ABIT AN7 Mobo - SouthBridge Overheats

On an earlier post, I wrote that I just bought a used, but "working" ABIT AN7 Mobo. I'm trying to run it on my workbench, before installing into a case.

I had a problem getting the PS to power up from the Mobo signal, but have gotten around that by jumpering the PS leads to turn it on.

Have installed AMD Athlon XP 2400+ CPU with cooler/fan, known good stick of RAM, Floppy drive with MemTest, AGP Video card, known good ATX PSU, PS2 Keyboard and Mouse.

I have checked the output voltages on each of the 20 + 4 pins on the PS, with a DVOM and all measure exactly on spec.

When I power up the board, the power LEDs on the board light, the CPU fan runs, I get NO POST beeps, and the SouthBridge starts to COOK. By that, I mean that within 10-15 seconds, it is so hot that it will burn my skin if I touch it.

would appreciate any suggestions,
thanks,
John

 

Do you have a speaker hooked up for post beeps? If you do, try booting it with no RAM, you should get some beeps. If I looked at the right board on the net, the southbridge on that one is passively cooled. You could always put a heatsink and maybe a fan on it, but is sounds like you may have a bad board.

E