Give more details on the build like what board version of the P2B-DS (should be marked on the board itself & on the ISA slot nearest the edge), what cpu / memory / PSU / video

Did you test it worked before you made the build / is the coin battery new / could there be a short between the board and case / have you checked all jumpers are correctly set

Can you post some clear pics of the components / setup

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2021-01-25, 23:37:

Give more details on the build like what board version of the P2B-DS (should be marked on the board itself & on the ISA slot nearest the edge), what cpu / memory / PSU / video

It's a P2B-DS v1.05. The CPUs are both P3 SL43E 600E/256/100/1.65V. The memory is 512MB of 4x128MB PC100 non-ECC SDRAM sticks. All modules contain 16 identical Toshiba TC59S6408BFT-80 2M-word x 4-bank x 8-bit 64Mbit SDRAM chips. The PSU is a new 450W Fire Bull FB450-80AC made by AcBel that came with the recently purchased ECE1135 case from Evercase (Kate and McKenzie). The video card is an AGP Matrox Millennium G400 906-04 Rev. B.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2021-01-25, 23:37:

Did you test it worked before you made the build / is the coin battery new / could there be a short between the board and case / have you checked all jumpers are correctly set

I had no means of really testing it before making the build. Kinda needed to put it together to see if it worked. I just replaced the coin battery. I removed the motherboard from the case and hooked it up to the power supply with the CPU and one RAM stick and shorted the power switch pins and got the same behavior (brief fan spin, small click from speaker, fans spun down). All jumpers appear to be set correctly: 100MHz bus, 6x (6/1) frequency multiplier. The other jumpers I believe are just for options.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2021-01-25, 23:37:

Can you post some clear pics of the components / setup

I mean at this point since I'm down to MB, CPU, memory and PSU, here they are. The PSU:

MB Overview:

Multiplier jumpers:

Bus speed jumpers:

MB version:

EDIT: Fixing image links.

My guess is that something is shorting that PSU out or that the PSU is defective .

First, make sure that nothing is connected to the PSU other then motherboard and the AC power cable .

I would try another PSU, if you have a spare.

Alternatively, if you have a multimeter, set it to resistance mode, disconnect the PSU from the motherboard and probe between each of the voltage inputs pins and ground on the ATX power connector on the motherboard .

Does it act any differently if you put the CPU in the 2nd slot instead of the 1st?

shamino wrote on 2021-01-26, 02:06:

Does it act any differently if you put the CPU in the 2nd slot instead of the 1st?

I've tried it both ways, to no avail. 😢

darry wrote on 2021-01-26, 01:52:

My guess is that something is shorting that PSU out or that the PSU is defective . […]
Show full quote

My guess is that something is shorting that PSU out or that the PSU is defective .

First, make sure that nothing is connected to the PSU other then motherboard and the AC power cable .

I would try another PSU, if you have a spare.

Alternatively, if you have a multimeter, set it to resistance mode, disconnect the PSU from the motherboard and probe between each of the voltage inputs pins and ground on the ATX power connector on the motherboard .

Ahhhhh...gonna try both of those things. I'll pull the known good ATX PS out of my desktop and see what happens.

Before that, though, I'll definitely do that continuity check.

Interesting. So the continuity check results in no continuity between ground and any power/control pins except the +5V rail (not even the always on +5V). The other interesting thing is that eventually the beeping stops and it registers a slowly increasing resistance (on the order of hundreds of ohms). This makes me feel like the culprit is a cap. Does that seem reasonable?

Please try with a P II or a PIII from the Katmai generation. The 600E that you have is Coppermine and supposedly does not work on your revision 1.05 board.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190319061355/ht … pgrade_faq.html

PARKE wrote on 2021-01-26, 03:27:

Please try with a P II or a PIII from the Katmai generation. The 600E that you have is Coppermine and supposedly does not work on your revision 1.05 board.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190319061355/ht … pgrade_faq.html

So looking at the page and also at the VRMs on the board, the VRMs are the newer ones that can supply down to 1.3V. However, I'm guessing that I might need to flash the BIOS, too.

Yes The BIOS used most is the 1014.003 beta which in my experience works for all Coppermines.
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P2B-DS/HelpDesk_BIOS/
If this solves the problem you are lucky.

PARKE wrote on 2021-01-26, 04:08:

Yes The BIOS used most is the 1014.003 beta which in my experience works for all Coppermines.
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P2B-DS/HelpDesk_BIOS/
If this solves the problem you are lucky.

No dice. Pulled the ROM and flashed the new BIOS but same behavior. There must be other changes on the board beyond the VRMs that are causing issues. I'll either have to get a different mobo or a Katmai to see if the issue is then sorted.

I'll keep y'all informed. Back to USPS waiting hell!

Well, so even though I considered it highly unlikely that the power supply was bad because it was brand new, I decided to pull my Corsair 750W from my work desktop and try it. Lo and behold it started booting with both processors, 512MB of RAM and the video card!

Thank you to everyone who helped provide troubleshooting insights. Thankfully even though the board is a revision 1.05 P2B-DS, it does have the requisite VRMs to support down to the 1.65V needed by both processors. Now I just need to run to my local Micro Center and buy a replacement power supply. 😊

EDIT: Fixing image link.

Hojo82 wrote on 2021-01-26, 18:01:

Well, so even though I considered it highly unlikely that the power supply was bad because it was brand new, I decided to pull m […]
Show full quote

Well, so even though I considered it highly unlikely that the power supply was bad because it was brand new, I decided to pull my Corsair 750W from my work desktop and try it. Lo and behold it started booting with both processors, 512MB of RAM and the video card!

Thank you to everyone who helped provide troubleshooting insights. Thankfully even though the board is a revision 1.05 P2B-DS, it does have the requisite VRMs to support down to the 1.65V needed by both processors. Now I just need to run to my local Micro Center and buy a replacement power supply. 😊

Called it. 😉

Extremely happily that you found the fault and that it wasn't something expensive/difficult to replace .

Cheers!

Well, so more bad news. I placed it back into the case and powered it on with the new power supply and the fans spun up (so this is different than last time) but nothing came on screen along with no diagnostic beeps. I tried all the usual suspects (removing cards, CPUs, memory, etc.) to no avail. I then decided to push on random chips on the motherboard and then try repowering afterward and all of a sudden it powered up, beeped, etc. At first I thought it might have been the video card, so I removed it and it gave me the diagnostic code for missing/bad video. So at this point I'm not quite sure what to do as it appears there's some sort of a bad connection somewhere on the mobo.

I know that people have had issues like this with things like Macintosh logic boards and stuff and they'll place them in the oven for a period of time to reflow solder joints. But of course that whole notion sounds awful.

Any thoughts? Or should I just can it?

Is there possibly something metallic in the case causing an intermittent short ?

Is the board warped either standalone or when installed in the case ?

Maybe a cracked solder joint somewhere ?

Just throwing ideas .

darry wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:24:

Is there possibly something metallic in the case causing an intermittent short ?

It actually started misbehaving again before even putting it into the case, so I'm pretty sure a short is out of consideration.

darry wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:24:

Is the board warped either standalone or when installed in the case ?

I couldn't discern any warp in the board when I took it out.

darry wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:24:

Maybe a cracked solder joint somewhere ?

Maybe? But there are a lot of joints that are going to be practically invisible without heavy magnification. Or they're hidden due to BGA mount. This is kind of why I was considering an oven reflow.

darry wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:24:

Just throwing ideas .

Please know that I greatly appreciate your brainstorming with me. 😊

I'm following up with the eBay seller. The PS/2 ports are non-functional as well. When I plug in the keyboard to PS/2 it doesn't work (USB does). Plugging a mouse in causes incessant beeping. I kind of wonder if repeated plugging and unplugging stressed the board there and is causing all of the issues that I'm seeing.

Hojo82 wrote on 2021-01-27, 01:28:

I'm following up with the eBay seller. The PS/2 ports are non-functional as well. When I plug in the keyboard to PS/2 it doesn't work (USB does). Plugging a mouse in causes incessant beeping. I kind of wonder if repeated plugging and unplugging stressed the board there and is causing all of the issues that I'm seeing.

Connecting/disconnecting PS/2 devices while the machine is turned can theoretically damage the PS/2 ports, apparently depending on the actual motherboard implementation . AFAIK, this is not a common occurrence and there is a lack of consensus on how likely it is to happen .

darry wrote on 2021-01-27, 02:20:

Hojo82 wrote on 2021-01-27, 01:28:

I'm following up with the eBay seller. The PS/2 ports are non-functional as well. When I plug in the keyboard to PS/2 it doesn't work (USB does). Plugging a mouse in causes incessant beeping. I kind of wonder if repeated plugging and unplugging stressed the board there and is causing all of the issues that I'm seeing.

Connecting/disconnecting PS/2 devices while the machine is turned can theoretically damage the PS/2 ports, apparently depending on the actual motherboard implementation . AFAIK, this is not a common occurrence and there is a lack of consensus on how likely it is to happen .

This may be relevant to the PS/2 port problem .

P3B-F PS/2 ports stopped working