Asus A8N-SLI Premium & 4400+ = No Post

Phil7C · Post by **Phil7C** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:52 am

Hi All,

If I connect PSU to mobo and hit the 'on' switch then the new-fangled 'Post Reporter' on my shiney new Asus A8N-SLI helpfully tells me "No CPU".

When I put my supa-dupa dual core AMD 4400+ in, then I get nothing, zip, nada, absolutely didly squat. No Post, no beeps, no helpful Post Reporter recorded message.

Q: is it the chip or the mobo? (Or the PSU?)

The power LED on the mobo lights up, but the one on the case doesn't. If I connect a low speed fan then the power switches off after a couple of seconds (presumably current draw is insufficient?).

The mobo is currently sitting on cardboard so no short. I haven't got a spare CPU/mobo/PSU to test my components on.

Anyone got any ideas / had similar experiences?

Any suggestions much appreciated!

Phil

4400+ with Thermalright XP-120
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Corsair XMS-XL (2225) 2*512MB
Samsung P120 250GB
Gigabyte X800XL
Pioneer DVR109XLB
Plextor DVD
Mitsumi Floppy/in-built flash card readers
Antec SLK3000B case with Seasonic S12-500 PSU
Samsung 710T

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:32 pm

Well, other than the obligatory goat sacrifice (followed by reading of the entrails) you might want to try booting up with only one stick of DIMM (read the manual on which slot to put the DIMM in). You may need the latest and greatest BIOS for it to recognize your CPU, and booting up with one stick of RAM may work.

Once, after I flashed to latest BIOS and reset the CMOS, my system wouldn't come up. Reason : default multiplier was 4x which my Winchester didn't particularly care for. I had to use the one stick of RAM trick to get it to reboot. While you have your system open, clear the CMOS. It can't hurt.

The power LED on the mobo lights up when 5V SB is present. Does the PSU fan come on without the CPU inserted? Is it coming on with the PSU inserted? Try connecting a HDD or optical drive to it to increase power draw.

hugekebab · Post by **hugekebab** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:31 pm

hmmm, i have been thinking recently to upgrade very similarly to you.

did you find the heatpiped gigabyte has any problems or is it very stable even in hot weather?

my old heatsinked 9800 pro always crashes in hot weather.

Phil7C · Post by **Phil7C** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:15 pm

Hi Lenny, one DIMM with or without the CPU? PSU fans spins happily even without the chip. I'll try the goat sacrifice - is it worth waiting for a full moon or is that just simple superstition?

Hi hugekabab: I've no idea! This is a new system and I can't get it to post, let alone use it in hot weather...!

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:09 am

Phil7C wrote:Hi Lenny, one DIMM with or without the CPU? PSU fans spins happily even without the chip. I'll try the goat sacrifice - is it worth waiting for a full moon or is that just simple superstition?

One DIMM with the CPU. If it POSTs, go into BIOS, set it to something conservative and stable (don't want system to hang halfway through BIOS update), reboot, flash the BIOS to a stable version that supports the X2, then reboot again and set BIOS again.

We obviously have very different motherboards and CPUs (Asus A8V Deluxe, 3200+ Winchester), so I'm not sure how applicable my experience is to yours. What happened with me was that after I flashed my BIOS (and cleared the CMOS), my system wouldn't POST (no beeps, no video, no female voice telling me "CPU failure" or whatever).

I had to:

Remove one of the DIMMs (and of course I did not read the manual before I did it, and so removed the wrong one, and so it still wouldn't boot initially)

Cleared the CMOS (not sure if it made any difference - clearing CMOS but leaving both sticks of DIMM installed, it still wouldn't POST)

Rebooted, went into BIOS and changed the multiplier from 4x to 10x

And only then was it happy with two sticks of RAM. But I had already flashed BIOS by then.

Not to say it'll work for sure, but it's easier to try this out than RMAing the equipment. You may need to have latest and greatest BIOS just to POST with the X2 (in which case you'll either need to beg Asus for help or borrow an older CPU to flash the board first).

And of course you can always send me the X2 so that I can, erm, test it for you

It will probably take a number of months to fully determine if it is in perfect condition of course

Since the next full moon is almost 3 weeks away I'd say its not wise to keep the gods waiting...

Phil7C · Post by **Phil7C** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:32 am

Hi Lenny, cheers for the suggestion but it won't even Post. I've tried CPU on lonesome, CPU + GPU, CPU + RAM, CPU + RAM + GPU, CPU + RAM + GPU + drives etc.

Has anyone got a dual core and the Asus A8N-SLI Premium? Did it Post without flashing the bios???!

amplemind · Post by **amplemind** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:37 am

Just flash the bios.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:14 am

Phil7C wrote:Hi Lenny, cheers for the suggestion but it won't even Post. I've tried CPU on lonesome, CPU + GPU, CPU + RAM, CPU + RAM + GPU, CPU + RAM + GPU + drives etc.

You tried only one stick of RAM or both?

The only thing I could find online with 5 mins googling is this:

I am having the very same problem with a8N-SLI mobo and AMD X2 processor. I spoke to Asus today, and they suggested using just one stick of RAM in Channel B1, which should allow the system to boot, and allow you to flash new BIOS from DOS.

Source

Your problem seems even worse in that it doesn't even try to POST.

Phil7C · Post by **Phil7C** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:40 am

Hi All,

Definitely a dead mobo - swapped all my components for a friend's working bitz and still no Post.

Thanks for your help - I'll prob be back in a fortnight after I've RMA-ed the mobo...

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:09 am

Is your mobo's BIOS able to recognize a single-core Venice? If not, then you just need to update BIOS. Unfortunately, you need a processor to do so.