Case Mod - In Progress Project: Gearbox 2.0 - mini P180 Back to Basics

Problem 1 would suggest that the monitor is not getting enough power so check cables also worth looking at the wall plugs.
If you solve problem 1 this should half solve probelm 2
Problem 3 suggest there is also no power getting to your keyboard check the cables and also try another keyboard.

 

Oh boy, you aren't POSTing. Everey modder hits this point sooner or later, don't give up! You are surrounded by geeks just like you, and most of us have gone through this. Here goes:

1: no problem, part of the other problems!
2: The loud beep is the so called POST (Power On Self Test) that the PC does. It's the equivalent of a person waking up in the morning and checking if all arms and legs are still in the right position before getting out of bed. The fact that you hear the beep means that It completes the POST. The fact that you get no picture on screen means that it fails to startup immediately after POST. What happens is that the motherboard then resets automatically, and tries again... that's why you keep hearing the POST beep, the PC just keeps trying.

That's the good news: your little gearbox PC is a fighter, not a quitter

Now the bad news: finding out what is wrong with a PC in these situations is extremely difficult. The possibilities:

• With one stick of RAM you get no POST beep at all, so maybe the stick of RAM that's in there now is the broken one.
  Solution: try with other sticks, maybe from another computer that does work.
• There's no post because your CPU is fried. Maybe the wc loop failed at one point or you just got unlucky and bought a broken unit.
  Solution: again, try with another part from a PC that does work.
• The Motherboard is fried or just broken out of the box. If it is not your RAM or CPU, it's going to be your motherboard that fails.
  Solution: replace. I know. Painful, tedious work. My thoughts go out to you.

Another possibility is an insufficient PSU. This would be the easiest to test, just hook up a heavy duty 700W+ PSU, and see if it works now. What PSU are you using now?

 

Reseat EVERYTHING.
the VGA card might not be seated properly (even though that would also normally beep on most MoBos).
Check all power leads with a multimeter (the ones inside the PC) - sepcifically the motherboard ones... just make sure it's not your PSU.

Edit: What Xtrafresh gives is excellent advice...

 

Dude that sucks. Can you try your monitor on a different PC, it may be shot. What the other guys said is excellent advice.

 

thank you for the replies, I moved up to nor cal today without gearbox unfortualtely, so Im going to have to try to fix it durring winter break. I've tried alot of things:

1. Tried with every stick of RAM; same result, no beep. Ill try putting some different ram in when I go home.
2. Everything is seated nicely (double checked)
3. monitor works.
4. PSU is 740 watts

I just cant figure out how to test it with different hardware since I have no money I can waste and no extra hardware except RAM :\ Thanks for all the adcive though, I will try when I go home this winter, for now, this project is on hold.

 

What does the beep code sound like exactly?

 

with all the ram installed at once: beep
with all sticks one by one: no beep

...

It looks like the motherboard is no good. Try to reset CMOS, if that doesn't work, send in for RMA. It is ofcourse possible that it's a problem with all ram sticks, but i think that's unlikely.

 

Yeah, that certainly sounds like a motherboard issue. I hope it's still under warranty

 

You may laugh, but the last time I heard of those problems, The user had the keyboard and mouse cables reversed.
Is it showing signs of booting windows with no picture? -or is it just restarting? You say you got 'memory error' messages. So we can assume you get video in startup?

 

Yeah, check what cheapskate said and also unplug any usb stuff you can. I had a pda whose cradle would reset the pc and keep it from booting whenever I had it plugged in! Good luck!

 

Good people of bit-tech, I have returned. Happy Hollidays btw

So I'm home for the holidays and im giving gearbox one last shot and I need some help. Ive been running tests for a while now and this is what I've come up with:

3/4 RAM sticks are dead, but that's not the problem
I ran everything with only 1 RAM and still nothing, however, i noticed that everything got warm, VGA, RAM, NB, SB, EXCEPT the CPU. Now im not sure if its the mobo causing the CPU to not work or the CPU causing the mobo to not work but one of them is the culprit.

So i stripped everyhing, HDD, VGA, all that's running is my mobo proc, 1 stick of ram and PSU (new PSU and new case BTW). Still nothing.

Im going to test my CPU on my friend's comp somtime tomorrow, but any insight to what it is? Im stipulating that the mobo somehow went apeshit and fried most everything connected teh the board (including itself) hopefully im wrong, and ill find out tomorrow. Any insight? Have any of you seen a similar problem to this?

Anything would be helpful. (leaving again on the 15th just in case you need to know a time frame by which this needs to be fixed :])

 

I would tryout the CPU in your friends rig. If you can do that, we will know that it is the CPU. While your cpu is in his machine then try his in yours.
It's either your cpu or motherboard it seems.

 

Thanks 500mph, thats what i was planning on, but im a bit scared that I might fry his CPU if i put it on my mobo, I guess ill test mine first and if it's dead, then I wont try his, if it isnt I will, Ill keep you posted. BTW got more pictures for when the machine is running

 

Sucks about your mobo mate, hope you get it working.

 

If you don't want to test your friends CPU, I'm sure some one here on bit-tech or I might actually have a spare socket 775 CPU I could lend to you for testing. Let us know how everything turns out!

 

Some mobos don't boot if there is no signal from cpu fan.Try to connect a fan to the mobo cpu fan header.

 

That is a great idea. I tried to do the 5 volt mod for my CPU fan and since it wasn't plugged in to the mobo the computer just beeped at me.

 

I already have my pump plugged into the CPU fan socket as a fail safe i figured my PC wont boot if my pump isnt working (which it is). Thanks for the tip though, I called my friend and ill be going over today.

Quick question:
Can i plug in a P4 chip if it is socket 775, I checked the specs for my mobo and it says it has "Core 2 Duo/Quad support" not sure if that's just recommended or strictly limited to.

Btw. How do i change the thread title?

 

Edit the first post and go advanced. You can change the title and the thread type there.

john

 

Gearbox 2.0 - Back to basics

Pictures as promised:

New stuff


mini P180 size comparison


My plan to mount the rad to the 200mm fan via this bracket

final product, fabricated out of aluminum (i know its not perfect) and painted balck

needed new screws to mount the bracket but the only ones i could find were these pan head m4 screws which didnt fit into the stock hole

but i managed to make it fit though a combination of a drill and a disk sander fitted with 60 grit paper

before/after comparison

final construction before testing (no leaks yay!)

closer

New PSU (highly recomended) Its like it was built for this case

I absolutely love the mini p180 though its really difficult to mod (steel + 3 layer panels all over) its a dream to work with, hopefully ill get my system running and everything soon so i can do a little more modding