IDE post mystery

Computer Forum CPU, Motherboards and Memory
1

Hi,
I am new to this forum but thought I would post here to see if anyone has any ideas of what else to try or if my assumptions are correct. I am trying to sort out a computer which crashed for no apparent reason. Won’t POST at all. It has an Asus A7N266-VM motherboard, AMD Athlon 2400, HDD, floppy, cd and CDRW. PSU and all fans working when you power it up. I reset the CMOS. I disconnected all IDE’s and floppy and the system POSTs. Now here is the mystery. If I connect the HDD to either primary or secondary IDE it won’t POST. If I connect the CD ROM to either IDE channel, it will POST. If I try to connect both CD drives, it won’t POST. I tried to connect a brand new HDD, never used, it won’t POST. Both old and new HDD are spinning so not a power problem. I tried new IDE cables, same scenario. I reconnected the floppy drive, it POSTs. I tried to boot it from Knoppix in the CD drive, it won’t boot. I tried booting from a floppy with the CD ROM connected. It will boot, it recognises the CD drive, but it can’t read it. At this point I am guessing the motherboard is buggered tho it seems strange it can read one device but not another and not two on the same channel. It also won’t POST if I put one CD drive on one channel and one on the other. I’ve also tried every configuration of jumper settings on all devices. :x: I’ve run out of ideas, anyone out there care to add their two cents? I’d be very grateful!

regards
Wendie

2

you’ve got my vote… knack’d MoBo in my op.
warrenty check i think :stuck_out_tongue:

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One thing I haven’t tried is flashing the bios to the latest version. Anyone think this will make a difference?

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very much doubt it since it was working fine before. unless your bios has become currupt i doubt flashing will make a difference

if im understanding you right your IDE controllers must be dammaged have you got a PCI ide controller at all, it might be worth buying one before taking the mobo to teh scrap

5

I agree, that’d be one thing to try.

Question: what PSU do you have (make and model)? While I don’t think it’s as much of a problem, it’s worth double checking.