BIOS Updates forum

Hi,
My AMD Duron 1GHz computer (installed with ABIT KT7-RAID MOBO) hung at several occassions over a week and finally cannot boot up (no beep, no attempt to access to floppy drive, no video). However, the CPU fan and another fan on the mobo (probably the chipset fan) continue to spin upon power-up. The same problem exists even after removing all the cards and CPU from the mobo. I suspected the BIOS to be problematic and had tried replacing the BIOS chip with another working BIOS chip from my Pentium II mobo and the same problem exist, though I'm not sure if the result is due to difference between AMD and Pentium based BIOS. Can someone advise me what could be the problem and the solution or how to pin point the source of the problem? Thanks.

Putting a Pentium based BIOS into a Socket A CPU is not going to get you very far; the BIOS is specific to the chipset. The BIOS is low on the list of likely candidates.

If the CPU, RAM and video card work in another motherboard, try installing only the CPU and one stick of RAM. You should get some beeps if the CPU runs, indicating that it cannot find a video card. Also try a different PSU.

I had tried earlier with the CPU and 1 stick of SDRAM only but the same problem exist. I'll try to change another PSU and see how. Thanks.

Hi,
I've tried with another PSU but the same problem remains. Earlier I had also tried 2 other CPU & several SDRAM (one stick at a time) but the same problem remain. Could there be something wrong in the motherboard, and if so, what could be wrong and is there anyway to isolate/confirm that? Thanks.

Sorry to hear you had no success. I am afraid it sounds as though your board is dead through component failure. To diagnose this any further will require a voltmeter, probably an oscilloscope and electronics knowledge. You could start by checking that the voltages being supplied to the CPU from the on-board regulators are OK (Vio and Vcore - check the Duron pin-out to find out where.

The only other suggestion I have is to check that the back-up battery is OK. Sometimes a dead CMOS battery prevents a system from starting.

On Abit boards, first check if the big capacitors aren't "growing" like they're going to explode.

Rainbow wrote:On Abit boards, first check if the big capacitors aren't "growing" like they're going to explode.

On my Soltek SL75-KV2+ there are two or three which are bulging. I wonder whether they are made with that bad electrolyte that was going around a few years back.

Most affected boards are Abit, but some other brands were using these bad capacitors too. I've replaced some also on QDI boards (VTT capacitor is often bad, which causes instability with faster CPUs).
One interesting thing - I've never seen an ECS/PC Chips board with bad capacitors

Hi,
I had done the followings and the problem still exist:
a) replace a CMOS battery
b) check that there is no 'glowing' capacitor
c) bought a motherboard diagnostic card - no POST code display on the ABIT motherboard with problem but with POST code display on 2 working PCs (1 Intel and the other AMD). The motherboard diagnostic card also showed that the DC voltages are ok

Any other suggestions to troubleshoot further? Otherwise, I guess probably there are indeed some components failure on the motherboard that is beyond repair.


Thanks.

Wei wrote: The motherboard diagnostic card also showed that the DC voltages are ok

That cannot check the voltages at the CPU. Sometime there is a blown transistor in the power converter(s) that takes the 5V or 3.3V and provides the CPU core voltage, or the CPU IO voltage.

If CPU core, RAM voltages are correct and capacitors aren't "growing", then maybe BIOS BootBlock is dead.. then there's allso no speaker beeping. Flash this BIOS.

As I do not have the equipment to measure the CPU core & RAM voltages, the next best thing to do is to flash the BIOS as suggested. I had previously used an BIOS chip from a Intel motherboard and the ABIT motherboard exhibited the same problem. Can I check whether must I use a BIOS chip from a AMD motherboard with the SAME chipset to perform the BIOS flash? Thanks.

Either replace the BIOS chip with one from an *identical machine* which will have the same chipset, and the same I/O devices at the same addresses, or take the chip from the broken machine and flash it in another PC or in an EEPROM programmer.

Rainbow wrote:One interesting thing - I've never seen an ECS/PC Chips board with bad capacitors

See here then

It's like the same of my meanboard MSI 6340 but the post diagnose card hangs on C0 ! I don't know of is it the Bios ore something else .
Maybe the chipset !