Help!!! Computer wont POST!!!

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Ed1Mun5t3r, Feb 18, 2006.

  1. Ed1Mun5t3r

    Ed1Mun5t3r Private E-2

    Ok... I've built many computers before... But, never have I built one of this scale before. I'm building a quad processing machine for server development and research. The motherboard is a Tyan K8QW S4881, With an AMD Opteron 800 seris processor. With recomended power supply from the tyan site, and ECC registered DDR. Everything is hooked up... jumpers for front panel are all connected to the board according to the manual's description ftp://ftp.tyan.com/manuals/m_s4881_100.pdf but when i turn on the power supply it seems to power the whole board without pressing the power switch. The mb has a two digit/character display on the board not far from teh cmos reset jumper... which after turning on the power supply, lights up displaying the letters "FF" I checked the manual to see if it was an error... but was unable to find anything... I get no post beeps, while the chassis speaker is hooked up... I get no dispaly on the monitor and NO beep codes with or without RAM... It just sits there with the "FF" on the display and all fans on... power switch works for if i hold it down for 10 seconds or more, everything shuts off... only then may i use the chassis power switch to turn it on. I cant remember, it was a long time ago... but the last time i built a computer with a faulty CPU i dont think it ever posted or gave beep signals. I hope its not the processor... but Any insight would be grea... I've tried running the computer for a minute or so to see if the processor was getting warm, to tell if it was even running or not... couldn't tell, didn't feel any heat on the heatsink... So if anyone has any ideas or clues... PLEASE... this project needs to get started, and the computer has yet to be operating... Thanks
     
  2. juggalo29935

    juggalo29935 Private E-2

    try a different graphics card
     
  3. iandoh

    iandoh Private E-2

    Try flashing the BIOS in another machine.
     
  4. goldfish

    goldfish Lt. Sushi.DC

    Buh? How would that help?

    Unhook everything but the bare minimum. Including extra processors. You only need 1 to boot (generally anyway).

    FF usually means "Power" - IMX anyway.

    You'll want to check for shorts - EVERYWHERE. Including molex plugs. If possible, power up the power supply without it connected to the motherboard and check voltages. It might be a faulty PSU.

    To further prove this you might test with another PSU, if possible.
     
  5. iandoh

    iandoh Private E-2

    It might not start coz of a bios error.
     
  6. Geek-A-Hertz

    Geek-A-Hertz Private E-2

    Do you have the correct power supply. Many server boards require the 24 pin power connector. I have had many techs tell me that they can run on the 20 pin power supply but I've only found 1 that would even post with the 20 pin and it was an Intel board. It posted but would randomly reboot. Installed a 24 pin PS and all was well. The rest I have tried(6 or 7) wouldn't even post.
     
  7. Ed1Mun5t3r

    Ed1Mun5t3r Private E-2

    yes... i have the correct power supply... I had to contact Tyan for this kind of power supply for it required one 24 pin and two 8 pin connectors just to run Rank 2 memory, AND it required an additional 4 (1x4) pin 5v molex plug and a 4 (2x2) pin ATX 12v power connector for Rank 4 memory. This is a brand new board from Tyan that there were only 2 power supplys that Tyan had recomended.
     
  8. Ed1Mun5t3r

    Ed1Mun5t3r Private E-2

    We're using bare minimum from start... The video card is onbaord, we only got one processor for now, we are planning on upgrading the components this summer. But as of right now with funding a bit of a problem, we only have bare minimum with an 800w power supply. We currently have connected to the board and power supply is one SATA HD, two IDE DVDRW/CDRWs, 2 case fans, and one cpu fan that connects to a molex plug. I have taken physics and used the equipment to test voltages, but i dont have any of that equipment myself... so what are your recomendations on voltege testers? And if "FF" means "Power" for IMX what was it refferring to, a power supply problem? a problem with power period? or just powered on?
     
  9. Geek-A-Hertz

    Geek-A-Hertz Private E-2

    Some multiprocessor boards require some type of termination if your not utilizing all of the processor sockets.
     
  10. goldfish

    goldfish Lt. Sushi.DC

    A voltmeter might be a good start ;) Personally I like Fluke meters but they ain't cheap
    Sorry, I used too many TLA's there. In my experience, FF means "Power" on a motherboard display.

    You say you've got a hard drive and two optical drives attached - that's not a bare minimum! I'm talking just a processor, A stick of ram and a graphics card (which is onboard, so no worries there).
     
  11. trunksthebattler2000

    trunksthebattler2000 Private First Class

    Also if you can. Try testing components like the processor and RAM in another computer if you can.
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds