old dual P2 board refuses to kick over

[bonestonne]

ok, so i'm sure many of you are at least slightly familiar with the Dual Pentium II Xeon board and rig i have set up...its the one i have in my sig.

well, about an hour ago, i cleaned the computer, got dust out, etc...i also took the CPUs apart, and reapplied thermal grease on the inards of it, the L2 cache chip, and the actual CPU chip. well, one CPU had dropped temps significantly, so i took both out because i wanted to make sure the job was crisp, as the first time was a quick thing. well, after cleaning both, reapplying thermal paste and putting them back in the system, i wanted to see if i had dented the temps any more...well, upon pushing the power button, nothing happened. the 300W enermax PSU is the only one i have for the system right now, so i can't try another one with the system, and i don't exactly have another system i can check the enermax with at the moment. being sunday, i don't want to kill a system thus having 2 dead, the third would not suffice for the week for me.

is there anything i can do with the system to get it to turn over like it had? i have two new processors coming in the mail for it, and i'm in no mood to have only a potentially good system, but no way to use it. i'm going to need the system for my schools rock show, which has been rescheduled because of recent snow storms.

basically, i got the system back together, and i left it unplugged, when i feel like i have the patience to work with it more i'll do so, but i've run out of things to troubleshoot. i've tried the power on jumper, unplugging everything but the board, taking out each CPU to see if it'll start with just one...i even tried a different power button, but nothing.

anyone? i have a new PSU selected if the enermax can't power the 700mhz 2M L2 cache CPUs, but i was hoping i wouldn't have to shell out $30 before i get my allowance and birthday rolls around. that and i still havent gotten a refund on the RAM that was stolen as i was told i would be getting. its been almost another week, this guy is killing me.

[Zxian]

You can quickly check the PSU by shorting the green wire to ground by using a paperclip or the like. That'll get that out of the picture.

Also - I'm sure you've done this, but good to check - clear the CMOS. Don't just do the 30 seconds... remove the battery for a good 10 minutes. I've had this save a system or two from what would otherwise have been the "dead pile".

[bonestonne]

ok, i'll pop out the CMOS battery and put the jumper and clear and i'll check the PSU right now...i'm gonna be pretty upset if it is the PSU...but i may need a new one for the 700's anyway.

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the PSU doesn't start with the paperclip...

great. i'll check it once more tomorrow...

now to really find a good PSU to replace it with...i would have hoped that PSU would have lasted longer. i may take it apart as a final check...it erks me.

Edited March 18, 2007 by bonestonne

[Zxian]

Yup - if the PSU doesn't turn on with just the paperclip, you're pretty much hooped...

You needed that funky 6-pin connector, right?

[bonestonne]

ok...i guess i spoke too soon on what happened last night.

the PSU is now faithfully chugging away upstairs without a hiccup.

before i get too into it, yes, i'll still be looking for a new PSU if the 700mhz CPUs run unstably with only 300W.

as for the problem, i found a short in all the wiring.

i have pretty bad pics, but i'm glad i found it.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0881.jpg

the first picture is of "The Troubleshooter" which is my 600W hot swappable dual power supply. this was what was given to me to run the system however, at 600W, not to mention its size, it will take a good amount of power...also being a dual pack, it takes twice the power the run.

it was at this point in time where i realized, if that thing wont start with just the fans plugged in, theres a problem. "The Troubleshooter" as i call it is a very nice PSU for what it does, however, its massive size, and its weight at 12 pounds makes it somewhat difficult to use. When it doesn't start, theres a problem.

So I continued on unplugging things. Well, I go and I unplug a 60mm fan that i have on the lower CPU's heatsink to cool it as possible, as its not in direct airflow. Well, thats where i found the problem. When I unplugged it, i noticed that one of the ground leads was seated kind of low. Well, not kind of, it was really low. It turns out that the barbs that keep it from sliding around were bent. How this happened, I can't give any explanation, i don't mess with the fans unless i have to.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0882.jpg

Theres where you see theres obviously a problem...the ground wire had the freedom to come all the way out of the plug without any force. No, this didn't make me happy, the fan thats on that wire is very important. and very hard to replace. Its a Cooler Master Rifle, from maybe 2002. You can find fans almost exactly like it on some new AMD coolers.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0883.jpg

This is where you see that I'm sitting on the floor, with a few connectors out of the picture, and a small jeweler's flathead screwdriver. I had successfully and safely removed the other pins from both connectors, thus leaving me with 4 wires with 2 wires that the fan was connected to. Well, I'd spent the next hour blasting heavy metal to drown out the swearing of me poking myself with that screwdriver [it really did hurt, the thing is sharp] and creating a way to power the fan.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0884.jpg

Thats basically where i finished. Well, halfway. Turns out the first time I went to test this i forgot to plug in the PSU, so there was a little more swearing to accompany the ever louder heavy metal. Well, after 2 hours, the system is back up and running. and its actually much cooler. i need to find a way to cool CPU #2, but CPU #1 is much cooler than it had been with just the thermal pad on it. CPU #1 is now running with an internal temp of 49C and a Heatsink temp of 26C, CPU #2 isn't so lucky, running with an internal temp of 61, and a Heatsink temp of 28C.

After plenty of swearing after finding out the problem was with possibly the most important fan in the system, i'd managed to get everything working again.

Luckily I don't have to buy a new PSU just yet, and I'll be able to record my radio show on Wednesday. Sadly i wont get my new processors until Thursday. As long as the system works.

Thanks to Zxian for the help..next time I aim to start a PSU with a paperclip, everythings getting unplugged.

[nmX.Memnoch]

my 600W hot swappable dual power supply. this was what was given to me to run the system however, at 600W, not to mention its size, it will take a good amount of power...also being a dual pack, it takes twice the power the run.

That's what you should be running in that system ALL the time...especially if the system is that critical. Just because it's rated at 600W doesn't mean it's using 600W...it just means you can use up to 600W with that power supply. You won't use anymore power with that PSU than you were with the other one. The second PSU probably won't have any draw at all unless the primary PSU fails...which is what it's for. It's online, realtime redundant power (or should be).

Drop searching for a new PSU and put the hot swappable setup in there. I could only wish to find a reasonably priced hot swappable setup for my Dual 3.06GHz Xeon system.

[bonestonne]

my problem is finding the room for the PSU. i love it, but its so big. not to mention its quiet honestly as wide as my current case. also, both of the 300w packs are on all the time, but technically i can remove one if needed.

if someone could found like a really budget case that could fit it, i may go and use it, but its really heavy too. the system is basically my portable one as i don't have a media center [i've built a few at my school, its a DVD player, VCR, tape deck, CD player, EQ, and in one case, a computer thats all in a rack mount, put on wheels, and used whenever needed]. its also my most versatile system [kinda sad] it has the most RAM, in fact, if you took all the RAM in all the other computers in my house that are used daily, its got 128mb less RAM in it. 5 systems, each with 256MB of RAM, or my dual system with 1152MB. new CPUs on the way, maybe more ram soon too.

its just the size and weight. i'll be recording the rock concert, however, with something thats come up recently that may be hard to do.

i have seen cases that fit the PSU, but they're massive and the cases just empty are heavy. i'm not about to get rid of the PSU though, once i get my AMD system up, that will be what i cart around, and i'll have less of a hard time giving the Xeons a permanent place. not to mention cost...buying the new CPUs for my system has brought me down to nothing until allowance time...being in highschool makes this kinda hard, as i have little time for myself, much less a job, between having a radio show, being on tech and having homework. i would love to use the xeons and have them in a similar setup as they were put in back when they were made, but right now its too hard.