VOGONS


First post, by martin939

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My ASUS P4B (i845, s.478) doesn't want to boot, I have seen it booting 2 times but all other tries ended up on code "C." according to my PCI diagnostic card:
https://youtu.be/Kw8lw92A8iE
It has a 1.7GHz S.478 P4 in it and a 256MB PC133 SDRAM stick. I've tried different RAM modules and graphic cards (both AGP x4 and PCI) but without much luck.
The CMOS is cleared, set to jumperfree/AUTO and the battery has been replaced.

Reply 2 of 8, by martin939

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The caps 'look' absolutely fine. The "vocal POST" keeps saying "CPU check fail" and after a couple of hard reboots it says "System failed due to overclocking" and boots up in safe mode.
I wonder where I'm going wrong...it's a 1.7GHz Willamette, set to 100FSB x 17 multi, mem:fsb 3:4 and thus w. memory running at rated 133MHz 3-3-3-6 timings.

Reply 4 of 8, by martin939

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Of course, I've seen it many times. Haven't tried the CPU in a different MB yet, however it looks like a mechanical connection problem with the RAM slots...I tapped on the cooler and the screen was gone, the whole thing froze.

+
Okay, the board is broken. Passed 1,5h of stresstest but a slight push on the chipset heatsink and it crashes. Sometimes it will boot, sometimes it won't and it will only start by bending the board slightly.
Shame, P4B is a kind of classic...

Reply 5 of 8, by CkRtech

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It is possible you have a grounding problem. Care to try running it outside of the case?

Displaced Gamers (YouTube) - DOS Gaming Aspect Ratio - 320x200 || The History of 240p || Dithering on the Sega Genesis with Composite Video

Reply 7 of 8, by SSTV2

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It's only a matter of time when these BGA CPU sockets will fail, already have 2 s478 mobos that have detached CPU sockets, one of them is P4P800 that act exactly as descibed. Remove fan from CPU heatsink, turn mobo around and apply good ammount of pressure on the back of CPU socket or bend it outwards by the edges, it will boot like nothing ever happened.

Reply 8 of 8, by martin939

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Shame,isn't it? My board does exactly the same. I wonder if there's any rescue for them as a hot air station would probably melt the socket.