MCP6P-M2+ v6. I'm stumped.

[parker.casey]

[SOLVED] MCP6P-M2+ v6. I'm stumped.

A customer brought something very interesting in today, and I'm having a blast. It's very challenging, so much so that I need help! Here's what we're working with ...

A custom built computer using a BIOSTAR MCP6P-M2+ v6 motherboard. When he turns it on, he gets nothing on the screen. After having taken everything but the PSU, CPU, and mobo out of the picture ... I'm still having trouble pinpointing it! Here's what happens:

Reset the BIOS, after having removed his video card. Power on, and ... POST! Of course, it's doing a floppy seek, and sees a problem with no floppy. So, naturally, go into the BIOS settings and disable that, and save. Okay, second go, and ... nothing. Oddly enough, it doesn't matter WHAT you change in the BIOS, the same thing happens. Even if you just go into the BIOS, and then change nothing, as long as you went into it.

SO, here's what I've done already:

Swapped the CPU ... no change.
Swapped the PSU ... no change.
Swapped the BIOS itself ... no change.

I've even tried just attaching a floppy drive and having the CMOS clear each time... no good, still happens. You get one solid boot from this thing. If you shut it down, you have to clear the CMOS again to get it to boot. What on Earth am I dealing with here?

 

[silvano]

is it a new build? I seem to remember having this issue once, with a customer bringing in a computer he built himself, and he forgot to install motherboard standoffs. Another suggestion, if you can get a good boot out of it, think you could safely flash the bios? Could be a corrupt bios.

 

[parker.casey]

is it a new build? I seem to remember having this issue once, with a customer bringing in a computer he built himself, and he forgot to install motherboard standoffs. Another suggestion, if you can get a good boot out of it, think you could safely flash the bios? Could be a corrupt bios.

Thanks for the alternate thoughts! That's what I love about this place... you can bounce an idea around, and get a lot more out of it than just one mind.
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It turns out it does have the standoffs installed. I attempted to flash it and, again, no change at all.

This may in fact be the monumental occasion of my defeat. I've actually had the good fortune of never once having one I couldn't figure out at all ... this one may have bested me.

 

[silvano]

Thanks for the alternate thoughts! That's what I love about this place... you can bounce an idea around, and get a lot more out of it than just one mind.
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It turns out it does have the standoffs installed. I attempted to flash it and, again, no change at all.

This may in fact be the monumental occasion of my defeat. I've actually had the good fortune of never once having one I couldn't figure out at all ... this one may have bested me.

Was just a thought. Sounds like you've done everything you can, and at that point, I'd diagnose it as a dead motherboard and offer the customer replacement options. Offtopic, but I took a look at your website and really like it, and the layout of your shop from what I can see.

 

[fixitdaz]

Have you Tried replacing the ram have a read of this about have way down the page Solution 2, hope it helps.

 

[parker.casey]

silvano: Thank you very much! I work hard on that thing.

fixitdaz: I did replace the RAM with no luck, I'm going to give it another shot or three though tonight.

 

[BigFrog_Computing]

Long shot here but have you inspected the ATX and power connectors on the
M/B and the corresponding ones on the P/S? Visual inspection of both sides
of the M/B? Could this be an older M/B that requires -5 V from the P/S?
(sorry too lazy to look it up, just throwing out ideas) I'd check that all the
jumpers are in default state as well. Sometimes people short jumpers
sideways instead of up/down, etc.

 

[parker.casey]

Long shot here but have you inspected the ATX and power connectors on the
M/B and the corresponding ones on the P/S? Visual inspection of both sides
of the M/B? Could this be an older M/B that requires -5 V from the P/S?
(sorry too lazy to look it up, just throwing out ideas) I'd check that all the
jumpers are in default state as well. Sometimes people short jumpers
sideways instead of up/down, etc.

On the voltage ... If he'd just put it together and it didn't turn on, I'd go that route ... but it worked previously. I'll do the visual inspection though, certainly.
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[added at 4:10pm] I GOT IT!!! Thank you so much for the suggestion, Frogman. It wasn't any of those things, and it wasn't anything else we've considered so far, but the visual DID lead to the answer. So, here it is:

The board had two popped (though difficult to tell they were) capacitors. I removed them, and soldered on good ones. The thing works now, didn't even need to get a new mobo.