboard is working fine....


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244764-30-powers-beeps-doesn-boot

Hi everybody! Let's work again in 1 min, SOLUTION IN 5 STEPS !

OH NO! ALL OF US SAYING THE SAME *censored* WORDS...

IT WON'T TAKE LONG. MY SOLUTION FOR YOU (AT LEAST WORKED OUT FOR ME) IS THE FOLLOWING (AFTER TRYING ALSO ALL YOU SAID):

1ST. TAKE OFF THE BATTERY
2ST. WHILE IN THIS SITUATION (WITHOUT BATTERY), POWER SYS ON.
3RD. LOAD SETUP OPTIMAL DEFAULTS
4TH. POWER OFF SYSTEM.
5TH. PUT ON THE BATTERY.

END.

SYSTEM STARTS UP LIKE EVER BEFORE.
HOPE IT HELPS!

TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT EVEN TAKING OFF BATTERY DIDN'T WORK, NEITHER SHORTCUT CLEAR CMOS JUMPER


This overly enthusiastic post from the above site( which is related to problems like yours involving Asus boards) has apparently worked for some people...

[kaizer0002]

I checked the specs of everything before I bought them and as far as I can tell, they should have worked together.

1. My PSU has 2 12V 4 pin connectors as my old motherboard required an 8 pin connector. Because of the shape of the connectors, only 1 of those will fit my new motherboard, which is the one I hooked up. Could one of those be bad and my old motherboard still boot up? I don't remember the specific issues I was having, but they were akin to crashes and memory errors and blue screens (I think, hence why I thought it was originally HD/ram related. Seeing as it had a year's worth of trouble, all I recall is my issues were parallel to what some people experienced and posted on the motherboard feedback at newegg)
2. Pretty sure I seated the CPU properly, manically rechecked that 4-5 times
3. I don't know the model of my cpu fan as I didn't install it and its not labeled (as far as I can tell), only that its liquid cooled and uses Norprene tubing.
4. Ditto.

I had tried clearing the CMOS jumper to no avail beforehand, but hadn't thought to reseat the battery. I tried resetting the battery as described in those steps and it didn't work either.

Edit: I am returning the Motherboard today.

[Salmon Trout]

3:) CPU Fan (Some CPU fans apparently cause some motherboards to fail to post and boot-I have yet to discover why...)

To save the cpu from burning up if the fan is stopped, usually.

[Salmon Trout]

To save the cpu from burning up if the fan is stopped, usually.

I have had several motherboards where the cpu fan was a 3 wire type; these feed a rotation RPM signal back to the motherboard; if no rotation sensor pulses are detected then it won't boot. Some boards give a "CPU FAN FAIL" message.

[kaizer0002]

I have had several motherboards where the cpu fan was a 3 wire type; these feed a rotation RPM signal back to the motherboard; if no rotation sensor pulses are detected then it won't boot. Some boards give a "CPU FAN FAIL" message.

The board claimed to be backwards compatible with the 3 pin fans and having a slot for a 4 pin fan.

[Transfusion]

The board claimed to be backwards compatible with the 3 pin fans and having a slot for a 4 pin fan.

In some BIOSes there is an option to set your fan type so the O/S can monitor fan speeds properly.


Yes I have only had such problems with 3 pin fans in 4-Pin fan connectors. I solved them by putting the 3-Pin CPU fan into the SYS_FAN connector, though.

[quaxo]

In some BIOSes there is an option to set your fan type so the O/S can monitor fan speeds properly.

In addition to this, some have the option to ignore an CPU fan warnings when the computer is unable to detect the CPU fan/cooler correctly (my old ASUS Silent Square and ASUS P5K motherboard has this issue). I would only recommend using this setting for testing purposes only, and not on a permanent basis, as it will not only ignore no reading from the fan, it will also ignore a CPU fan that has failed because it won't know the difference without getting that reading. However, even set it to ignore fan warnings, if there is a fan failure it may not warn you about that, but it will still usually shut down in the event of overheating. I still don't recommend doing it unless it's necessary.