Another M2N32-SLI Deluxe Problem: System Turns Off after 5 Seconds of Turning On

Hi everyone,

I would sincerely appreciate any help with my problem. I will try t
describe the problem and steps I took to fix the computer as closely a
I can. I hope that doesn't bore you. If there is anything I said tha
is inappropriate, please accept my apology.

I I built a system using the following components during the weeken
after the Thanksgiving week (literally on December 1, 2007).


- ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SL
MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Mode
ADX6400CZWOF
- Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB ATX V2.2 500W Power Supply
- Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC
6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804
(4-4-4-12 2.2Volts)
- OCZ 2GB ( 2 X 1GB ) Platinum PC2-6400 800MHz 240-pin DDR2 Memory
OCZ2P800R22GK (CL 4-4-4-15, 1.9 - 2.0 Volts)
- XFX PVT84GUDF3 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x1
HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
- Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/
Hard Drive
- LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-R
12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache ID
20X DVD¡ÀR DVD Burner
- Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader - Retail
- Arctic Silver 5
I can only honestly said that I have witnessed the system workin
beautifully for about ONE hour. After I put the component togethers
installed Windows XP, I put the assembled computer back into the Ante
900 box and readied it to be shipped back to China (I currently live i
China so I took my thanksgiving holidays in the US, bought the compute
parts and built the system) as a check-in baggage when I go back t
China on December 6.

Fighting the jetlag, I opened the box, took out the computer, SWITC
THE POWER SUPPLY UNIT TO 230 VOLT, connected to monitor, turnred on th
beautiful computer, all the fans and blue lights from the case, PSU an
Zaleman HS were all working, but NOTHING on the screen.

My immediately reaction was something came loose during the flight. S
I opened the computer case and found the 1934 connector was loose, bu
thought that was not the problem. I searched the internet and foun
suggestion that said I should clear the CMOS (RTC RAM). So I did that
no luck. I then began to take out the memory sticks and re-seated the
and that didn't work. Then I left only two sticks of the Crucia
Ballistics, still didn't work. So I tried to remove the retentio
bracket that locked the Zaleman HS to the retention module base (th
black rectangular rail surrounding the AM2 socket). This was ver
difficult to do. So I unscrewed the retention module base, and th
Zaleman and CPU poped out very easily. Then I removed the CPU fro
heatsink and re-seated back to the socket and reattached the heatsink.
Turned on the computer, this time, the PC turned on for about 5 second
and then everything shut down by itself.

So, now I am stuck with a PC that won't boot at all. I saw some pos
that it might be the motherboard and some post said that it might b
the PSU. Since I don't have any spare part here, what can I do t
further diagnose the problem?

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? I would be ver
grateful for any help

 

Have you reseated the video card and all cables/connectors (disk drives,
power cables). Reseat the power cables from the PSU and make sure
they're all plugged in (secondary 4 pin connector and connector to the
video card, if it requires one). Are any of the screws mounting the MB
loose? Is the CPU fan plugged in and rotating properly. Are you
certain you mounted the CPU and heatsink/fan properly.

Obviously something happened during transit, so do a thorough inspection
of everything.

 

Have you connected the CPU fan to the wrong mobo connector, the bios will
expect the cpu fan to be on the correct connector otherwise the machine will
think the fan is not spinning and shut the power off after a few seconds to
save the CPU.

 

thanks for the reply -- will double and triple check all connectio
again. The video card is powered by the PCIE slot... I have actuall
disconnected the power to the DVD drive, trying to "preserve" more juic
for the PSU, in order to see if the PSU is the problem. Since the Ante
900 case comes with 4 Fans, wondering if I should disconnect those a
well. Some postssaid it might be the PSU not pushing enough AMP to th
video card.... however, the system was working in the US. Could it b
that using a different voltage in China for the PSU (230volt vs. 115vol
as in the US) causing the PSU to respond differently???

Also wondering whether or not that the heavy Zalman HS has caused th
MB/Socket damaged during the transit..... sigh.. so many uncertaintie
to eliminate

 

thanks for the reply -- will double and triple check all connectio
again. The video card is powered by the PCIE slot... I have actuall
disconnected the power to the DVD drive, trying to "preserve" more juic
for the PSU, in order to see if the PSU is the problem. Since the Ante
900 case comes with 4 Fans, wondering if I should disconnect those a
well. Some postssaid it might be the PSU not pushing enough AMP to th
video card.... however, the system was working in the US. Could it b
that using a different voltage in China for the PSU (230volt vs. 115vol
as in the US) causing the PSU to respond differently???

Also wondering whether or not that the heavy Zalman HS has caused th
MB/Socket damaged during the transit..... sigh.. so many uncertaintie
to eliminate

 

It sounds like it is your power supply failing.

 

Make sure that voltage switch has been moved completely to the 220v
position. Or, that switch is bad.

Stephen
--

 

zoro wrote:

[snip]

That is a very good possibility. You should have removed the heavy
heatsink/fan before shipping. It's too late now, but for future
trips... Since the computer acts as if the CPU is overheating, I would
remove the HS/F and thoroughly inspect for any damage. If none is
noted, fine, but if damage is noted, do what you can to fix it. Clean
all heatsink compound on the CPU and HS/F by wiping with a soft cloth;
then, using 91% alcohol, clean the CPU and heatsink to remove all of the
HSC. Reapply HScompound with a very thin coating on the bottom of the
heatsink, OR the top of the CPU (Not both), then mount the HS/F to the
CPU. You only need a very thin coating of HSCompound, so don't overdo
it.

As mentioned, make sure the heatsink fan is plugged into the proper
connector, or the system will do what it's doing.

If all that is okay/fixed, then you may have a bad power supply. Pick
up a cheap multimeter at Radio Shack (they're everywhere) and check the
actual voltages from the PSU while a load is on it. Black is ground,
Yellow is +12V, orange is +3.3V, red is +5V.

 

zoro wrote:

[snip]

One other thing before you get into it. Is the 4x4 +12V connector
plugged into the MB? This supplies extra +12V current more directly to
the CPU power circuits. It's easy to forget, and can cause all sorts of
problems.