Computer wont boot after Northbridge cooler change

[mturbo23]

lol I dont think i have one of them either.

Shouldnt the MB beep though if the graphics card is not inserted?

Ive seen some cheap PCI graphics cards going on ebay for £3.50 might buy one and give that a try, maybe useful in the future anyway.

 

[Rik]

No, the mobo wont beep with no graphics card, its that fact that it beeps with no ram that makes me think its the graphics card rather than the mobo thats at fault.

Are you in the UK? Cos if so i can send you an old pci card to test with!!!!

 

[mturbo23]

Thanks very much for the offer but ive already orderd it!

Ill post when i get it and test it.

Cheers, Mike

 

[Rik]

That ok, its just that i have about 4 or 5 old pci cards i keep around for test purposes.

 

[mturbo23]

Just got the graphics card tried it and it still does the same thing.

Its either got to be the CPU or motherboard

 

[dmill89]

It's probably the motherboard I had an ASUS board withe same symptoms you have and when I replaced it the system worked fine. although those scrathes are small they look like they are down into the tracks on the PCB which may cause a short. Only one question did you use silver thermal compound? if so makesure it isn't causeing shorts, even a small amount of residue can cause a short(many northbridges have surfice mount resistors which are close to the die and can easily cause a short from excess thermal compound). If it causes a short clean it off with acetone and apply new paste maby non-silver this time.

 

[mturbo23]

Thanks i think the motherboard is dead.

This is a picture of the northbridge, im guessing its not supposed to have those buldges on it.

what do you think, i used normal (white) thermal grease that came with the zalman cooler.

 

[dmill89]

those buldges do look abnormal. Thermal paste can't be the problem as the white silicone stuff is non-conductive. This leaves your motherboard as the most likely culprate.

 

[mturbo23]

Thought it could be. Maybe i shorted it out on something when putting it on, live and learn i suppose.

Im gonna get a new motherboard but with a silent northbridge cooler as stock this time.

Any reccomendations?

cheers....

 

[dmill89]

Here are my recomendations:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128306
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130038
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004

 

[mturbo23]

Thanks for the recomendations.

Can i use an SLI motherboard with a ATI x800GT graphics card?

As i dont play games i dont really need an SLI motherboard (as i will only use 1 graphics card) but the features seem to be better on these boards for the money.

 

[dmill89]

You can use SLi with one ATI videocard but if you want two video cards you will need to get nVidia cards. I would stiil recomend a motherboard that supports SLI or Crosfire so you'll have that option if you decide to upgrade later and it doesn't cost much more.

 

[mturbo23]

Have just orderd the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard as my replacement.

Hopefully this will solve the problem.

 

[mturbo23]

Turns out it was the motherboard! Replaced it and its now working fine.

Thanks for all the help!