Clean the slots (both RAM and PCI/AGP) with contact cleaner.

Clean the slots (both RAM and PCI/AGP) with contact cleaner.

Tried it and no success. Anything else i could try?

Post a good picture of the board please.

Does the clock LED on the post card turn on?

Check for broken solder joints around the CPU socket.

Socket 478 are usually bulletproof, if anything try pressing on the Chipset

Karbist wrote on 2024-02-18, 16:42:

Does the clock LED on the post card turn on?

Yes.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-02-18, 17:24:

Check for broken solder joints around the CPU socket.

Did not found any broken solder joints.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-02-18, 17:33:

Socket 478 are usually bulletproof, if anything try pressing on the Chipset

Tried and didn't work.

Horun wrote on 2024-02-18, 16:40:

Post a good picture of the board please.

Here

Measuring around the vrm, I found that C29 has 4 ohms, but C56 that looks the same has the same resistance. Also when i press down on the cpu now, it goes out of reset and stays the same even if i stop pushing on it. Whats weird is that the mobo is beeping corrupted-like two tone siren. Any ideas what might be the cause?

diagram in attachment, start with power delivery map on page 3

If you can get the motherboard to reliably move through (some) POST codes when you press on the CPU vs. the motherboard doing absolutely nothing when you don't press on the CPU, then, you may have cracked joints under the BGA CPU socket. Some stock Intel coolers are notorious for warping the board when they are fully tightened. This can be made worse if the motherboard was shipped with the CPU cooler still strapped to the board or if the previous owner ever allowed the CPU to overheat (due to HS clogged with dust.)

But it could also be bad contacts / corrosion on the CPU pins... though you said you tried different CPUs, so that should have gotten rid of any in the CPU socket.

I also see the original United Chemicon KZG (brown) electrolytic capacitors around the CPU and OST RLX(?) (blue) capacitors are still present on the board, so there's always those to suspect as well. UCC (United Chemicon) KZG series are known to be problematic, especially 6.3V ones with capacity of 2200 and 3300 uF, even if they don't look bulging (though most frequently, they do bulge when they go bad.) OST RLX series are the in a similar boat, especially the smaller ones.

So try doing at least 10 tests where you try to power the board with pressure on the CPU and without to see how the POST codes behave.
It may also be worthwhile to try putting a heatsink on the CPU but *not* strapping it to the board (to prevent warping) to see if that changes anything. And also, make sure the CPU cooler fan is plugged in. Some boards will sound an alarm if they don't detect a plugged in fan.

Lastly, going from the last sentence in the above paragraph, also check for any missing or damaged SMD components near or on the CPU fan header. Also try some different 3-pin fans, just in case. Some socket A motherboards for sure will stay in RESET state / not POST if a CPU fan is not detected. With P4, this wasn't usually the case... but I always keep it in mind when testing motherboards, just in case.

Got some time to work on this board.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-02-29, 16:38:

diagram in attachment, start with power delivery map on page 3

Ill start measuring the cpu VRM first and let you how it goes.

momaka wrote on 2024-03-01, 18:08:

If you can get the motherboard to reliably move through (some) POST codes when you press on the CPU vs. the motherboard doing ab […]
Show full quote

If you can get the motherboard to reliably move through (some) POST codes when you press on the CPU vs. the motherboard doing absolutely nothing when you don't press on the CPU, then, you may have cracked joints under the BGA CPU socket. Some stock Intel coolers are notorious for warping the board when they are fully tightened. This can be made worse if the motherboard was shipped with the CPU cooler still strapped to the board or if the previous owner ever allowed the CPU to overheat (due to HS clogged with dust.)

But it could also be bad contacts / corrosion on the CPU pins... though you said you tried different CPUs, so that should have gotten rid of any in the CPU socket.

I also see the original United Chemicon KZG (brown) electrolytic capacitors around the CPU and OST RLX(?) (blue) capacitors are still present on the board, so there's always those to suspect as well. UCC (United Chemicon) KZG series are known to be problematic, especially 6.3V ones with capacity of 2200 and 3300 uF, even if they don't look bulging (though most frequently, they do bulge when they go bad.) OST RLX series are the in a similar boat, especially the smaller ones.

So try doing at least 10 tests where you try to power the board with pressure on the CPU and without to see how the POST codes behave.
It may also be worthwhile to try putting a heatsink on the CPU but *not* strapping it to the board (to prevent warping) to see if that changes anything. And also, make sure the CPU cooler fan is plugged in. Some boards will sound an alarm if they don't detect a plugged in fan.

Lastly, going from the last sentence in the above paragraph, also check for any missing or damaged SMD components near or on the CPU fan header. Also try some different 3-pin fans, just in case. Some socket A motherboards for sure will stay in RESET state / not POST if a CPU fan is not detected. With P4, this wasn't usually the case... but I always keep it in mind when testing motherboards, just in case.

I can't get it to POST nor to move through the POST codes. All i get is the siren some minutes after I keep applying pressure on the CPU. No idea whats the backstory of this board. All I can say is I got it as "scrap" with other boards. As I remember its the only broken one. I've tried 2 different s478 heat sinks with fans. Board is not beeping anything and not moving through POST codes when pressure isn't applied.

Done some further diagnostics. On Q12, Q15, Q25, Q13 I get 1.5v on drain, 9.12v on gate, 0.03v on source. On Q14, Q11 I get 11.93v on drain, 1.5v on gate and 2.93v on source. NB and SB get warm. Noticed USB voltage is 5.2v, so its a little bit high. With an metal backplate installed it comes out of reset without me pressing on the CPU. Any ideas?

Forgot to mention, when I got it to post, I pressed hard on the south bridge. It complained about keyboard not being detected (didn't think it would post). Plugged in a USB keyboard, but it wasn't responding, so I reset the MB. After that it went dead again. Also shorted gate with source on Q11, but it seems like the short is now gone. Any ideas?

Pulled out 1 1500uF 16v cap in the VRM. There wasn't any signs of leaking so I guess the rest of them should be fine too. Any ideas?

I got another board. Same model and revision. And same problem too. Two tone siren after sometime. I have no idea what is wrong here. It just looks like a plague on these MSI boards.

Finally fixed my MSI diagnostic bracket aaand guess what? All red LED's (CPU not initialized)! Who would have guessed... Weird how it says CPU hasn't initialized but it still does the siren. This only points to the VRM being bad. I guess I gotta go buy another board for comparison...

Well reading what you wrote, the card gave some sign of operation, only when you pressed on the southbridge, and so I think it could be somewhere there the problem, if you have a way to observe enlarging that area, you could see if there is any welding to redo, maybe that's the problem.

Did you swap the PSU?

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-12-14, 22:10:

Well reading what you wrote, the card gave some sign of operation, only when you pressed on the southbridge, and so I think it could be somewhere there the problem, if you have a way to observe enlarging that area, you could see if there is any welding to redo, maybe that's the problem.

I also thought that at first, but I've tried using thermal manipulation (hot-air station) on the SB/NB, EEPROM (I think?), Super IO chip and some others, but this didn't result in any changes (maybe I didn't do it enough?). Then I remembered the time when I shorted one of the VRM mosfets. I think its a primary side one. The short is gone now but the board is still as useful as an rock...

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2024-12-15, 01:05:

Did you swap the PSU?

First thing I did 😀