VOGONS


First post, by tenyuhuang

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The title is indeed, very weird - because the issue is as well, super weird.

I have two ASUS P3V133 mobos, as well as a Pentium III 450 MHz and another in 1GHz.
Both motherboards and Pentiums worked flawlessly until I decided to tinker with some hardware; and they now share the same issue as well.

For the first P3V133, I was retarded enough to hotplug a PS/2 keyboard onto the system.
It didn't have any symptoms at first, but when I reboot the system, it stuck in a dark void.
Powering down, swapping RAMs, unplugging everything - it doesn't want to boot anymore.

The debug card didn't give anything in that situation ("----"), and there was neither beep from the speaker nor any video output (the monitor went straight asleep)...
I swapped another CPU onto the mobo, the system booted as normal, but still failed into a miserable void when rebooted as it did just now.
Plugging both CPUs onto another system, they would just boot as they did normally.

The issue was already weird enough; what added to the mystery was that if you leave either CPU alone for a few moment and replug them onto the P3V133, they would boot again (for only once), and will refuse to reboot for a second time.

So, I bought another P3V133 and got rid of the problem for a little while, until I install a PC speaker for it today.
The very same issue happened again, however, without any hotplugging.

Is this a known problem for ASUS P3V133, or could it be static damaging the motherboard?
I'm really confused right now and would be really, really grateful if there is some advice or clue.

Thanks in advance!

Reply 2 of 5, by tenyuhuang

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derSammler wrote:

Check the caps on both boards. Getting stuck on a reboot or not starting at first power-on often comes from bad caps.

I've thought of that possibility but I'm a complete noob at identifying blown caps; a random clue led me to search for visually blown ones (which I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do), but I'm still at a loss:

Mobo #1

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Mobo #2

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PS: Even if the system succeeded to boot after the issue comes out, it won't be stable. And when it becomes unwilling to boot like that, it doesn't regardless of the times you've smashed the power and reset button...

Reply 3 of 5, by jesolo

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I agree with derSammler.
The cause is most likely due to bad caps but, it can also relate to bad memory.
You could first try to swop out the memory and see what happens (or run a memory test, either on the existing motherboard or, another one).
Unfortunately, not all bad caps can be identified through a visual inspection alone - sometimes they look fine but, have dried out over the years, resulting in the capacitor operating "outside of its specification".
In such a case, replacing all of them is your only other option.

Reply 4 of 5, by tenyuhuang

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jesolo wrote:
I agree with derSammler. The cause is most likely due to bad caps but, it can also relate to bad memory. You could first try to […]
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I agree with derSammler.
The cause is most likely due to bad caps but, it can also relate to bad memory.
You could first try to swop out the memory and see what happens (or run a memory test, either on the existing motherboard or, another one).
Unfortunately, not all bad caps can be identified through a visual inspection alone - sometimes they look fine but, have dried out over the years, resulting in the capacitor operating "outside of its specification".
In such a case, replacing all of them is your only other option.

The memory was tested with Memtest86+ and passed all tests in 3 passes.
Swapping the memory doesn't have any effect.
Also, the system has been very stable until this situation - it should be a motherboard issue.

If I'll have to replace all the caps, maybe I'll wanna buy another P3V133 since they're very easily available and affordable anyway; or maybe I should go for a P3B and overclock the FSB to 133?

Reply 5 of 5, by jesolo

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tenyuhuang wrote:
The memory was tested with Memtest86+ and passed all tests in 3 passes. Swapping the memory doesn't have any effect. Also, the s […]
Show full quote
jesolo wrote:
I agree with derSammler. The cause is most likely due to bad caps but, it can also relate to bad memory. You could first try to […]
Show full quote

I agree with derSammler.
The cause is most likely due to bad caps but, it can also relate to bad memory.
You could first try to swop out the memory and see what happens (or run a memory test, either on the existing motherboard or, another one).
Unfortunately, not all bad caps can be identified through a visual inspection alone - sometimes they look fine but, have dried out over the years, resulting in the capacitor operating "outside of its specification".
In such a case, replacing all of them is your only other option.

The memory was tested with Memtest86+ and passed all tests in 3 passes.
Swapping the memory doesn't have any effect.
Also, the system has been very stable until this situation - it should be a motherboard issue.

If I'll have to replace all the caps, maybe I'll wanna buy another P3V133 since they're very easily available and affordable anyway; or maybe I should go for a P3B and overclock the FSB to 133?

It's your decision to make - replacing the caps is more of a time consuming exercise and isn't that expensive.
If you can find another P3V133 for relatively cheap (say cheaper than to replace all the caps on your current one), then go for that option and keep this one as a backup.