not an overclocker, but have put together our computer

[lyees]

Hi,

I found this site while doing some research on cpus and motherboards.  What my husband calls our "workstation", is what I put together from used and new parts back in 2007 or so.  I've never been an overclocker or gamer, but thoroughly enjoy repairing stuff, whether it's a kitchen appliance or a computer.  Our "workstation" died earlier this week, a socket 938 Asus motherboard, so I am here for some needed advice.  We mainly use the Linux operating system, have a few chickens, some cats and a couple of dogs, enjoy our vegetable garden and live in the mid-Arkansas area. 

[cjloki]

Well welcome lyees, glad to have you onboard ! it's always good to have someone around who is willing to figure things out rather than toss 'em out... while I myself am not familiar with the socket  AM3/938 platforms I assure you that there are plenty of members here who are experienced and willing to lend assistance where needed...

you will likely need to list full specs of the unit in question, for instance CPU, type of RAM and quantity , the motherboard if known, video card/s, PSU, Operating system, and any other specifications you can think of along with circumstances, symptoms or problems and any issues noticed prior to it's dying... everything will be helpful and more is better for figuring out what is going on with the machine...

sincerely

cj

[lyees]

Hi cj,

Thanks for the greeting and your helpful advice!

I see I made a typo...should be "socket 939".  

Regards, Lisa

[ir_cow]

Ohh we are going waaay back to AMD X2 days. 

Well you said the system died. So it could be a number of things, but the good news is replacements parts used on ebay are really cheap. The only thing that might be a problem in replacing is the Power Supply since the standard has charged and shifted from 3.3v  / 5v to 12v. 

So lets start with what it does. Like how did it die? does it not power on, not boot into linux, system crashes, etc.

[sticknstone]

A test of the power supply is the best thing to do to be sure it needs replacing.

Use a multimeter on DC voltage and touch the black negative probe to the black pin on the power supply and the red positive probe to the yellow pin on the power supply and the reading will be 12 volts.

While holding the black probe on the black pin on the power supply, place the red probe on the red wire on the power supply will read 5 volts.

Hold that black probe still and put the red probe on the orange wire on the power supply will read 3.3 volts.

The blue wire is -12 volts and the white wire is -5 volts.

The power supply has a fan which should be turning when powered on.

[ir_cow]

But thats only going to tell you idle voltage. Still its a start.

[cjloki]

MS. Lisa I gather you like to fix things and all but perhaps that ol' rusty bucket is due to be retired... you ought to be able to build a really modern replacement for $300-$500 if you are prudent and selective and use your old hardware where applicable... that machine is pretty much a dinosaur ma'am and you could do better if you have the resources...  just sayin'

[lyees]

Hi ir_cow and sticknstone.  Yes, going waaay back.  That's because my husband is very frugal and doesn't replace anything until it breaks.  I'm the opposite and want the latest and greatest, so we tend to balance each other, most of the time.  That is probably why I ended up learning how to put together a computer desktop as it was cheaper than buying new.  cjloki, you are of my mindset, so last week I ended up ordering a used motherboard on ebay, an Asus P6T with an Intel Xeon cpu,  including filled out RAM.  I'm waiting on the heatsink that I ordered separately, as it didn't have one, an OEM Intel LGA 1366.  That was a hundred bucks.  Will let you all know if it works or not.  My husband, being of his mind set and not wanting to waste a possibly still usable motherboard, ordered a replacement Athlon 64 fx57 CPU for about ten dollars.  It's a race to see which component arrives first to see which motherboard gets to be put into  the enormous and roomy Antec case.

I can post my problem at another thread, that way we can discuss it further if needs be as I do appreciate the help and advice.  I can give more specs. I didn't know that about the power supply industry changes, and never thought it could be the PSU.  That's interesting.  Nice to meet you both, ir_cow and sticknstone and thanks for the advice to each of you.

[cjloki]

This I'd like to see !  ...would you kindly keep us posted ? and some pics would be amazing... You know your mister man can mess around with that ol' 939 all he wants to and it'll never be a 1366... but do have fun with that and make it happen !!

[lyees]

Hi cj

Back again.  Taking me a while to get this new used motherboard put together as I've had to stop to do other things like walk the dogs and cook.  I'm thinking of writing a spoof on installing a motherboard and it would begin with, "First, trim your fingernails". 

I looked over the forum sections for where to ask about problems with a system, and didn't see any, so I'll just post here.

desktop specs:
Asus A8N-E mb socket 939 with Athlon 64 FX57 CPU
four memory modules of 4GB
Nvidia GeForce NX8500GT pci-e slot graphics card
Corsair 550W power supply for ATX 2.2 and ATX 2.01

My husband turned on computer, went to do something and came back and it had booted into Linux as he missed the dual boot menu to select windows 7, the os he intended to use.  So, he rebooted at the linux login screen and then screen went black and the monitor display said something like "no video output", what you'd see from the monitor if say, if it wasn't connected to the VGA connector on the motherboard.  He had to do a hard shutdown to turn it off.  Since then we've switched out the graphics card with an older working PCI card and same problem.

The lights on the two optical drives blink at power up, then the keyboard and mouse lights blink, NUM Lock light stays on but there is no post, no BIOS output from monitor.  Wait a minute or more, I can hear the internal hard drive making sounds like it normally does going through the processes of booting up into Linux.  Then during that time the NUM Lock light goes off and that's it.  Tried a couple of restarts and sometimes I could get the CAPS LOCK on the keyboard to light up after a couple of minutes passed, but most of the time it would not. I did try ghost entering my password, assuming that after x amount of time passes that it would take to normally boot into Linux, by entering my password via the PS2 keyboard, hoping I would hear the hard drive further make sounds that it was going through processes, but nothing.

The small motherboard LED light is on, all of the fans are running, including the PSU fan.   At the moment, the unit is disassembled so I can't test it right now.  We forgot to check if the CPU fan was working while running.  This old board has a chipset fan as well which I replaced years back.  I could test the monitor using my laptop just to make sure it isn't that. 

My current problem is installing the P6T motherboard.  My Corsair 550 W has a 24 pin connector only.  The motherboard has two connectors, the 24 pin EATXPWR and an 8 pin EATX12X connector.  Manual says both must be connected or it won't post. Does this mean I need to get another power supply?  If so, my husband will be happy as that way he'll be able to use the case and power supply to try out the Athlon CPU soon to arrive in the mail, while I wait next month to order a PSU.  Strict budget here.

Thanks for any help!

Lisa

Edited December 27, 2020 by lyees
correction

[cjloki]

actually according to the corsair specs for the 550w, the psu has the 8pin connector for atx power which perhaps can be separated into 2 four pins (some do and some don't) that link together to make it into 8(or an 8 with a 4 branching off) but they do say 8pin and so as you've mentioned both the 24pin and the 8pin need power for it to work. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/591721-REG/Corsair_CMPSU_550VX_VX550W_550W_Computer_Power.html/specs  ...if you must get a new psu then yes

...and good grief those old 8500gt cards were the shit back in the day but it sounds like either video card is kaput or the pcie slot is worn out and not properly connecting to the positions on the card. Another possibility is that the pcie has a broken/loose connection so check and make sure it secured to the mobo and no cracked/broken solder joints. If all that is seemingly good and solid then perhaps it's time to consider clearing the cmos and starting over (i have never built an nForce mobo however there were quite a few on here back then) and you'd have to google that or perhaps one of these nice folks has that experience... but if you can get that old beast into bios then you can do something with it... and the one last thing i can think of is checking the drivers but if you aren't getting video then that's a moot point... if the man of the house can do a safe boot into win7 then perhaps the proper drivers are there already and he can work it, but anyway Madame there are lots of guys on OCC who have more experience than me so there you go ! hang in there Ms. Lisa

[sticknstone]

Test the bios battery.  Here ask some basic questions, i.e when was it installed, was it changed, could it have depleted it's charge.

To test the 8500 GPU try it in a different system.  Use the computer a little, and try a few power on, off cycles.  You will know if it is the problem or maybe part of the problem.

To troubleshoot connect only the basic components needed to boot, i.e PSU, motherboard, one memory chip, CPU, hard drive, keyboard, GPU (if the motherboard has onboard graphics use it).  This will narrow down the problem.  Boot into bios for now.  Check the settings and see the components that are loaded.  Try a few power on, off cycles.

Cycle through the memory chips one at time while repeating the above test, i.e Check the settings and see the components that are loaded.  Try a few power on, off cycles.

Make a list of good components, and mark each memory stick as needed.  I can tell the PSU 5v and 3.3v rails are working because it has given the ok to boot the system, i.e on the power good grey wire.