Clicking and PSU not wanting to start definitely suggests a short-circuit somewhere.

HOWEVER, there might be an exception in the case of this particular motherboard. But let's confirm if so by the following test:
- When you try to power up the motherboard via the On/Off switch on the computer and the PSU clicks without starting, can you repeat this same sequence without power-cycling the PSU - that is, if you wait 1-3 seconds after the PSU clicks and you press the PC's power button again, does the PSU click again. Can you try this 3, 4, 5... 10 times?

Reason I ask is because I have an ASUS CUR-DLS board from an HP NetServer E800, and it started doing this probably right from the start after I found it (PC came from a dumpster... go figure.) But I quickly figured out that if I kept pressing the power button repeatedly with 1-2 second intervals in between, I could eventually get the motherboard to start. I still haven't found what causes this issue, and I continued to use the motherboard like this for probably 8 or so years afterwards. Eventually, it died, but due to something else (actually, it still starts up and shows a POST screen, but then freezes some time after doing the memory checks.) On mine, the electrolytic caps are all good brands and not the issue the last time I checked. Not sure about yours, though, so might be worthwhile to post a photo of your board here too.

Here is a link to pictures of the board.

https://imgur.com/a/kyoqWsE

Still using that potato camera I see... The third pic is okay and I don't see anything suspicious, the last one might have been acceptable with better lighting. The rest are pretty bad, no chance to make out any traces and such, but fwiw at least there don't seem to be any bulging caps.

Two suggestions to have them come out better: 1. Take them outside (lots of light everywhere, for free) instead of under artificial lighting (takes equipment and some work to get right), and 2. explicitly tell our camera to focus on the PCB instead of accepting the defaults and having it focus whereever - that may work okay for mid- to long range shots, but rarely for closeups.

@Matrolisk

Do you have a multimeter ?

If so, checking resistance between the motherboard's power inputs (on the ATX connector) and ground might give a hint as to whether something might be shorted to ground.

Just in case you are not familiar with the process, this MUST be done with the power supply disconnected from the motherboard.

Also, one of the cards :

1GPU-XFX Geforce 4 TI 4200
2Sound-Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX

might be causing the problem, as could anything else connected to the motherboard or its pin headers, including anything connected to USB ports or PS/2 ports.

The motherboard might also be shorting against the case, a metal standoff, a loose screw, etc

I suggest stripping the system to bare essentials (CPU and fan + RAM + motherboard + PSU + power switch connected to header). If it still does not power up, removing the board from the case and trying it directly on the bench/desk (on a non electrically conductive surface ) might be a further test.

momaka wrote on 2024-03-24, 23:03:

When you try to power up the motherboard via the On/Off switch on the computer and the PSU clicks without starting, can you repeat this same sequence without power-cycling the PSU - that is, if you wait 1-3 seconds after the PSU clicks and you press the PC's power button again, does the PSU click again. Can you try this 3, 4, 5... 10 times?

So the old PSUs click continuously while connected the the motherboard and power outlet but not when connected the just the outlet.
I did however still try the test...with no success.

darry wrote on 2024-03-25, 05:03:

Do you have a multimeter ?

If so, checking resistance between the motherboard's power inputs (on the ATX connector) and ground might give a hint as to whether something might be shorted to ground.

I do have on however my knowledge on their use is limited. I set it to test resistance an put black to one of the grounds then tried the red on all the other pins.
All of them gave some number except 11, 12, and 24 which only displayed 1.

darry wrote on 2024-03-25, 05:03:

Also, one of the cards : […]
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Also, one of the cards :

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1GPU-XFX Geforce 4 TI 4200
2Sound-Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX

might be causing the problem, as could anything else connected to the motherboard or its pin headers, including anything connected to USB ports or PS/2 ports.

The motherboard might also be shorting against the case, a metal standoff, a loose screw, etc

I suggest stripping the system to bare essentials (CPU and fan + RAM + motherboard + PSU + power switch connected to header). If it still does not power up, removing the board from the case and trying it directly on the bench/desk (on a non electrically conductive surface ) might be a further test.

The motherboard is currently on a wood desk with no metal. I have removed the sound card during all this testing and also did try swapping out for another gpu. I have also tried it with only the essentials as mention above with still no success.

Here are some improved and hopefully usable pictures.
https://imgur.com/a/knkzaOs

Some boards are really anal about having a 3 pin fan plugged into CPU fan header or they refuse to start. Pics show it not connected, don't know if you have been testing like that.

Longshot - next to the southbridge chip is a clock crystal, it's that silver metal can. Make sure the legs are not touching. If there's any other devices like that on the board, check the same for all of them.
I came across one board were the legs had been twisted up by somebody.

Try powering it up with nothing attached. Not even the CPU. I think it should still power on, at least other P3 era boards I've used would. Small possibility the CPU is shorted.
Keep in mind the motherboard fan headers might not work. They often get burned out. But if you use a molex powered fan (directly connected to the PSU) then it should start when the board is switched on. Look close - does the fan twitch at all, either when you plug it in, or the first time you push the switch? If it happens it will only happen once. It won't happen again unless you unplug the PSU for 30secs.

Board damage or just filth?

So I checked those spots you mentioned and they were just some dirt on the board. It needs a good cleaning. Tried using IPA but didn't seem to removed much.

shamino wrote on 2024-03-26, 01:48:

Longshot - next to the southbridge chip is a clock crystal, it's that silver metal can. Make sure the legs are not touching. If there's any other devices like that on the board, check the same for all of them.
I came across one board were the legs had been twisted up by somebody.

The legs were fine, not twisted or touching in anyway.

shamino wrote on 2024-03-26, 01:48:

Try powering it up with nothing attached. Not even the CPU. I think it should still power on, at least other P3 era boards I've used would. Small possibility the CPU is shorted.
Keep in mind the motherboard fan headers might not work. They often get burned out. But if you use a molex powered fan (directly connected to the PSU) then it should start when the board is switched on. Look close - does the fan twitch at all, either when you plug it in, or the first time you push the switch? If it happens it will only happen once. It won't happen again unless you unplug the PSU for 30secs.

I removed everything but one fan plugged in.....and nothing.

I'm beginning to think that my poor board might be dead.....🙁

Is there anything else I can try or should I just bury it and move on?

Matrolisk wrote on 2024-03-25, 22:36:

So the old PSUs click continuously while connected the the motherboard and power outlet but not when connected the just the outlet.
I did however still try the test...with no success.

Hmmm.. OK, so it does look like something might be shorted on the motherboard.

Matrolisk wrote on 2024-03-25, 22:36:

I do have on however my knowledge on their use is limited. I set it to test resistance an put black to one of the grounds then tried the red on all the other pins.
All of them gave some number except 11, 12, and 24 which only displayed 1.

OK, let's do this test again then, just so we can confirm what's going on. Here are some steps below, hopefully to make it more clear:

1) Disconnect PSU from motherboard completely
2) Take MM (multimeter) and set it to check resistance. If MM is a manual-ranging one (i.e. there are different scales for each setting), use the lowest resistance range / setting. This is typically 200 Ohms for these.
3) Take MM black (COM) probe and put it on one of the metal screws that hold down the motherboard to the case - this is ground. If motherboard is out of the case, put the probe on the metal pads where the screws go (you'll see some shiny spots near each screw hole.)
4)Take MM red (+) probe and measure each pin on the ATX connector. Write down each number you get on your MM for each pin and post it here. Also tell us the range / scale you used - i.e. if you get the number "50" on the screen and you used your MM on the 200 Ohm range (assuming it's a manual-ranging MM), then this would indicate 50 Ohms. If your MM is an auto-ranging one, then make sure to tell us the scale of the units after the number - i.e. Ohms, KOhms, MOhms, and etc.

Depending on what numbers show up, we might have to do a 2nd round of measurements in some other areas.
I see the motherboard has only two buck-regulated power rails - one for the CPU V_core and the other is close to the memory slots, thus likely a regulator for V_dimm (the memory power rail). The rest appears to be liner regulated rails, either off of these rails or the main 3.3V/5V/12V.

Short-circuits are, IMO, some of the easier problems to troubleshoot on a motherboard, so I don't think all hope is lost quite yet. If you have the time and are willing to learn to troubleshoot, we might be able to save this one.

BTW, also, double-check the positions of your reset CMOS jumpers. Some motherboards won't power on if those are in the wrong spot.

Oh, and if the motherboard is really dirty, it might help to give it a wash and dry procedure. Take out all hardware from it (CPU, RAM, CMOS battery, and such) and wash with warm water + dish detergent. Then let it dry in the sun for a day or three... or just in an airy place for a few more days. Then connect hardware and see if that changes anything. I suspect the issue will remain, since you had a number of PSUs not want to work. To me, this very much sounds like a ceramic cap being shorted somewhere on one of the power rails. But we will see, I guess. Just make sure to go over and report back with the steps detailed above.

Set to 2k ohms going from pin 1-20
A + means the number went up continuously from the list one.

200+
200+
1
0
0
0
1000+
0
643
1
1
1
1000+
0
200+
0
200+
0
1
1

For washing the mb will any dish soap be fine?

The pin-numbering for the results you gave are off (seems like you started with 20 and went down to 1, not 1-20 like you stated)... but no worries, I was able to figure it out from the numbers. 😉

The pins with a result of "1" I think I can safely assume was with this digit showing on the left side of your multimeter's screen and not on the right side, correct? (At least results seems to consistently confirm it.) If so, a "1" on the left side of a manual-ranging multimeter means over-range (i.e. the number measured is higher than what this specific range can show.) So a "1" on the left side of the screen on the 2kOhm scale means the resistance was higher than 2KOhms... which is fine. On auto-ranging meters, the equivalent is "0L".

Anyways, the above results don't show anything to be shorted, at least not directly on any of the rails of the ATX connector. (Really, I was looking only for low-ish numbers, generally below 50-100 Ohms, that could be an indication of a problem.)

That moves us to part 2: remove the CPU and RAM and check the following items below.

- Using this picture of yours as a reference, measure resistance (200 Ohms or 2KOhm scale) between CPU V_core and ground. Place the black multimeter probe on any of the COM pins of the ATX connector (or a screw post ground pad on the motherboard) and the red MM probe on the bare (tinned) part of the wire on the blue-green toroidal inductor (round component with wire wound around it) <-- this is the output of the CPU V_core voltage rail. The resistance should hopefully tell us if that's shorted to ground or not.

- Likewise, using this picture of yours as a reference, measure resistance (200 Ohms or 2KOhm scale) between V_DIMM rail and ground. Place the black multimeter probe on any of the COM pins of the ATX connector (or a screw post ground pad on the motherboard) and the red MM probe on the bare (tinned) part of the wire on the blue-green toroidal inductor (round component with wire wound around it) <-- this is the output of the V_DIMM voltage rail (power for your RAM modules). The resistance should hopefully tell us if that's shorted to ground or not.

Oh and yes, any regular dish detergent should be fine.

You can use this method to find the short on your board, you need more tools though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp1dPG9_N1w

Ran the test on both the CPUV_vore and the V_DIMM rail at 200 Ohms and got a 1 on both and no beep.

Matrolisk wrote on 2024-04-07, 22:08:

Ran the test on both the CPUV_vore and the V_DIMM rail at 200 Ohms and got a 1 on both and no beep.

As far as I know, multimeters don't have continuity (audible "beep" tone) on the 200 Ohm scale. But regardless... can I safely assume the "1" you saw was on the left side of the screen of the multimeter? 😀 (Should be a YES, otherwise that would indicate both CPU V_core and V_dimm rails are shorted... which I find very highly unlikely to be the case.)

"1" on the left side means "over range"... i.e. the resistance is higher than 200 Ohms. So if that's what your MM showed, then those rails aren't shorted to ground.
What about if you put the CPU into the CPU socket? What resistance do you get for the CPU V_core test then?

The 1 was on the left.

Put the CPU in the socket and reran the test with the same result.

Matrolisk wrote on 2024-04-09, 21:40:

Put the CPU in the socket and reran the test with the same result.

I suspect something is not right with the measurement then. It's been a while since I measured resistance on a socket 462 mobo (with CPU in place), but I don't ever recall a CPU reading over 200 Ohms. Try doing the test on the 2000 (2 KOhm) scale then. If that turns up nothing, then your probes are likely not making proper contact with the test points (probably on the inductor's wire - if there is leftover flux or wire insulation, that will block you from getting a reading so you need to dig in and poke at the test point to get through.)

You were right, I had done the test wrong. I redid the previous tests making sure to place the red probe on the bare tinned part.

Results With No CPU
CPU V_core - 1
V_dimm - 1

Results With CPU
CPU V_core - 23.4-24.2
V_dimm - Started at about 120 a went up 188 where it stayed.

Heh, that's either milliVolts or things should be glowing orange.

Matrolisk wrote on 2024-04-10, 21:42:

...

Was there any proof that it was ever working? A claim that something was 'tested working' has little merit these days. Maybe it never worked to begin with, evidence in this thread seems to suggest it.

"The motherboard does not have any 4pin CPU connector just the main 20pin one."

I've had motherboards that won't power on with my crappy testing PSU but will with a higher quality one...