I got an Aopen AX3S motherboard today. It is a S370 motherboard based on the Solano 2 chipset (Intel 815). The problem is that the board starts up but doesn't post. There are 2 leds on the board - one beside the RAM slots and one near the power pins.

The led near the RAM slots lights up indicating that the RAM seems to be fine. However, the led near near the power pins lights up when shorting the pins and then immediately turns off (rather than blinking which should be the case when posting and finally solid red when posted successfully).

I tried clearing the CMOS, removing the CMOS battery, installed a new battery, using few other PSUs, but in vain. The board wouldn't budge. The power led doesn't blink ever.

I did get the led blink once or twice during my troubleshooting and while using a diagnostic card, got the code C100. So I tried changing the cpu and again no luck.

The strange part is that the seller tested the board and it posted fine. He is located around 1600 kms away (within my country) and sent the board through courier. I am wondering if the travel nuked the board.

Has anyone have the same or similar board and/or faced a similar issue?