System will no longer POST!

04/27/08 -- New build worked for approximately 3 hours. Motherboard and all hardware are NEW (retail).

Components:
ECS KN1 SLI Extreme motherboard - 939 Socket
Bios: Phoenix D886 (1998)
AMD Dual Core 4400+ processor
XFX 8500 GT (PCI video card)
Suntec 450 amp PSU
Seagate 160 GB SATA Hard drive (SATA)
ASUS DVD/CD r/w (SATA)
Kingston 1 GB (PC 3200 DDR ram)


Current Situation: All fans run, all LEDs light up, hard drive spins, DVD r/w tray works, CPU heats up, but machine will NOT POST. There are no POST codes (beeps) of any kind and no Video output at all - just a blank screen. Have swapped out PSU, memory, Display, disconnected all peripherals, tried to get POST code beeps with memory and w/o memory, with video card and w/o video card, with peripheral and w/o peripherals. Removed motherboard from case and tried again, thinking that maybe there might be a case short, but nothing makes any difference. The motherboard will NOT POST!

Motherboard History: Built system on 04/27/08 and it worked fine when first assembled. Loaded XP and everything seemed OK. Tried to add a used CD reader (IDE) -- that had been working when I removed it -- and it immediately fried. This tripped the PSU and the machine shutdown. I then removed that CD reader and rebooted and everything still worked. Tried another CD reader that was also used and working when it was stored and it too fried. This time however, the PSU did not shut down and I quickly turned the system off. I then removed that CD reader and rebooted. Again, the system worked fine.

After dinking around with XP, I went on to the ASUS website and downloaded a firmware upgrade for the DVD/CD read/write. I then installed it. This caused the ASUS drive light to come on and stay on. The tray also wouldn't open. I quickly shut down the machine and purged the BIOS. This seemed to correct the problem. The DVD light then went on and then off normally and the tray opened and closed. I did not check to see if the DVD R\W actually worked at this point, but I assume it did. I then checked the "Device Manager" to see if all hardware was functional. Everything appeared to be working except for two USB hubs. I found a driver for one, but was unable to initially find a driver for the other. I then plugged a USB 2.0 flash drive into the machine in order to access some additional programs and was told that I did not have USB 2.0 functionality. According to this message it was because I "did not have SP1 installed." I then loaded SP1 on the machine, but still got the same message indicating that I did not have USB 2.0 functionality. I then found a driver for the USB 2.0 hub and loaded it. Next, I replugged the USB Flash drive to see if I finally had USB 2.0 capability and the machine immediately locked up. I then shut it down removed the flash drive and rebooted. It was at this point that I no loner got a POST of any kind; or, any video output that might indicate that a POST was taking place. The screen remained totally blank. Refer back to "Current Situation" at the top of this post.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with this machine? If so, the insights would be greatly appreciated. At this point I am leaning towards a corrupted BIOS chip.

Wow, does that sound screwy.

Can you remove all unneeded cards and see if it will boot? have you tried a simplier video card (i'm asuuming this one takes power)? Have you just check to make sure your not grounding out?

I have removed all cards and nothing makes any difference. The video card has its own 12V connector on this board, to support SLI, even though I am only using one card, therefore it can't be an issue of current. I have also checked out all possibilities both in and out of the Case. No difference.

I contacted ECS looking for answers and they are going to issue me an RMA. Haven't received it yet, but apparently they must think it looks like its's their Motherboard that's at fault.

your motherboard is fried, probably some chip was on the edge of failing when you got it. However i'm not so sure its your motherboards fault, check the PSU, when they fail they will sometimes fry most of the stuff in the system (and it could be the cause of your motherboard failure), i would recommend checking the voltages of the PSU and just make sure everything is right, you don't want to do the RMA and just end up frying the motherboard again.

PSU voltages are one of the first things I checked. All voltages were right on the money. I appreciate the thought though. Any insights you can pick up along the way usually prove to be helpful somewhere down the line.

The board was purchased off of EBay from someone in Canada. I've was looking for that specific board for some time and felt thankful to have found it. He said it was "new" and it looked to be new. However, I have no way of telling if it was, and possibly he dinked around with it before I got it and caused the vulnerability. Whatever the case, hopefully ECS will come through on this one and I can finally get this system up and running.

Finding good 939 motherboards is very difficult any more. Their literally as scarce as hen's teeth. Can't quite figure out why the board manufactures dropped that configuration since the chip can be purchased in any number of places. Also, when I touched base with a tech at AMD, he asid that the Toledo (4400+) was one of their best chips ever, in his opinion.

the 939 boards are hard to find because AMD stopped making chips for them, you need a AM2 board for any of the new stuff, i strongly recommend you do not buy a 939 board

also while the Toledo may be one of the best chips (its a matter of opinion) it does not make it the fastest chip, you can get a 2.6Ghz X2 opteron for that socket, thats about the best there is, and if you go with AM2 just about everything is better

of course right now if you can pick the motherboard then get a 775 intel board, its faster and cheaper, AMD can't compete and you are wasting your money buying from AMD unless your upgrading an already existing system.