Dead CPU or locked motherboard?

[Koko]

Murphy has struck!!

My system is an MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR, with an XP2000 running, XP Pro, 1Gb PC3200 RAM and a Ti4200. Plenty of cooling headroom to spare for a mild and stable "upgrade",so I thought.

The XP2000 runs at 133 x 12.5 = 1662.5 Mhz, all done by hardware to date in my system, hence a step back to x10.5, set manually, prior to upping the FSB to 166Mhz and getting a mild 1743 to test the temp, was (I thought) going to be simple. However, upon changing the BIOS and re-booting I get zip. No signal going to the monitor, no AGP detection, no RAM test and definitly no BIOS.

I don't know what's happened.

So far I have:
-Set the M-Bd jumpers to "Safe Mode" i.e. 100Mhz
-Cleared the BIOS
Still nothing.

The LED "D-Bracket" that comes with the motherboard and that I have fitted, stops at the first stage, signalling "processor damaged or not installed properly". How can this be if I have tried to drive the CPU slower?

I have no other systems to fault find or trouble shoot with so I'm stuck for thoughts. Any hints please.....

[Koko]

I just found this post on a review site describing the same thing, but still no soultion....

I wanted to lower the multiplier to increase my bus speed, but the computer would not start with a lower multiplier. Thats When I tried to clear the bios via the jumper. When I powered up again, the board would not start. I could not get this board to start again, meanwhile the cpu and all other parts worked fine back in my old motherboard for the night.

The next day, the store replaced the motherboard, since their service technician could not start the board either. This time, I got to the same point - the multiplier, however, when the machine again locked up, I could clear the bios, and the machine promptly started properly again.

Now then, the multiplier function not working, I could not lower my multiplier to increase my FSB to 166 mhz stable, to get the full 333 mhz potential from the motherboard. This is annoying, as I wont be able to harness that full speed until I purchase a cpu running at 333 fsb.

http://www.sysopt.com/userreviews/mb...L_333_MHz.html

[gibler]

things to try/check

- the cpu fan works is plugged in correctly
- remove the battery entirely after disconnecting from mains power and leave the reset cmos jumper on for some seconds
- remove cards and ram modules and drives
- check the jumpers carefully
- keep trying lots of time (I had a motherboard that used to appear dead that would work after trying many power on attempts)
- have a look for bad caps
- actually reseat the CPU (if you know what you are doing)

[Koko]

Alas, no issues with anything suggested above, as suspected.
Mobo returned to supplier for warrantee claim.

Will post the results.

[pctek]

Plenty of cooling headroom to spare for a mild and stable "upgrade",so I thought.

The XP2000 runs at 133 x 12.5 = 1662.5 Mhz, set manually, prior to upping the FSB to 166Mhz and getting a mild 1743 to test the temp, was (I thought) going to be simple.

The LED "D-Bracket" that comes with the motherboard and that I have fitted, stops at the first stage, signalling "processor damaged or not installed properly". How can this be if I have tried to drive the CPU slower?

1743 from 1662.5 seems to me to be an increase not a decrease.
I have seen them not boot as they don't like the overclock but clearing the BIOS should have reset it all back to default.
The jumpers on the board are set to auto??

[tweak'e]

finally i found what i was lokking for....

quote from here tho its been reported all over the show. old problem i thought they had it all fixed.

All Those People with No Video - Post Problems Read This...

A SHORT WHILE AGO WE REPORTED that there could be a serious problem with Nforce 2 chipset motherboards. No sooner had the article gone up than Nvidia got in contact wanting to know all of the details.
Users of a new Shuttle Nforce 2 based machine had reported problems with the BIOS. They had been trying to overclock their machines only to find that, once they went past a certain point, the machine would stop working.

At first it looked like a problem with the Shuttle but then Asus motherboard owners reported the same problem. Then Abit and Epox. Not only would they stop working, it was proving difficult to get them working again.

Nvidia stepped into the breach and admitted that there was a fault with the Shuttle and Abit boards. The fault lay in the manufacturers missing off a jumper that Nvidia had specified on the Nforce 2 reference design.

Hard Tecs 4U, a German site, unwittingly uncovered the missing jumper. They had reviewed six Nforce 2 motherboards from different manufacturers and managed to kill all of them. The only one that was easy to recover was an MSI K7N2-L board which has the jumper. Using the jumper sets the BIOS back to a 100MHz FSB safe mode.

Other people had discovered that you could use a 100MHz FSB processor, for example a Duron, in a motherboard that had stopped working to get it going again.

And there lies the problem. Setting the FSB too high can stop Nforce 2 motherboards from POSTing. Once the motherboard has stopped POSTing, the only way to get it going again is to reset the FSB back down to 100MHz. Only most motherboards don't have the jumper so you can't do that.

Nvidia obviously knew about this problem because they built the reference Nforce 2 motherboard with that jumper. The fact that many manufacturers didn't put the jumper onto their motherboards means that someone deserves a slapped wrist at the very least. Whether that's Nvidia for not emphasising the need for the jumper or the manufacturers for not including it is something we may never know.

However, what we do know is that a fix will soon be at hand for everyone. Nvidia has managed to create a fix for the BIOS on Nforce 2 motherboards that will solve the issue. That fix has already gone to several manufacturers who should be able to supply an updated version of the BIOS for their specific motherboards soon.

Nvidia has said that it managed to get that BIOS fix to Shuttle the next working day after our initial article. Hats off to Nvidia for getting the problem sorted so quickly

[Graham L]

Be fair. It probably costs at least .05c to put in an extra jumper position.