No POST , No screen MSI 6340

Hot-swapping and Boot-Block flash & Boot block flash and floppy support
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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Sombody help me ! My msi 6340 don't work.When I start the power , I hear no beeps , I seen no screen , but the fans are working , the CD-rom to and the harddrive works .But I see nothing on my screen.The monitor works on another pc. I tried two APG cards but it's still te seem !
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
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Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2002 12:41 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

Was it working before? Tried to flash it? Added any cards recently?
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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I guess , I have it from a friend they don't used .
I tried everything, I take the old processor from another 6340 (Packard Bell), the video card , hard disk,cd-rom and floppy that work's fine.
I do this test with this board 6340 but not from a PB machine. And I have no screen , but the rest works , first start the fan , then the cd-rom and then the hard disk , the floppy they do nothing .
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

Do you have a speaker connected, or is there a speaker on the board ?
Make sure you have a speaker. Disconnect all disks, remove all option cards, remove RAM. Do you get a beep when you power on ? If not, the CPU is apparently not running. If you do, add RAM. If you normally use an add-in video card you should get a different set of beeps indicating that it cannot find the video. If you do not, try different RAM.

Can you try your CPU and RAM (and video card) in the other machine ?

Sometimes the problem is as simple as a cable connected the wrong way round or a card not properly inserted in the slot.
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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I tried everything , I use all the things of the working meanboard 6340(florida=Packard Bell) except the bios , on the working board it is a AMI bios. On the bad or dead motherbord it is a Award Bios and it is the same motherbord msi 6340 but there are different chipset like VT82C686B.
I remove all cards, RAM, and changed with other cards like Video pci card, Video AGP card and changed also the RAM 64MB to 128MB SDRAM
Now I have it tested with a PCI CARD DEBUG Analizer .And it stops in the beginning on C0=Error Code – C0
Award (C0)Turn off chipset cache; OEM Specific-cache control.
What can I do !Or what does it mean !
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
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Crashes at a very early stage of boot-up...
What processor(s) did you use for testing? Was the FSB frequency jumper set correctly? If yes, then most likely the northbridge is fried (although I have also seen a few boards which crashed at C0 because of a bad flash chip (or the contents of the flash chip)).
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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Yes , I hear no beeps on board and with another speaker , also nope.
I do the test with my working processor AMD Athlon 1000 (C) mhz ,FSB 100.
with this board you can not chance the FSB it stays on 100 mhz.
The C stays for 133 MHz FSB, but in my workend msi6340 it works fine only I have 752 mhz speed , but I know .I must have a B.
There are no jumpers for setting the FSB on board. And nothing in the bios
I have the manual here .
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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Now I have it tested with a PCI CARD DEBUG Analizer .And it stops in the beginning on C0=Error Code – C0
Award (C0)Turn off chipset cache; OEM Specific-cache control .
This whas tested with a workend processor .
Now I tested with a bad processor and the error code is then C1=Bad Simms !!
What is now wrong ! Or what does it mean in the first test ! and the second test !
PeteV
BIOS Rookie
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:22 am

Hi!

After reading this description of your dead mobo problem, I can tell
you having probably exactly the same problem with my three-four
old AT/PI mobo's, for which I'll really try to get some explanation for
and rather a real solution to get them waking up into life once again.

My findings, after some few hundred trials with different combinations
of mobo's, BIOS'es, video-cards etc., so far are, that there must be
some very essential link missing from the first steps of POST to the
next phase when the command should be given to the BIOS, and this
has been proven to happen to me in tens of trials with different
combinations of mobo's and other components.

If getting some new findings, I'll come back giving some report on them.

Best regards,

Pete V.
Helsinki, Finland
lucske74
Chip off the ol' block
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:58 pm
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Hello Pete,

Do you think that I have a bad bios or is it something else!
I will wait on your answer.

Luc R
Tienen, Belgium
PeteV
BIOS Rookie
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:22 am

Hi!

Thank you for contacting/replying.

So far I can give you just some notes on my findings, but no real analysis
of the exact problem point or good advice what to do or which things to
investigate more in deep.

Here you have the actual description on my "dead" mobos' case and the
status with them:

These three old AT/PI mobos' of mine did work fine years until a few
weeks ago, when they begun to "die", i.e. didn't anymore wake-up
properly on power on, one after each other, after trials to re-flash their
BIOS'es with the update .bins from their manufacturers' BIOS pages.

During the years I have been facing the same type of "deaths" with
several mobo's, so this situation is somehow familiar to me and not any
big or depressing issue. And further, these old mobo's do not either
present too big commercial value anymore, so they are a very good
"benchmark" for any type of trials and experiments, trying to get
as much as possible experience and familiarity with this type of cases,
to be ready for such an unfortunate and unwanted accident with a
real valuable new mobo.

So, now after three exactly similar cases during a very short period,
my interest really did wake-up on this type of cases and behaviour
and I would eagerly like to learn more in depth the reasons for these
sudden "deaths" and possible means and practical solutions to get
a "dead" mobo to waking-up in life (to reincarnate!) once again.

The actual status with all my recently "dying" mobos' is exactly same,

when powering on
a) the mobo is powered
b) the fans begin to work
c) the HDD is starting (maybe also somehow recognized?)
d) the VGA-monitor is powered and doing it's own power-on
routine, but not really waking-up remaining totally black

after all this the POST freezes, and as comments/notes
1. there has not yet been heard any sound signals or beeps at all
2. the FDD has not yet been starting or recognized at all
3. probably the command has not yet been transferred to the
BIOS at all (or, if by chance been transferred, maybe not
reaching the BIOS)

and, all these points from a) to d) and from 1. to 3. have been
valid exactly the same
- with any BIOS chip, own or "alien", good or bad or empty
- with or without either the BIOS chip or the CMOS battery,
or even both at all

As a conclusion from the above, I would like to declare, that there
is now some "key", electrical link or command or routine or whatever,
missing from the regular POST routine, after the first seconds
starting phase, just before reaching the next phase, when the BIOS
should take the control for the POST.

My guess, now after several more trials and some replies/advice/
comments, is, that the missing "key" in all this might be a burnt
component on the mobo, through which the transferring of the POST
command can't come through and reach the BIOS at all. The burnt
component might in some case be the BIOS chip itself, but I guess,
still more probably a component soldered/fixed on the mobo,
a capacitor, resistor, condenser or whatever, essentially included
in the POST routine.

My questions now are

Is there some general type of reasons or explanations
to this type of sudden mobo "death" behaviour?
May I have a right direction on my guesses?
What is the "key" missing from there?
What to consider when handling the mobo, BIOS, CMOS battery etc.?
How could these situations be avoided to happen in future?
What could be the "curing medicine" or "rehabilitating"
routine for these?

Still I may go on with some more trials, if finding some ways, and
according to received advice and hints, hoping to get these, and maybe
some other, too, mobos' back in life again.

Many thanks in advance for anyone for any advice, or comments
or hints to recover this type of unfortunate cases.


Best regards,

Pete V.
M.Sc.
Helsinki, Finland
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
Posts: 3122
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 4:16 pm
Location: Slovakia
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A really helpful thing is a POST card. I've made an ISA one myself. If it does not show any activity, there's something really wrong with the board - then check all voltages (CPU VCC, 3.3V voltage on newer boards, 1.5V and 2.5V on PII and PIII boards). If it shows some activity, it will stop somewhere and you can guess what's wrong using the last POST code.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
PeteV
BIOS Rookie
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:22 am

Hi!

Thanks for Rainbow for the voltage check and ISA POST card hint.

How to construct such, where to get scheme/instructions for it?


Rgds,

Pete V.
sulbert
Master Flasher
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 1:38 pm
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http://members.tripod.com/~bbright/info ... stcard.htm for example.

A good link IMHO but unfortunately only in Russian (contains schematics for both PCI and ISA POST cards):
http://evm.wallst.ru/main/post/

IIRC Rainbow also had some photos of his POST card somewhere here...
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
Posts: 3122
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 4:16 pm
Location: Slovakia
Contact:

Here are the "photos" from a scanner and a schematic:
http://www.pppr.sk/rainbow/hardware/post/
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
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