VOGONS


First post, by CrazyChris

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi,

i have an Asus P2L97 Slot 1 ATX Mainboard which works without any issues except the onboard ATX Power switch. The power supply did not power on, except i use a paperclip to force the ATX power supply (connected to main ATX connector) to start.

If it is turned on, the mainboard is working and i already installed Ms-DOS and Windows 98. i tried two different power supplies and checked the power switch header multiple times. Tried to start to mainboard a hundred times with a screewdriver. i checked the BIOS settings and updated to the latest version.

Does anyone have any suggestions what to do?

Thanks.

Reply 1 of 14, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Do you have a fan plugged to the CPU fan header? There were a few boards wouldn't start without one.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 2 of 14, by Repo Man11

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

When the system is powered on can you turn it off by holding the power switch down?

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 3 of 14, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Oh btw, another quirk, some of these Slot era Asus, if the power is set to soft on or something in the confusing power menu, they don't start until you press keyboard power or wake button or hammer the space bar.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 4 of 14, by CrazyChris

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Thank's for the tipps.

Unfortunately the system is not power down if i hold the power switch (i removed the paperclip after booting).

Wake on keyboard is disabled in BIOS and the jumper on the mainboard for the feature is not soldered. It has revision 2.04.

Fan is plugged in the CPU fan header and spins.

very strange mainboard.

EDIT:
I tried to enable wake on keyboard (space bar) in BIOS which also did not work. Maybe the board is damaged.

Reply 5 of 14, by CrazyChris

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

The backside of the connector looks very strange.

Corrosion? but there is no barrel battery etc. What happened to this mainboard!?

Reply 6 of 14, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Maybe you have a problem on the 5V SB rail of the board .

'Wake on keyboard is disabled in BIOS and the jumper on the mainboard for the feature is not soldered. It has revision 2.04.'

Check if you have 5 volts on both ends of the jumper .

Reply 7 of 14, by Repo Man11

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

If you haven't done so already, try a new CMOS battery, or if you have a meter, verify that the battery has the correct voltage. There are motherboards that won't POST without a CMOS battery.

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 8 of 14, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-03-03, 17:06:

If you haven't done so already, try a new CMOS battery, or if you have a meter, verify that the battery has the correct voltage. There are motherboards that won't POST without a CMOS battery.

I thought about mentioning that, but was guessing that it would show up on the POST screen above... but yeah ASUS are really, really, highly, extremely, ridiculously picky about having good CMOS batteries in.... and by good, not even "but it holds settings and time on my other machine even though it was only new last year" .... hell, give that machine batteries when the ASUS is done with them, but literally almost factory fresh... though they don't seem to "eat" them per se, it's weird like they need high volts to initialise a new setup or something.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 9 of 14, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

From my experience with Asus boards , yes , some have a problem POSTING with a bad CMOS battery but not a no PSU on/no fan spin .

Reply 10 of 14, by tauro

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
CrazyChris wrote on 2023-03-03, 16:29:

The backside of the connector looks very strange.

Corrosion? but there is no barrel battery etc. What happened to this mainboard!?

Hey bro, nice board! That definitely looks like corrosion. I have seen that kind of damage on older x86 boards. It could have been in contact with corroded batteries from a different source.

My advice is to gently scrape/sand those compromised contacts, use vinegar on them to dissolve the residue and then re-solder or add fresh solder to the joints to end up with nice looking joints.

Then measure the continuity between the PSU connector pins on the board and some traces to see if there's a broken trace somewhere.

And probably this will solve your problem... scratch the surface of the pins where the power switch is on the front panel. They could be corroded too, or dirty. To be sure, check the continuity between one of them with ground and the other with the correct pin on the PSU connector.

Reply 11 of 14, by CrazyChris

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Is there a generic circuit diagram how the power button pins are working with an ATX power supply?

Reply 12 of 14, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-03-03, 16:31:

Maybe you have a problem on the 5V SB rail of the board .

'Wake on keyboard is disabled in BIOS and the jumper on the mainboard for the feature is not soldered. It has revision 2.04.'

Check if you have 5 volts on both ends of the jumper .

Such a diagram would be useless because there are many implementations/variables involved , you need one for you motherboard . The basic way that the power on circuitry works on a ATX board is : you have 5V SB (standby) from the atx power supply which is a different 5v rail ( it basically provides 5v continuously to the board/system even when it is shut down ) then the 'usual' 5v one . That voltage usually goes in to the chipset trough a voltage regulator, depending of the chipset ( south bridge in your case ) were it feeds the system power management block ( to which the pw on connector leads to ) , also that 5v SB is feeding the super i/o chip/chips so you can be able to turn your system on via kb or mouse . When you press the power button , the chipset 'senses' that and 'pulls the 'power on' pin of the power supply to ground' , which turns on the main rails of the PSU , if 'power good' checks out , keeps the system powered on , which makes the system start . That's why i asked you in the previous post if you can confirm that you have 5v SB present on your board . Without it , none of the above can happen .

If 5v SB is present on the board , then the next step is to check if 'power on' from the atx connector on the board leads to something , because i saw some corrosion and the trace might be damaged ( cant tell that from the pic you posted ).

Reply 13 of 14, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-03-09, 14:02:
bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-03-03, 16:31:

Maybe you have a problem on the 5V SB rail of the board .

'Wake on keyboard is disabled in BIOS and the jumper on the mainboard for the feature is not soldered. It has revision 2.04.'

Check if you have 5 volts on both ends of the jumper .

Such a diagram would be useless because there are many implementations/variables involved , you need one for your motherboard . The basic way that the power on circuitry works on a ATX board is : you have 5V SB (standby) from the atx power supply which is a different 5v rail ( it basically provides 5v continuously to the board/system even when it is shut down ) then the 'usual' 5v one . That voltage usually goes in to the chipset trough a voltage regulator, depending of the chipset ( south bridge in your case ) were it feeds the system power management block ( to which the pw on connector leads to ) , also that 5v SB is feeding the super i/o chip/chips so you can be able to turn your system on via kb or mouse . When you press the power button , the chipset 'senses' that and 'pulls the 'power on' pin of the power supply to ground' , which turns on the main rails of the PSU , if 'power good' checks out , keeps the system powered on , which makes the system start . That's why i asked you in the previous post if you can confirm that you have 5v SB present on your board . Without it , none of the above can happen .

If 5v SB is present on the board , then the next step is to check if 'power on' from the atx connector on the board leads to something , because i saw some corrosion and the trace might be damaged ( cant tell that from the pic you posted ).

Reply 14 of 14, by rasz_pl

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

example diagram Re: Problem with ATX Soft Power Switch (Possible Fault on Motherboard) but for much older motherbaord

do you have a multimeter? PowerOn connector should have around 5V on one of the pins (pullup), then it goes thru few resistors all the way under PCI slots to the Winbond W83977TF chip. I dont know the exact pin number for P2L, on P2B its pin 72.

Winbond W83977TF will not start if it doesnt have good 5V power from 5Vsb, and will refuse to start if it cant detect PowerGood signal and in general few other conditions it likes like aforementioned cpu fan

https://github.com/raszpl/FIC-486-GAC-2-Cache-Module for AT&T Globalyst
https://github.com/raszpl/386RC-16 memory board
https://github.com/raszpl/440BX Reference Design adapted to Kicad
https://github.com/raszpl/Zenith_ZBIOS MFM-300 Monitor