Power On Problems

[dbyrne]

Hello,

 

I've been looking through the forums for some help but haven't been able to figure things out. I have a Lanparty UT nf3 Ultra-D.

 

Everything works fine all the time, no crashes etc. etc.

 

RAM is tested and passed.

 

System stability is great.

 

The only problem I have is this:

 

When I shutdown the computer, the power button on the front will not turn it back on. After I flick the PSU breaker or remove the power cable until the board loses power completely, the power button on the case front then works.

 

I've tried many things to see what the problem is. The only way I can get the board to power on after a shutdown is to remove the RAM entirely. The computer will power on over and over on cold boots without RAM, but as soon as RAM is in there I have to do the PSU breaker or power cable thing to get it to power on again.

 

I've tried sets of Samsung and Crucial with no luck.

 

Also, when I set the RAM to 1T instead of 2T, it will power on but will not POST.

 

Any suggestions would be REALLY appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Daniel Byrne

[davidhammock200]

4 X Samsung 512MB DDR400 (K4H560838E-TCCC)

With 4-sticks the "on CPU" memory controller defaults to 2T, it will only run 1T with a max of 2-sticks.

 

The turn on problem is because the Antec TP II 450W has less than 3A on the +5VSB rail.

You can try soldering a 22uf 10V+ cap across the case mounted on switch.

 

Good Luck,

Dave

[dbyrne]

Hello

 

Thanks for the tip. Just to clarify though: Use a polarized capacitor? And just strap it across the positive and negative of the power switch or its wire leads?

 

It's strange that this board needs so much juice. I've built a bunch of nf3/nf4 boards with the same PSU with no troubles.

 

Thanks again for the help.

[davidhammock200]

Hello

 

Thanks for the tip. Just to clarify though: Use a polarized capacitor? And just strap it across the positive and negative of the power switch or its wire leads?

 

It's strange that this board needs so much juice. I've built a bunch of nf3/nf4 boards with the same PSU with no troubles.

 

Thanks again for the help.

Use an electrolytic cap, 10V or higher, solder across the case mounted push button.

[dbyrne]

Thanks again for your reply. One last thing: are you sure it's 22uf and not .22uf? Some posts say .22uf.

 

If this doesn't work, I guess I'll have to switch the PSU. Arrrrg.

 

Cheers.

[dbyrne]

The 22uf cap doesn't seem to work.

 

Could it be a RAM settings thing? I've tried the stock SPD numbers for the RAM, and the auto settings but no luck.

 

Like I said before, it WILL power on when I set the RAM to 1T instead of 2T, but it just won't post at that point.

 

So the only way I have found that it will power on after a shutdown is:

 

NO RAM

RAM @ 1T

REMOVE POWER FROM PSU/MOBO FOR A FEW SECONDS/UNTIL MOBO LEDS ARE OFF

 

This computer did not do this for the first 3-4 months.

 

My 2 cents:

I've built about 40 towers, and am not claiming to be an expert, but all the problems that people have claimed about these boards happened to this one too. Chipset fan died after a week, cold boot yadda yadda yadda.

 

Any further advice would be awesome.

[davidhammock200]

Antec Truepower 2.0 450W PSU

No such PSU. :confused:

 

Exactally what PSU do you have?

 

Link please.

[adreno]

There is a known cold boot issue, with some of the earlier bios for this board. What is your current BIOS version?

[dbyrne]

Not sure what you mean by no such PSU:

 

Here's the specs: http://www.antec.com/specs/SP450_spe.html

 

It comes with the Antec Sonata II case, which I've used a LOT of times. It ain't the best case/PSU but certainly not the worst.

 

I am using the latest BETA bios for this mobo. Date: 2005/12/19-"NF3UDC19".

 

Perhaps I should go back to a slightly earlier BETA bios as there are 3 for this board.

 

Thanks again for even looking at this post and offering help!

[davidhammock200]

Antec Truepower 2.0 450W PSU

It is a SmartPower II, not a TruePower II.

 

That is what I meant.

[dbyrne]

Yes, sorry about that.

 

So this Nf3 board needs more juice than a half-decent 450W PSU?

 

I wonder if increasing any voltages in the BIOS would help anything....but then again this problem did not exist for months before this happened. Same everything, but now it's being strange about turning on. How annoying.

[davidhammock200]

Yes, sorry about that.

 

So this Nf3 board needs more juice than a half-decent 450W PSU?

With that GPU, you are not using very much power,

I doubt the PSU is your problem, but try another another PSU just to be sure.

 

Good Luck,

Dave