Abit board and no video

I have an Abit KN8 Sli, and an ATI PCIe card. I am getting no video, and trying to figure out the problem. What does it mean when you get no post beep at all?

 

Some more details would helpful: is this a new problem? were things working OK and now nothing? is the MB or the PCIe card new? OS? Anyway- since the MB is SLI (and most SLI boards have NVidia chipsets) there might be a conflict with the ATI card. I've seen it before; it's rare, but it does happen. Check for possible BIOS update; but you'll need to see what's going on before flashing the BIOS. If you can borrow another video card (PCIe) or maybe pick up a used one cheap somewhere, then you'll know if it's the video card or MB. You could buy an old used PCI card (like an old Trident or S3Virge) at a used PC store for $5-$10 to pop in and see what's up. Try clearing the BIOS with the onboard jumper first and retry the current ATI card. Make sure all cards and cables are seated firmly and check all power cable connections also. Make sure the power cord is unplugged from the PC while you're in there messing around....

hd2k

 

Ok, here's the story- The PC was put together almost a year ago, and worked fine. Back in March, I moved the PC to a new desk, and lost the video. I bought a cheaper ATI card as a temporary replacement, while the suspected card was RMAd. Again, it worked fine for a couple weeks, until I pulled a video capture card out of it. I was getting no video, no post beep, so I then suspected the mobo, and got that RMAd as well.

I got the new mobo and new video card together, and the board would light up, but nothing would power up. So they sent me yet another board. This one lights up, powers up, fans spin- but still no post beep, no video. Having been told it was the PSU by the guys on the Abit forum, I bought a new 500 watt PSU, and replaced the almost year old 400 watt PSU- still nothing. I tried a second video card, and a third, tried the other PCIx slot, replaced the CPU, because I bent some of the pins pulling it out of the last board, and even tried a different stick of RAm, all with no result.

I have cleared the CMOS overnight, pulled the board and did it barebones, tried a different monitor. When I pull the RAM out all together, I do get the warning beep, but that's about it. I'm not sure, but I think I even tried it with no video card and got no beep. At this point OS is irrelevent, as is flashing the bios, because I have no idea if it is starting or not, the monitor is black- until I disconnect the cable, then I get the no signal warning on the screen.

 

WOW!!! OK- the OS and BIOS flashing definitely out (I pretty much figured it was from the beginning)... so 3 different video cards, 2 CPU's, and different RAM over the course of 3 motherboards (if I'm counting correctly) and still pretty much the same results. Have you tried the video card(s) on a totally different motherboard, like at a friends house or something? I'm not casting doubt on your tech abilities (you seem to know what you're doing) but are you 100% sure that you had the power cord disconnected from the PC and/or the outlet while working on the machine? Many motherboards stay 'hot' even when powered down (you can tell if you use an optical mouse and it stays lit up after you power down the PC) and if worked on, all kinds of bad things can happen. Try removing all the components from the case and rebuild the PC out of the case on your 'tech bench'. Maybe there's something in the case causing a weird ground or a short.... hopefully someone else will come along and look at this from a different angle and will see what we're missing (if anything). Good luck and keep us posted.....

hd2k

 

I'm done. After 2 months of not being able to work, and at least $300 in trial and error and used replacement boards, I am done with it. As soon as I get my $150 cross ship deposit back from them, I'm buying a new board- Brand new, not someone else's problem.

Who has a good history and support? Asus and Abit both are out of the question, as well as MSI. It seems like I had fairly good luck with Gigabyte a few years ago.

 

Yeah, new gear is probably a good idea Since you already have an ATI card, go with either a single PCIX slot, or look for a Crossfire compatible board (ATI's version of SLI). If you have an Intel CPU, I know that Intel makes great motherboards, they're generally not cheap, but they're quality boards and they have a few with Crossfire support. I'm not a fan of Asus or ABit either: I've experienced too many problems with both in the past. I like MSI, but that's not how you feel (and that's OK). Gigabyte makes a good board, FoxConn, ECS (some people talk smack about ECS, but I have nothing but good words for ECS, and they have lower prices), BioStar... all motherboards that I've had some experience with, and minimal to zero problems.... I don't have model numbers handy, but that's the fun part, right? Tracking down your ideal mobo... good luck!!!!

hd2k

 

I am a huge fan of AMD, because they went the extra mile for me in the past. Long story short, had my PC built by idjits, and after about a year, my 1800 XP would only boot as a 1300. They swore up and down it was because I had a 1300, until I showed them my recipt, and said you either ripped me off, or you don't know what you're doing. They refused to replace it, or do anything else to help. So, I called AMD, explained the situation to them. They sent me a new CPU that day.

As far as MSI, I had rebuilt our two PCs with MSI boards, and neither floppy would work. They claimed there was no issue, yet everyone else in their forum had the same problem. Somebody modified the plug, and put it in upside down, fixing the problem. Sounds like denial to me.

On the Abit forums, there are several other folks with the exact same problem as me. Again, sounds like denial.

As far as another SLi, I think I will skip it, since it just seems to be more headache than anything else. The only reason I got the PCIx Sli board, was for a Decklink video capture card, which I ended up selling. But, as you say, since I already have 3 of those vid cards laying around now, what board would you personally recommend for an Athlon 64 and ATI cards?

 

I'm assuming that your CPU is a socket AM2; if so, check out this ECS montherboard- model KA3 MVP. It supports DDR2 (up to 32gb!!!) and supports CrossFire for dual ATI video cards. Retail is probably around $150 US or so... if your CPU is socket 939 your choices are VERY limted. The 939 is being phased out, and the companies still making 939 boards are Asus, Abit, and MSI (surprise, surprise ); either that or they have NVidia chipsets which sometimes don't like ATI products, or they're SLI motherboards. I did find one 939 socket MB made by DFI; model LANPARTY UT CFX3200-DR that also supports dual ATI cards in Crossfire. It's a bit more costly than ECS's board and has very similar specs. DFI has always been a bit spendy, maybe it's worth it. I haven't had much experience with DFI so I'm not the guy to ask. I know alot of the gaming crowd loves DFI. Hopefully you have the socket AM2, otherwise your choices are very limited. Here's some links to info about the ECS and the DFI boards I mentioned. Specs only, no prices:
ECS MoBo: http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=77352&item_no=MB-KA3-MVP&show=b&pass=&shopid=
DFI MoBo:http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?item_no=MB-CFX3200&show=b&pass=hhoopp&class=navactive2
Good luck and let us know what you decide to do!

hd2k

 

According to Abit, it would be a socket 939, so I suppose that does limit my choices some. It seems like there are several new companies every year, and I haven't heard of most of them, like DFI. Dual cards isn't a factor, I think the simpler the better. How is ECS with reliability and support? That is what is most important to me. I don't overclock, don't care if it is the fastest- just that it will handle editing HD video.

I have noticed that many people swear that Asus is the best. Rock on, I say. I had a bad Asus board once, and couldn't get support for it. That is why I say support is as important as reliability, and won't own another Asus product.

 

Actually, DFI has been around for years. They're just kind of low key and they've always aimed their marketing at the high-end PC enthusiast and the gamers. ECS has great reliability! I've dealt with dozens & dozens of ECS boards over the years and have had basically ZERO problems. Well, I'm sure that I've had maybe 2 or 3 but I've NEVER had to return or RMA an ECS and the few probs I've had have been due to either user error, BIOS settings tweaked incorrectly, or something similar; nothing major. BUT- it appears that ECS is no longer making s939 motherboards. I was poking around yesterday (when I posted the links above) and it seems that most of the s939 MB's still available are made by either Asus or ABit (YUCK!) or MSI which you said you didn't want. So, you're in a bit of a spot here. The thing is, the socket 939, when it came out, was aimed at the gamer market, and most (like up to 90%) of these MB's have NVidia chipsets and SLI configurations. The DFI board I linked to above was the only non-NVidia board I could find after a quick look around. It seems that even if you find one w/o the NVidia/SLI, it will still have the 2 PCIX slots for Crossfire. I'll do some deeper searching and I'll post some links when I find 'em.....

hd2k

 

OK- I did some poking around... There's a small company called MachSpeed that makes motherboards and (according to them) they're owned and operated in the USA!!! Based in Oklahoma of all places! Anyhow, they still make some non-NVidia/SLI socket 939 mother boards. The two models I linked to below both take up to 4gb of DDR400 (that's NOT DDR2, but I'm sure you have DDR, and not DDR2). So check 'em out. I've used a couple of these boards in the past (not these exact models, but other MachSpeed boards) and they've been good so far. MachSpeed MB's come with a standard 1 year warranty, but if the end user (meaning you) sends in the optional registration card, they'll upgrade you to a lifetime warranty, for FREE!!!! And I'm pretty sure that the boards retail for under $140.00 each, probably under $100.00; but don't let price be a guage of quality: these are good MB's, and there's a free lifetime warranty, so you really have nothing to lose!!!
MachSpeed Links:
http://www.machspeed.com/specs/venom/vea210gdms-pro.htm
http://www.machspeed.com/specs/viper/MK8-939A.html
I think you can buy 'em from TigerDirect. If not, let me know, and I'll hook you up with a retailer....

hd2k