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Thread ID: 58093 2005-05-21 10:31:00 Dead CPU or locked motherboard? Koko (940) Press F1
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357256 2005-05-21 10:31:00 Murphy has struck!!

My system is an MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR, with an XP2000 running, XP Pro, 1Gb PC3200 RAM and a Ti4200 . Plenty of cooling headroom to spare for a mild and stable "upgrade",so I thought .

The XP2000 runs at 133 x 12 . 5 = 1662 . 5 Mhz, all done by hardware to date in my system, hence a step back to x10 . 5, set manually, prior to upping the FSB to 166Mhz and getting a mild 1743 to test the temp, was (I thought) going to be simple . However, upon changing the BIOS and re-booting I get zip . No signal going to the monitor, no AGP detection, no RAM test and definitly no BIOS .

I don't know what's happened .

So far I have:
-Set the M-Bd jumpers to "Safe Mode" i . e . 100Mhz
-Cleared the BIOS
Still nothing .

The LED "D-Bracket" that comes with the motherboard and that I have fitted, stops at the first stage, signalling "processor damaged or not installed properly" . How can this be if I have tried to drive the CPU slower?

I have no other systems to fault find or trouble shoot with so I'm stuck for thoughts . Any hints please . . . . .
Koko (940)
357257 2005-05-21 10:53:00 I just found this post on a review site describing the same thing, but still no soultion . . . .

I wanted to lower the multiplier to increase my bus speed, but the computer would not start with a lower multiplier . Thats When I tried to clear the bios via the jumper . When I powered up again, the board would not start . I could not get this board to start again, meanwhile the cpu and all other parts worked fine back in my old motherboard for the night .

The next day, the store replaced the motherboard, since their service technician could not start the board either . This time, I got to the same point - the multiplier, however, when the machine again locked up, I could clear the bios, and the machine promptly started properly again .

Now then, the multiplier function not working, I could not lower my multiplier to increase my FSB to 166 mhz stable, to get the full 333 mhz potential from the motherboard . This is annoying, as I wont be able to harness that full speed until I purchase a cpu running at 333 fsb .

. sysopt . com/userreviews/mboards/reviewhtml/MicroStar_K7N2-L_333_MHz . html" target="_blank">www . sysopt . com
Koko (940)
357258 2005-05-21 10:54:00 things to try/check

- the cpu fan works is plugged in correctly
- remove the battery entirely after disconnecting from mains power and leave the reset cmos jumper on for some seconds
- remove cards and ram modules and drives
- check the jumpers carefully
- keep trying lots of time (I had a motherboard that used to appear dead that would work after trying many power on attempts)
- have a look for bad caps
- actually reseat the CPU (if you know what you are doing)
gibler (49)
357259 2005-05-28 00:58:00 Alas, no issues with anything suggested above, as suspected .
Mobo returned to supplier for warrantee claim .

Will post the results .
Koko (940)
357260 2005-05-28 01:53:00 Plenty of cooling headroom to spare for a mild and stable "upgrade",so I thought .

The XP2000 runs at 133 x 12 . 5 = 1662 . 5 Mhz, set manually, prior to upping the FSB to 166Mhz and getting a mild 1743 to test the temp, was (I thought) going to be simple .

The LED "D-Bracket" that comes with the motherboard and that I have fitted, stops at the first stage, signalling "processor damaged or not installed properly" . How can this be if I have tried to drive the CPU slower?

1743 from 1662 . 5 seems to me to be an increase not a decrease .
I have seen them not boot as they don't like the overclock but clearing the BIOS should have reset it all back to default .
The jumpers on the board are set to auto??
pctek (84)
357261 2005-05-28 03:54:00 finally i found what i was lokking for . . . .

quote from here ( . hardwareanalysis . com/content/topic/7445/?o=0" target="_blank">www . hardwareanalysis . com) tho its been reported all over the show . old problem i thought they had it all fixed .

All Those People with No Video - Post Problems Read This . . .

A SHORT WHILE AGO WE REPORTED that there could be a serious problem with Nforce 2 chipset motherboards . No sooner had the article gone up than Nvidia got in contact wanting to know all of the details .
Users of a new Shuttle Nforce 2 based machine had reported problems with the BIOS . They had been trying to overclock their machines only to find that, once they went past a certain point, the machine would stop working .

At first it looked like a problem with the Shuttle but then Asus motherboard owners reported the same problem . Then Abit and Epox . Not only would they stop working, it was proving difficult to get them working again .

Nvidia stepped into the breach and admitted that there was a fault with the Shuttle and Abit boards . The fault lay in the manufacturers missing off a jumper that Nvidia had specified on the Nforce 2 reference design .

Hard Tecs 4U, a German site, unwittingly uncovered the missing jumper . They had reviewed six Nforce 2 motherboards from different manufacturers and managed to kill all of them . The only one that was easy to recover was an MSI K7N2-L board which has the jumper . Using the jumper sets the BIOS back to a 100MHz FSB safe mode .

Other people had discovered that you could use a 100MHz FSB processor, for example a Duron, in a motherboard that had stopped working to get it going again .

And there lies the problem . Setting the FSB too high can stop Nforce 2 motherboards from POSTing . Once the motherboard has stopped POSTing, the only way to get it going again is to reset the FSB back down to 100MHz . Only most motherboards don't have the jumper so you can't do that .

Nvidia obviously knew about this problem because they built the reference Nforce 2 motherboard with that jumper . The fact that many manufacturers didn't put the jumper onto their motherboards means that someone deserves a slapped wrist at the very least . Whether that's Nvidia for not emphasising the need for the jumper or the manufacturers for not including it is something we may never know .

However, what we do know is that a fix will soon be at hand for everyone . Nvidia has managed to create a fix for the BIOS on Nforce 2 motherboards that will solve the issue . That fix has already gone to several manufacturers who should be able to supply an updated version of the BIOS for their specific motherboards soon .

Nvidia has said that it managed to get that BIOS fix to Shuttle the next working day after our initial article . Hats off to Nvidia for getting the problem sorted so quickly
tweak'e (69)
357262 2005-05-28 03:57:00 Be fair. It probably costs at least .05c to put in an extra jumper position. ;) Graham L (2)
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