Reset the BIOS. The settings may have gotten buggered in storage.

All through DDR & DDR2 Asus was fond of junk non-Japanese caps.

Disconnect the PSU and do the 5v continuity check directly on the pins in the mobo power connector.

Did you connect any drives when you connected the motherboard? A short in a drive might do this.
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PCBONEZ wrote:

Reset the BIOS. The settings may have gotten buggered in storage. […]
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Reset the BIOS. The settings may have gotten buggered in storage.

All through DDR & DDR2 Asus was fond of junk non-Japanese caps.

Disconnect the PSU and do the 5v continuity check directly on the pins in the mobo power connector.

Did you connect any drives when you connected the motherboard? A short in a drive might do this.
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I did try resetting the CMOS, no go.

All the caps on the board look fine, although I realize visual inspection is not a guarantee. Finding what is gone may be hard, but I will check all electrolytics for shorts on the circuit tonight.

I checked the 5V and G sockets on the 20-pin ATX connector on the motherboard for shorts, there were none. I also checked the PSU for a short between 5V and G while connected to Power but without a motherboard connected, and there is no short there on its own either.) It's confusing.

I had a new DVD-ROM and a new Floppy connected to the system, these are the only new parts on the PC (let me not ethat down in the original post now that I think of it..). However, it continued to exhibit the behavior even after removing them. Maybe a short on one of them fried the motherboard or a fuse in the PSU?

appiah4 wrote:

I checked the 5V and G sockets on the 20-pin ATX connector on the motherboard for shorts, there were none. I also checked the PSU for a short between 5V and G while connected to Power but without a motherboard connected, and there is no short there on its own either.) It's confusing.

You did not somehow end up with one of those proprietary Dell P3 20-pin PSUs did you?

If that PSU came with the new case or you haven't used it before check that the wires did not get switched in the plug.
If no, then check that they aren't switched on the PCB inside - which you can by voltage checks at the plug if you don't want to pop the cover.
Some PSUs won't start or stay running without some load. If you run into that, plug a hard drive in.
You don't need to mess with the data cables when you use a hard drive for load. Better if the drive has no important data on it.

appiah4 wrote:

I had a new DVD-ROM and a new Floppy connected to the system, these are the only new parts on the PC (let me not ethat down in the original post now that I think of it..). However, it continued to exhibit the behavior even after removing them. Maybe a short on one of them fried the motherboard or a fuse in the PSU?

Usually PSUs only have one fuse and if it blows it takes out the whole thing.

The data cables are not in the power path.
A shorted drive might burn something in the PSU but it's not likely to hurt the motherboard.
(Except in the unusual case where drives get power from a special jack on the motherboard. Not common.)
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The PSU is a known and fully working High Power 500W that I have previously used in my Athlon FX system as well as this very same Socket 754 motherboard. It is (was) fully functionaly and ATX compliant.

It is weird that there is a short (or seemingly there is one, there is a continuity beep for half a second then it stops..) only when the motherboard is connected makes the motherboard suspect to me but there is no short on the 5V on the motherboard without the PSU connected so I do not know what to think of it.

I will use a spare AOpen 300W PSU I had lying about tonight. That means I'll probably have to downgrade to the X800XT-PE but that's OK, it' s more period correct and allows for a Windows 98 dual boot anyway.

Capacitors fail in several different ways.
One that is almost but not quite 100% shorted might take just enough charge after power is applied for a bit to turn of the beep.
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It's not good to jump on that one as the problem without looking at other possibilities though.
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Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder.. It did.

Now, I brought home an AOpen 300W PSU. First things first: I did NOT think to test this PSU before hooking it up to the board, but had no reason to believe it was faulty (especially in the same way).

So I hooked the PSU up to the mainboard and then to the power outlet. Then, without turning the PC on, checked the 5V to Ground for continuity. And.. It also had continuity!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPR74CJkmko

Then I pulled the setup apart, and tested the PSU alone.. Not connected to the motherboard or power, nothing. And.. 5V to Ground still had continuity! Whatever the motherboard did to the PSU, it seems to have caused permanent damage to it (the more modern High Power 500W PSU did not exhibit this behavior, but then when I checked that 5V shorted to G for just half a second and stopped - probably some kind of overvoltage protection in the modern unit..)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EshQ8IyOzF8

So I thought, OK, this mainboard is FUCKED, let's see if I can find any shorts.. I tried one of the VRM capacitors, and.. It was shorted (in circuit, of course - but still not the behavior I should be seeing?)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODDKkawJcAo

I'm now in the market for a new Socket 754 to replace this one (adding the photo in case someone can notice anything physically wrong that I couldn't):

Is the motherboard dead? What can explain all this? What are the chances that the motherboard also killed my precious Athlon64 3700+ as well? 🙁

OK, so nobody has any ideas about what's going on here? 😢

While I don’t have any concrete suggestions, I do have food for thought: one of my Socket 7 boards just would not boot outside a case. The only half-logical explanation I have for it was that maybe ground was around the screw holes, or something? Haven’t had time to read the whole problem-in-progress (pardon me), but if it worked just fine in the old case, can you try putting the mobo in that old case and see if it works? Also, are you sure you didn’t damage any traces or bumped any capacitors when swapping the board?
Another tidbit of info for you: I once rescued a friend of a friend of my uncle’s homebuilt PC. Turned out that the panel connections were wired wrong; that was the only thing preventing it from operating properly. If you have access to a manual, it’d be advisable to check afery jumper or pin scheme. And take it easy!

kikipcs wrote:

While I don’t have any concrete suggestions, I do have food for thought: one of my Socket 7 boards just would not boot outside a case. The only half-logical explanation I have for it was that maybe ground was around the screw holes, or something? Haven’t had time to read the whole problem-in-progress (pardon me), but if it worked just fine in the old case, can you try putting the mobo in that old case and see if it works? Also, are you sure you didn’t damage any traces or bumped any capacitors when swapping the board?
Another tidbit of info for you: I once rescued a friend of a friend of my uncle’s homebuilt PC. Turned out that the panel connections were wired wrong; that was the only thing preventing it from operating properly. If you have access to a manual, it’d be advisable to check afery jumper or pin scheme. And take it easy!

Thanks for the suggestions. In order;

- It does not boot in a modern case, and it does not boot on an open bench. I could consider moving it back into an old ATX/AT case, but how would that explain the strange 5V/Ground short_
- I don't *think* I damaged the board, but it is possible after all. I can't locate any scratches visible to the eye, but it could have been ESD damage all the same.
- It still does not work even with no front panel connectors connected..

If there is a short on the motherboard the PSU protection should kick-in as soon as you turn it on. If at least the fans start and the PSU voltages look OK as you mentioned, then the problem may be somewhere else (be sure to also check the +3.3V line).

appiah4 wrote:

After everything was installed, I booted the PC up. There was no vide fro either DVI port on the card. Fans spinned up and I even got the POST confirmation BEEP, but there was no further IDE activity light, it did not boot, possibly a POST error of some kind.

This caught my attention since I had the exact same problem with a 775 motherboard a while back. The first few times I would hear the POST beeps but no video... I initially thought it may be the video card, but after discarding that and trying a few more times I didn't even get beeps any more, only the fans running. It turned out to be bad capacitors, specifically KZG from Chemi-con, a known problematic series that is almost guaranteed to have an early demise.

Which leads me to the picture you posted: those 3 large caps on the VRM input (near the parallel port connector), they look like Chemi-con, can you tell what series they are? If it's KZG or KZJ I would bet that's your problem, even if they appear to be fine. My MSI K8N-SLI had 3 KZGs on the same spot, all 3 failed (though only one was bloated).

Capacitors o nthe motherboard are from a shit brand called.. KXG or KXE, or some such - I forget, what exactly - but they are shit..

Time to order replacement caps I guess! In the meantime I ordered an nForce3 Socket 754 board (Gigabyte GA-K8NS) to try out and make sure everything else works and the issue is indeed the motherboard.

The board also has started to turn on automatically without an on/off button attached when the 20-pin ATX connector is connected..

KXG and KXE are capacitor series from nippon chemicon, absolutely not a shit brand :p
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Chemi-Con
there should be a small outline of the logo next to the letters

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Alright, I have a couple more suggestions you might want to consider on your wonderful journey of troubleshooting.

- The first thing that came to my mind after a further read is that the BIOS might have somehow got damaged/corrupted/whatever. Could be by touching one of the chip's legs with another metal thing or by ESD (don't quote me on that, though, I'm not an expert).
One thing you should definitely try is attach both a hard drive, and a floppy drive. Boot up and observe the behavior.
Take a look at the manual for your board, too: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock754 … _k8v_deluxe.pdf

It mentions a "CrashFree BIOS 2". It might be a tool to try out in case something did in fact happen to the BIOS.

- You should note that based on the manual, your mobo has a dual-function power switch. It could be that it is stuck in one mode or switches immediately into another mode, preventing you from boot?

- Apparently your board came with what ASUS calls a "POST Reporter". It is supposed to provide vocal (!) info as to the state of the POSTs, like it would verbally abuse you if you were to install memory the wrong way, I assume? Attach a speaker (not a tiny piezo one, a speaker speaker with a cone and all) and check if the board says anything worthwhile. If it doesn't, it may be that somebody changed/erased these messages (they are customizable with a OS-based editor)

- What is the behavior of the on-board LED?

There is also a "DIY Troubleshooting Guide" for your mobo on the Asus page, but sadly it's in Traditional Chinese...

imi wrote:

KXG and KXE are capacitor series from nippon chemicon, absolutely not a shit brand :p
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Chemi-Con
there should be a small outline of the logo next to the letters

I googled K8V Deluxe capacitor and was confronted with a gazillion websites complaining about failing capacitors on this motherboard.. Eventually, I was led to an ASUS press release on this problem: https://web.archive.org/web/20040401083247/ht … spx?KB_ID=85257

I have heard some rumors saying that the appearance of some capacitors on K8V Deluxe may deform soon after use. Is that true? Ho […]
Show full quote

I have heard some rumors saying that the appearance of some capacitors on K8V Deluxe may deform soon after use. Is that true? How do I check if my K8V Deluxe is affected, and what should I do next if mine happened to be like that?

It has been discovered recently that the nine electrolytic capacitors CE18, CE19, CE20, CE21, CE22, CE25 , CE38, CE39, CE45 (see Figure1, used at power stabilization circuitry) may expand and fracture. This problem has been confirmed to result from quality control of RLZ 0333 capacitors, and proven to happen only on a small number of such capacitors which can be easily distinguished from the RLZ 0333 marking (see Figure 2) on them.

If you need further support after finding RLZ 0333 capacitors at these nine locations, or experiencing symptom as described above on K8V Deluxe motherboards, please kindly contact your place of purchase, supplier, or the nearest ASUS service centre for immediate follow-up.

(December 04, 2003)

Figure 1

Figure 2

RLZ is probably the brand of capacitors on my board that I can't remember for sure right now. I think we found the culprit 🙁

This will be a long recap job, and I HATE desoldering stuff.. Let's hope it didn't kill my 3700+..

an81 wrote:

I had a similar problem with M3A32-MVP Deluxe, posting on initial check and then not posting at all after rehousing and not being able to figure it out at all. In the end it turned out to be cracked north bridge ic from that shitty cement like thermal paste asus uses on their boards. The board would flex as I pulled it out and with all the heatpipes connecting the vrm and nb and the sb, that stress had to vent somewhere. Yours is a lone nb radiator only, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out anyway, just be sure to preheat it to ~100° C before trying to pull it off.

Entirely possible but not very likely, I will not lift the cooler until it is my last resort, but this is now at the back of my mind as well.

kikipcs wrote:

Alright, I have a couple more suggestions you might want to consider on your wonderful journey of troubleshooting. […]
Show full quote

Alright, I have a couple more suggestions you might want to consider on your wonderful journey of troubleshooting.

- The first thing that came to my mind after a further read is that the BIOS might have somehow got damaged/corrupted/whatever. Could be by touching one of the chip's legs with another metal thing or by ESD (don't quote me on that, though, I'm not an expert).
One thing you should definitely try is attach both a hard drive, and a floppy drive. Boot up and observe the behavior.
Take a look at the manual for your board, too: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock754 … _k8v_deluxe.pdf

It mentions a "CrashFree BIOS 2". It might be a tool to try out in case something did in fact happen to the BIOS.

- You should note that based on the manual, your mobo has a dual-function power switch. It could be that it is stuck in one mode or switches immediately into another mode, preventing you from boot?

- Apparently your board came with what ASUS calls a "POST Reporter". It is supposed to provide vocal (!) info as to the state of the POSTs, like it would verbally abuse you if you were to install memory the wrong way, I assume? Attach a speaker (not a tiny piezo one, a speaker speaker with a cone and all) and check if the board says anything worthwhile. If it doesn't, it may be that somebody changed/erased these messages (they are customizable with a OS-based editor)

- What is the behavior of the on-board LED?

There is also a "DIY Troubleshooting Guide" for your mobo on the Asus page, but sadly it's in Traditional Chinese...

- I have attached IDE and floppy devices to the system, and at first it gave me a POST beep but no video, but now it no longer produces any beeps whatsoever, and when I connect a PSU to it, that PSU's 5V and G appear to be shorted.

- I can't really verify the BIOS's integrity at this point

- The POST reporter is actually a BIOS function and I never enabled it.

- The onboard LED lights up as soon as a PSU is connected, and remains ON (Stand-By) regardless of whether the system is powered on or off.

-

Mmmm... I'm still keen to push the possibility of bad BIOS, mainly because I've had a pretty similar problem and bad BIOS was the exact cause, hence I was asking for the LED status. The more light you shine on the capacitors, though, the more of a suspect they become. they might as well have dried up or cracked inside, with no visible signs of failure. Well then, If you're more inclined towards recapping I stand by you. (buuuut bad BIOS is still a possibility, though 😁 )

Take it easy and keep in touch with us in regards to updates!

I checked my board and all caps marked on ASUS FAQ are 1500uF 6.3V parts; however mine are not RLZ 0333; the ones by the VRM are RLX 0344 (again by OST, maker of the faulty RLZ caps) and the ones near the RAM are a super suspect Elite brand. I think it is caps all the same..

More on OST caps: https://badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1585

I am not active at badcaps.net any more but when I was I ran up over 10k posts over there.
That was when rebuilding motherboards was my 'main thing'.

The brand is OST
RLX and RLZ are series of OST. They differ by ESR and Ripple ratings.
The 0333 and 0344 are just date codes. Year 2003, 33rd and 44th week.

OST are FAMOUS for failing with no visible signs. Not the only brand or series, but a common one.
Elite aren't good either but they are more common in LCD monitors and PSUs than on mobos.

About the time P4 and DDR RAM came to be Asus was using them (and other crap caps) by the boatload.
IMHO Asus became a crap brand at that point. I used to say "Friends don't let friends do Asus".
Years ago over at BCN I coined the expression "ASDS".
"Asus Sudden Death Syndrome". It related directly to their extensive use of crap caps that invisibly fail.
(PC133 and earlier Asus were usually good quality boards.)

In 2003 pretty much everyone had those problems but Gigabyte and Abit quickly cleaned up their act by switching to all Jap caps.
Asus and most others didn't.
In the same time frame Nichicon (a Jap brand) HM and HN series had a manufacturing defect which confused everyone (still to this day). HM and HM with date codes 2005 and older are suspect but it seems not all batches had the problem because only one or two plants had the procedure wrong.

In all likely hood a full recap will bring your board back.
With OST don't skip any of them. Not even the little ones.

I can't be here much but there are several vogons members that are long-time BCN members.
If none find this then ask at BCN. A lot of great techs over there.
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