A7N8X Deluxe will not POST

I was asked to rebuild a system that got trashed by the "Protocol Deployment
Manager" virus. The existing system was an A7N8X Deluxe, 512MB Kingston
HyperX PC2700, 2 x 70GB Seagate SATA in RAID 0.

Since the OS was so heavily compromised even with the virus eradicated I
temporarily installed a third (80GB) HD, put a quick and dirty install of
Win2K on it and intended, once I'd installed the RAID driver, to pull off
the user's data files onto it before reformatting the striped set and
rebuilding the system properly. Just for the hell of it I also swapped the
512MB PC2700 for 2GB PC3200 I had lying around. This was fine for an hour
or two.

However, just at the point in time where I was downloading the RAID driver
from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no pops, no
fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on LED. I
swapped the PSU anyway to no avail. I reset the CMOS to no avail. I'm
quite baffled. If it had died while I was doing something I could
understand but it semed happy enough. If 3 HDs was too much for the yum-cha
PSU (nominal 12v 15A) then surely swapping in a brand new one (Antec
EarthPower 380, 12v 27A) that's more powerful should have sorted that but it
didn't. Unplugging devices so as to present the system with a minimal load
doesn't do squat. No beeps, no fans, no POST. What have I fried?

> However, just at the point in time where I was downloading the RAID driver
> from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no pops, no
> fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on LED.

Stuck power switch (possibly)..
It might have latch'd down, power'd off the board, and now it's stuck and
not responding when you hit the button.. I know this is a bit of a strange
guess but I would look at that first..

"DRS" <> wrote in message
news:467012a9$0$22417$...
>I was asked to rebuild a system that got trashed by the "Protocol
>Deployment Manager" virus. The existing system was an A7N8X Deluxe, 512MB
>Kingston HyperX PC2700, 2 x 70GB Seagate SATA in RAID 0.
>
> Since the OS was so heavily compromised even with the virus eradicated I
> temporarily installed a third (80GB) HD, put a quick and dirty install of
> Win2K on it and intended, once I'd installed the RAID driver, to pull off
> the user's data files onto it before reformatting the striped set and
> rebuilding the system properly. Just for the hell of it I also swapped
> the 512MB PC2700 for 2GB PC3200 I had lying around. This was fine for an
> hour or two.
>
> However, just at the point in time where I was downloading the RAID driver
> from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no pops, no
> fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on LED.
> I swapped the PSU anyway to no avail. I reset the CMOS to no avail. I'm
> quite baffled. If it had died while I was doing something I could
> understand but it semed happy enough. If 3 HDs was too much for the
> yum-cha PSU (nominal 12v 15A) then surely swapping in a brand new one
> (Antec EarthPower 380, 12v 27A) that's more powerful should have sorted
> that but it didn't. Unplugging devices so as to present the system with a
> minimal load doesn't do squat. No beeps, no fans, no POST. What have I
> fried?

Generally if you are getting nothing at all, I'd say power supply, but you
have tried that. Next I'd go with processor, and them the board itself
after that... Try reseating the processor and see what happens. If you
have another system where you could swap out the processor (into a known
good system) try that. If it works, it's definitely a bad board...

"DRS" <> wrote in message
news:467012a9$0$22417$...
| I was asked to rebuild a system that got trashed by the "Protocol
Deployment
| Manager" virus. The existing system was an A7N8X Deluxe, 512MB
Kingston
| HyperX PC2700, 2 x 70GB Seagate SATA in RAID 0.
|
| Since the OS was so heavily compromised even with the virus
eradicated I
| temporarily installed a third (80GB) HD, put a quick and dirty
install of
| Win2K on it and intended, once I'd installed the RAID driver, to
pull off
| the user's data files onto it before reformatting the striped set
and
| rebuilding the system properly. Just for the hell of it I also
swapped the
| 512MB PC2700 for 2GB PC3200 I had lying around. This was fine for
an hour
| or two.
|
| However, just at the point in time where I was downloading the RAID
driver
| from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no
pops, no
| fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on
LED. I
| swapped the PSU anyway to no avail. I reset the CMOS to no avail.
I'm
| quite baffled. If it had died while I was doing something I could
| understand but it semed happy enough. If 3 HDs was too much for the
yum-cha
| PSU (nominal 12v 15A) then surely swapping in a brand new one (Antec
| EarthPower 380, 12v 27A) that's more powerful should have sorted
that but it
| didn't. Unplugging devices so as to present the system with a
minimal load
| doesn't do squat. No beeps, no fans, no POST. What have I fried?
|
|

FWIW, I believe most AMD motherboards derive CPU power from the +5v
rail. My typical approach with dead systems is to isolate major
components to determine which parts work and which part(s) failed.
Perhaps disconnecting all drives (data and power cables), peripherals
(USB and the like) and removing all add-in boards would be a
worthwhile test. Heck, you might even try removing the vid card and
attempt a power up, if the mobo/cpu is working, you should get some
beeps. Go back to the original memory sticks also, just for grins.
Get your nose down close to the board and do a "sniff test" to check
for any burnt components. Smell the old PS, does it have a burnt
smell to it? You can short a couple of pins on the old PS to power it
up and measure unloaded voltage rails (google for how this is done).
--
Best regards,
Kyle

"mr deo" <> wrote in message
news:L8Ybi.1118$...
>
> > However, just at the point in time where I was downloading the RAID
driver
> > from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no pops,
no
> > fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on LED.
>
> Stuck power switch (possibly)..
> It might have latch'd down, power'd off the board, and now it's stuck and
> not responding when you hit the button.. I know this is a bit of a strange
> guess but I would look at that first..
>
>

did you check the switch yet? .. this is an easy test and only requires you
to remove 2 header wires

----------------snip-------
> | from the ASUS web site on another PC this one died. No smoke, no
> pops, no
> | fuss, it just stopped. The only sign of life is the green power-on
> LED. I
> |
>
> FWIW, I believe most AMD motherboards derive CPU power from the +5v
> rail. My typical approach with dead systems is to isolate major
> components to determine which parts work and which part(s) failed.
> Perhaps disconnecting all drives (data and power cables), peripherals
> (USB and the like) and removing all add-in boards would be a
> worthwhile test. Heck, you might even try removing the vid card and
> attempt a power up, if the mobo/cpu is working, you should get some
> beeps. Go back to the original memory sticks also, just for grins.
> Get your nose down close to the board and do a "sniff test" to check
> for any burnt components. Smell the old PS, does it have a burnt
> smell to it? You can short a couple of pins on the old PS to power it
> up and measure unloaded voltage rails (google for how this is done).
> --
> Best regards,
> Kyle
>

Had an ASUS A7N8X-X that refused to POST a few days ago.
Finally discovered it was a dead CMOS battery! Long shot
but perhaps worth trying.

Chris S.