EPoX EP-9NDA3J power off problems

[KDH]

Right so, got the board today and been busy installing it.

It turns on fine first time, detects everything, boots into windows and runs happily for a quarter of an hour.

Then the problem.

If I tell it to turn off via windows, it goes into what seems to be standby.

If I press the power off button, it goes into what seems to be standby.

When it goes into this, the harddrives & cd drives spool down, but everything else sounds like its still running, and I cant reset/power on/off it, only way is by using PSU power button.

Any ideas?

[noveltylamp]

If you boot into say the bios screen and then hold the power button down for 8-14 seconds does it power off correctly then?

If not, are you sure you have the power button connected to the correct header on the motherboard?

And finally, in the power management options in your BIOS ensure the button is set to SOFT-OFF.

[KDH]

If you boot into say the bios screen and then hold the power button down for 8-14 seconds does it power off correctly then?

Nope, into a seemingly standy state as well.

If not, are you sure you have the power button connected to the correct header on the motherboard?

Yes, and it does the same when I power off in windows using windows

And finally, in the power management options in your BIOS ensure the button is set to SOFT-OFF.

It is :|

[noveltylamp]

Hmmmm very strange! I assume you have the latest bios revision?

Try clearing the cmos with the jumper, boot it up and when it says "error - defaults loaded" dont press anything just try turning it off with the button again.

If it still goes into a standby state then it can't be a config problem.

Perhaps there's some piece of hardware in there causing it?
I once knew a netgear network card that wouldn't let a PC restart or shut down properly. Took it out and everything was fine.

[KDH]

Hmmmm very strange! I assume you have the latest bios revision?

Yup

Try clearing the cmos with the jumper, boot it up and when it says "error - defaults loaded" dont press anything just try turning it off with the button again.

Tried that, as well as clearing CMOS when updating bios, and trying to shut down with battery removed.

Perhaps there's some piece of hardware in there causing it?
I once knew a netgear network card that wouldn't let a PC restart or shut down properly. Took it out and everything was fine.

Removed two NIC's, which left:

460W Enermax PSU(Which I've been using up until today with np's)
1x 120mm fan
2x 80mm fan
1x HDD cooler
2x IDE HDD's
2x CD Drivers
1x GeForce 4 Ti4400
2x 512mb of PQI 2-3-2-5 ram(Tried dual channel in DIMM's 1+2, tried one stick in DIMM 3, tried two stick in DIMM 3+4)

I really dont know whats left to try...

Unhook the casefans, hdd's, and cd drives?

[noveltylamp]

Well i doubt it's a power problem, and the fans won't make a difference.

I suppose the last thing to try is unplugging the HDDs and CDROM drives.

Also, disconnect all the switches / LEDs apart from the power switch (in particular, disconnect the reset switch - it could be stuck down).

If it still does it, then hook the reset switch up to the power switch header and see if it will function properly with that.

If it still does it with these unplugged, check there are no screws or unused motherboard supports shorting something under the motherboard.

If there's still no luck i'm out of ideas.

Let us know how you get on,
HTH, Paul

[KDH]

I suppose it may possibly be shorting...

I'm using an XP120 but having to use standard screws, so I hacksawed off the ends.

Only problem is, these dont actually touch the motherboard at all afaik

[noveltylamp]

Okay, well if you tried the switches and the IDE drives then i'd definitley check for shorting, maybe even try running the system on an antistatic bag. I know it's frustrating to get a new piece of hardware and it not to work, the fear of having to RMA it makes thinking clearly hard! I don't think I have ever returned something without meeting severe opposition from the retailer.

[KDH]

Tried with no HDD/CD drives attached, tried it on an antistatic bag, even tried it with graphics card.

Still nothing.


Quick question, could bent processor pins be the cause?

[noveltylamp]

If you do have bent processor pins then I suppose it's a possibility, not that I know how that would be the cause though.

Probably the motherboard/bios tho. Try disabling everying you don't need and fiddling with the power options. I'm sorry I don't have anything at all similar to go from.

Hope you get it sorted,
Paul