MSI K9N2 Diamond dying Mobo or CPU?

[rmoat]

So I have the AM2+ MSI K9N2 Diamond SLI motherboard, and it does not have a D-Bracket (nor any diagnostic code meanings in the manual/website), but has six to eight LED lights on the motherboard.
I have tested nearly everything, and have even taken all the hardware out of the computer (RAM, PCI-e Video Card, Sound Cards), and have used to onboard video and one stick of ram interchangeably with the other RAM modules to make sure it wasn't the RAM.

Basically what happens is I turn the computer on, and the screen stays black, but all the fans spin up really high. Though it is the video card that I notice the most, because the Geforce 8800 GTS has a loud fan when it is at full speed.
So I am still having the same problem when I take everything out, and run the system at bare minimum, even with drives unplugged/power disconnected.

I don't get any beeps, and it just sits there. Sometimes with the Hard Drive read light stuck on, and other times not.

To get it to work, either I'll leave the machine running like that for a minute or two and then shut it down, and wait for 10 seconds. Then usually after powering it on, the fans will spin up, I'll see all the little LED lights changing from red to green, the fans will slow down, and it will boot.
Other times I will have to keep hitting the reset button until it decides to go to the post and boot.

I don't know whether it is the CPU or motherboard, and don't really have any hardware to change out, unless I buy it. However, if it isn't bad, I don't want to have to buy a replacement.

So have any of you had problems like this with the MSI K9 series motherboards?

[uddarts]

sound like the psu to me. if you can beg, borrow or buy($20) digital multimeter is the best way to diagnose. test the 12v line on a 4 wire molex.

http://www.driverheaven.net/guides/testingPSU/

looking at the voltage in the pc health area of the bios may also give a clue. speedfan may or may not give a 12v reading.

To get it to work, either I'll leave the machine running like that for a minute or two and then shut it down, and wait for 10 seconds. Then usually after powering it on, the fans will spin up, I'll see all the little LED lights changing from red to green, the fans will slow down, and it will boot.

charges the capacitors.

Other times I will have to keep hitting the reset button until it decides to go to the post and boot.

i'd 9 times out of 10 when someone says that, the psu is at fault.



ud

[rmoat]

uddarts, wow, I appreciate the fast reply! I had not really thought about that. I will have to see if I can find a better/new PSU! I'll have to get back with my results, but I'm crossing my fingers on you being right.

Thanks

[uddarts]

i'll help!


ud

[rmoat]

So I bought a new PSU, and it does the same thing. I have made sure it wasn't the video card, the memory... and that leaves the CPU or the motherboard itself. I'm thinking of going and buying a CPU and trying that first, if not, I'll try the motherboard, and will basically have a brand new system... ahh.. the life of failing hardware.

[uddarts]

i bet on the psu last time and this time would bet on the mb, so your guess on the cpu is probably right.

..... the psu could have taken out the mb.



ud

[CernySmrt]

yup! me too! same problems.. only i was reformatting a vista 64 bit system
and i had all updates, software, etc... installed and the video output hung.. and became non responsive.. so i rebooted and it didn't even out put anything to the monitor. I also stripped it down to the bare mins to troubleshoot... even used the on board video output and nothing. still got the red light. I even unplugged ALL cables and removed CMOS battery and even cleared the cmos 100 times.. nothing. still no video output.. This system has worked perfectly for over a year.. now.. crap!

specs:
K9N2 Diamond
amd phenom 9950 black ed.
BFG gtx 260
8 gb OCZ 1066mhz dual ch.
850w sli OCZ PSU
vista 64 (which for over a year had NO problems - i cannot believe it)

it's already torn apart.. going for a beer... will put it together after work tomorrow and trouble shoot some more.. with a BFH!

-Phillip

[CernySmrt]

So, furthermore.. I went back at it tonight and still led's 9, 13, & 15 are illuminated red with 12 the only one green. still I went through all the troubleshooting steps again and nothing.

I Definately have a gut feeling that it is the MB but have not 100% verified that and no one can confirm what all the LED's mean.. (on any website i cannot find it.. unless i missed it) which I think is really evasive of MSI to hide this so that you have to call customer support.

After further visual inspection of the board I also noticed that a lot of the parts or maybe even the motherboard itself is manufactured by FoXconn and therefore is a supplier to the name brands (MSI, XFX, BFG, etc..) I only speculate this because i have had a XFX 680 nvidia & BFG 590 Nvidia MB's with Foxconn parts on them .. and they have both crapped out..
the 680 had capacitors that smoldered, smoked and cooked right on the board and the 590 just took a giant dump right there and would never boot into post again, beep, fart, etc.... Both RMA'd and both returns were crap too.. ended up RMAing them again and sold em on EBay. I then bought a XFX 750a which works great.

I honestly think that there is a supplier problem with capacitors and other components from Foxconn.. and those capacitors that crapped are the ones just to the left of the zif socket..


Ive also noticed that the newer MB's are all incorporating a copper heat sink over those subject capacitors to convect away the heat... hmm...i wonder why???

I dont know the root of the problem.. but i am getting sick of rebuilding for the what seems like is the same reason that has a name -Foxconn.

[CernySmrt]

oh snap!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

read all about their great business practices

[rmoat]

After searching on the MSI website forums, it seems like several people encountered the No Post and Red LEDs problem.

I followed uddarts advice and first of all got a better PSU. Then I bought a new MSI 790GX-G65 motherboard, new AM3 CPU, and new DDR3 memory. Works like a charm! Though, if this new MSI motherboard does the same thing after a 6 month period, I will never buy from MSI again. I've already had two motherboards go bad in the past couple of years. Though the first was a Gigabyte board, so I've had bad luck with both Gigabyte and MSI so far.

I'm letting my brother-in-law use the dysfunctional MSI K9N2 Diamond board. If it completely fails, at least he'll have 3GB DDR2 and a Dual Core Processor, and he can finally get a board that "just works".

I read about some of the Foxconn happenings. Very crazy.

[rmoat]

CernySmrt, did your K9N2 ever do this like mine did? After trying to get it to post time after time, I'd finally just hold the power button down to turn it off, and the two most outer edge LED lights on both sides of the LED diagnostic light row, would stay lit red, even when the power was off.

Very odd indeed! Wasn't impressed with how MSI "did not" include a d-bracket, or any information for analyzing the LED lights.

Though if you look at the MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum manual, it does include diagnostic code meanings.. but they don't seem right for the K9N2 Diamond even though they are similar if not the same. According to the K9N2 SLI manual diagnostic codes, my motherboard would have had a keyboard controller error. Very wrong...

[Bearded Frog]

Yes the K9N2 Diamond the day I decided MSI had given up on quality products (at least for the AMD scene). Looking at current reviews they may have realized this and turned things around but its too late for me. ANYWAY that mobo indeed has no indication of what those pretty LEDs mean in its manual. However the K9N2 Platinum's manual does say what those LEDs mean and it is the same as the diamond's. So just look up the manual for the platinum to find out their meaning. I am putting my money on a dead mobo here though. Ive had enough MSI mobos from that era die to notice the trend.

[CernySmrt]

rmoat: No, mine just died and then that was it.. not even a last breath.. tried again last night with no ram installed and even one stick..
same mystery LEDs

I tried to download the manual for the K9N2 Platinum which was a dead link or something.. thanks MSI!

http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=pro...1&prod_no=1443

Bearded frog: agreed.. i think MSI's quality has gone to the toilet..
i'm now almost certain it's the MB that is dead - I have never had a CPU, or ram fail like this..

anyway.. gonna get a new MB next week..
any suggestions that will work with my existing hardware?
thanks guys..

[camster30]

ever try replacing the cmos battery?

[HarBeK]

Maybe an old thread, but wanted to add bit of my previous remedies for the K9N2 Diamond MB.

With the latest technology in 'over heat protection'.. this MB can be a tad troublesome. I've had two power supplies take a dump, and just recently experienced once again this same problem where the fans booted, lights remained all red except for LED12.. it was green.

Disconnected everything... retried with same result. Pulled the CPU out... leaving it out I then started the motherboard... it shut itself down. Started it one more time.. let it shut down again.. turned off the power supply, put CPU back in ( re-gooping heatsink...) and it fired up.

First P/S was 550W.... second was 650W. Currently using a 350W P/S having the extra four connector 'spliced' into hard drive connector.. and is working just fine.

Added help for the MB, even though extensive heat tubing on board is supposed to keep things cool.. I opted to keep it out of a case and have one case fan resting in place blowing on two SLI GeForce 9500GT video cards, another case fan resting in place blowing across two memory sticks ( 2g ea... 4G total... ) with blow by from it also hitting the CPU heat sink for extra cooling.

A friend had a nice large fan ( not sure what it's from but it's a 4" fan in a 6" enclosure that blends down to a 2" opening that I placed blowing directly at the CPU/HeatSink.. this along with the OC upgraded heatsink/fan for the CPU.

I run extensive gaming at times and the system would become too hot to touch... so all these extra fans have alleviated most problems for the system to work better than well.

It is a 'touchy' MB, but as long as it's kept nice and cool... should run for some time.