First post, by feipoa
- Rank
- l33t++
I have an Intel VS440FX motherboard that I cannot get to power up properly. The CPU fan spins fine, but the monitor stays blank. All three lights on the keyboard blink twice, which is usually occurs during a normal boot procedure. The power LED, which is connected to PWR LED on the motherboard, just blinks on and off. POST card shows all voltages OK. CLK, IRDY, and FRAME LEDs on the POST card remain illuminated. I did not spot any broken traces. I am using 256 MB of 60 ns FRM memory with parity, but I also tried 128 MB of 60 ns EDO, non-parity. For graphic cards, I've tried a VirgeDX and Matrox G200. I have tried three different power supplies.
I measured the VRM voltage to be 3.3 V, which is about what it should be for a Pentium Pro. I measured the following resistances with nothing plugged in:
12 V to GND = 3 K-ohms ---- [yellow cable]
5 V to GND = 61 ohms ---- [red cable]
3.3 V to GND = 10.4 K-ohms ---- [orange cable]
-12 V to GND = 2 M-ohms ---- [blue cable]
-5 V to GND = 0 ohms ---- [white cable]
I assume the motherboard is connecting the -5 V line to GND? Is 61 ohms between 5 V and GND OK?
The only glaring problem I noticed is that the EEPROM BIOS, Intel E28F002, gets abnormally hot, even after only 20 seconds of on-time. My IR gun shows its surface temperature at 60 C. My finger cannot remain on the chip for more than a second. No other IC's on the MB feel hot at all. I checked for metal shrapnel on the BIOSes pins, but found none. Is it possible that the previous owner ruined the EEPROM chip with a botched BIOS update attempt? And would this cause the BIOS to run hot like this?
I tried with and without the CMOS battery. I already tried resetting the CMOS clear jumper and putting the jumper back on normal operation.
Any other suitable ideas to test for?
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