Need some HELP Please

[Mr.Scott]

It is possible the board is bad and needs rmaing, make sure you explain to them that you took anti-static precautions, America's a huge market, I doubt you'll have problems.

There will be no RMA on those boards, they're far too old. Haven't been made in many many years. The Syntax boards were cheap boards to begin with. Most had Via or SiS chipsets. Syntax never made a board with a NForce chipset either, which was the way to go on socket A boards.
Note to Rocky- make sure you use a supported CPU in those boards. Most of the old Via and SiS based boards didn't support anything faster than 133 bus chips. The 166's and 200's won't work in them. Which leads me to another issue, Via and SiS boards have no PCI lock on them, meaning when you run the FSB over 133 as you would for an unsupported chip, you also inadvertently raise the PCI frequency. Once you get to around 150-155 FSB your PCI bus has been pushed from 33MHz to around 45MHz resulting in data corruption from all sources, and gives you the impression that you have some sort of hardware issue. It will also corrupt a drive and it's OS in a heartbeat. There is no fix. Re-format and install is your only option.

[Rockman99]

Thanks for your kind help I have had all 3 boards up and running previously and that's why I think might have fried the processor.

[PommieB]

It's no wonder I didn't Know much about them I've never looked twice at Via and SIS boards, I thought you said one of the boards were less than 12 month is the only reason I suggested an rma. Thanks Mr Scott, sounds like they were not that great.

Personally I buy a decent motherboard, trouble is you'll probably have to upgrade just about everything, if you can't afford doing that, try to get hold of a cheap cpu and see if the boards will post. Hey Mr Scott might have one around somewhere he could sell you, you'd know then your getting a working cpu.

[Rockman99]

Well the reason I bought the Syntax boards was they were cheap and brand new I bought them for building computers to sell, I built one for my son with an AMD Athlon 1800 and he used it for many years until a couple years ago it gave up the ghost and he built himself a new computer needless to say I was very proud of him. He had no idea how to build a rig but he did it and I'm proud to say he only called me twice for input. When it comes to me, I build what suits my needs, as for buying computer stuff on Ebay I have had no problems except for recently I bought a replacement mobo for this machine which is a P4 Williamette unit the mobo thats in it is an Abit BW7 w/raid and it was a used board and it has been running since 2002. Well the seller is fairly new on Ebay ,but I decided to give him a chance and he has not shipped the board so I opened a case with Ebay this is the 1st problem I've had on Ebay since 1999. The reason I'm replacing it is it's been acting up, I can't add new hardware to it and it's become ridiculously slow the OS is fine so I assume it's the board.

[PommieB]

I was referring to buying privately on eBay, not everybody as had bad experiences, the problem here in Australia, most really cheap stuff is imported directly from places like Hong Kong and you have to return the item to HK for warranty purposes, which doesn't always mean it's honored and don't ever lose the receipt.

[Rockman99]

I know what you are saying.

Additional Comment:

Well I'm back at square 1 with these Syntax boards none of the 3 will post with different processors the memory is good ,PS is good, I also use a small device called a motherboard analyzer and it has led's for voltages,clk,bios ready,ocs,and rst .they are lit properly it also has a HEX display that gives codes during the boot process I am not getting any codes as the boards aren't posting. I have had them up and running with the processors I've got which are AMD's 2-3200 Barton core - Athlon's 1800,2400,2600,2800 and an AMD Sempron 1800. All which have posted before on these boards. I am lost I've searched for an answer so if anyone has a clue to what might be going on here please give me some input.

[PommieB]

Received your PM, as I said earlier AMD not really my area, I very rarely come across AMD computers these days, there are a number of guys here that know them inside and out.

That being said, having 3 motherboards that don't post is highly unusual, as these are fairly old boards, I'd check that they are compatible with the cpu you are using, by that I mean the bios on these motherboards may not support the cpu you are using, I'd make sure the bios's are fully up to date and do support the cpu you are using, it could also mean that there are no more updates available for those boards.

When updating computers and using the same motherboard, you need to make sure the latest bios on the motherboard supports the cpu, if not you need to update the bios prior to updating the cpu. Just to clarify.

If you've done all the above, it could be the boards themselves have problems, it seems highly unlikely, you need to remove any overclocks and build to a minimum spec and check for a post, you should also try different external hardware such as keyboards and mice. I fixed other peoples builds on many occasion using my own externals only to find the person back the next day still unable to get it to work.

You are also panicking when you should be looking at the problem logically, instead of trying to work on three or four motherboards at once, work on one at a time, start from scratch and rebuild, checking everything thoroughly as you go, also keep a few new bios battery's handy and swap out the old one before the rebuild.

Those type of motherboards according to Mr Scott, have always been troublesome, personally I've always avoided Via chipset's, when I received this type of motherboard in as a repair, It's usually been cheaper for the client, to swap out the motherboard for a better one that's compatible with the set-up. What can I say, if you rebuild from scratch to a minimum set-up and check for a post screen, you should be able to isolate what the problem is by swapping out hardware until you get a post screen or come to the conclusion that the motherboard or cpu the problem.

Concentrate on one computer set-up at a time until you find the problem, sort it out, then move on to the next, once you get annoyed or frustrated you don't think straight, you need to get away from the computer and think deeply about what the problem is, anybody who has repaired computers has had this problem at some time or other, it's all about approach.

My apologies if this doesn't help.

[Mr.Scott]

No post codes = no bios
Best guess.....bios on those three boards is blown out. All it takes is one bad memory setting or push the FSB/PCI bus out of spec just 1MHz too far (no PCI lock on Via chipsets). That's why the NF2 boards were the best you could get.

[PommieB]

I was going to suggest ditching the boards, I was trying to do it tactfully, I'd say your absolutely right, probably the reason I avoided them in the first place.

[Mr.Scott]

You did well.
Even the SiS boards were better than those old Via boards.

[PommieB]

Didn't like them either, everybody trying to save money these days, but cheap isn't always the answer. I got two modes when it comes to computers, there's " drat this is going to Cost" Mode and Repair Mode, " Stand back and study the situation " Mode. Works every time. Ha Ha, Thanks Scotty.

[Rockman99]

I already have it not sure what CPU it takes but will soon Know will let you know what happs.

[PommieB]

I hope the problem is not a dead bios, but it seems to me that it maybe bios related, a lot of people do not like updating firmware, if your building and updating computers, it's a necessity, motherboard bios's are released in some cases to cover new cpu's that are released and are not fully compatible with the old firmware, if your someone continually updating cpu's on the same motherboard, the firmware needs to be kept up to date.

There will be a point when the manufacturer's stop bios support, especially on the cheaper motherboards. Part of life I guess. If it turns out not to be a bios issue and you solve the problem, I for one would like to know what you did to solve it.

I just hope we pointed you in the right direction.