Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

[smokinkane]

I sold my Albatron px865pe pro II, to a coworker. I had recapped the board once, with panny fm's, and all is in working order or so they seem. So now the coworker brings me the computer, it doesn't finish the POST. It has a voice genie bios that states "the cpu may have a problem." I have verified that the cpu is in working order, I have cleared the cmos, removed the board, and made sure all caps where secure to no avail. I did get it to post once with a different cpu, then I turned it off. After that it never posted with that cpu or any other again. I need to know if there is a way to volt meter the vrm's, I don't know how to do it. I have a dmm, so if somebody can tell me a way to electrically check the whole board, I would appreciate it.

[davmax]

Re: Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

First check your power supply voltages. If you have a tower lay it on its side to make the task easier.

The black wire is common, DMM negative lead.
Red = + 5V, Yellow = +12V, Orange = +3.3V, White = -5V, Blue = -12V, Violet = 5VSB. Check for reasonable tolerance should be less than 10% error. Check for fluctuations all should be steady. If any wide variation you need to check the power supply capacitors. If the capacitors are of doubtful origin (bad cap brands) they should be changed even if there is no obvious external problem. Or try another power supply.

The VRM voltage can be checked by placing the DMM negative lead on a motherboard mounting screw and apply the positive lead the centre leads of the MOSFET switches(or better the metal tab on the opposite side to the leads). I am assuming these are accessible. If covered with a heat sink you will need to carefully probe the circuit tracks close to the output capacoitors near the CPU. You should find a voltage between 1.4 and 2.0 volts depending on the CPU type. You really need to know what is required for your CPU.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

check the 5v sb caps in the psu for bulging.
Can you provide some pics from the board? not shure about it, but many new boarddesings require ultra low esr caps, wich the panasonic FM`s aren`t.

[japlytic]

Re: Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

It has a voice genie bios that states "the cpu may have a problem."

I experienced this problem, and it was fixed my simply removing and reinserting the ATX12V connector to the mainboard. Too bad it could not say "ATX12V is not connected".

[davmax]

Re: Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

Whilst on the subject of connectors.

Just lately I have had a number of computers with poor, intermittent or even non existent connection in those four way power connectors that plug into the hard drives and optical drives. The female part of the connection expands making connection unreliable. Use something like a jewellers screw driver to bend the connector split tube inward and creat a better contact.

[Rainbow]

Re: Albatron px865pe pro II, new problem, electrician help

That's common problem, especially with cheap PSUs. A bad connector on hard drive can damage it.