Problems with a new Motherboard!

[MrBob]

My computer got hit by lighting, and that the cpu ended up getting fried. Anyway for the back story read this:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=382738

To make a long story short I ended up upgrading the Motherboard and the CPU.

I don't know if the board is bad or not, but it has issues. First of all the Board is a MSI ms-6540G (v2.x) board that uses the 661FX chipset.

I don't think any of the built in ports work right. I know for a fact that the Keyboard doesn't work right. I'm luck if it lasts 30 seconds before it quits working. This makes is virtually impossible to check the bios settings. The computer won't boot into windows. Usually it locks up when windows tries to load the drivers, but quit often it doesn't even get that far. It also likes to lock up when the windows "you failed to properly load up" screen appears. Only once was I able to get to the login screen(loading safemode with networking), but then the keyboard died, and the Mouse didn't work. FYI, the the Mouse is a USB connection, and the Keyboard is a standard connection, both are microsoft products.

I've tried booting up with the XP cd to reformat the HD, but the computer locks up when "setup is dectecting your hardware".

Also if I try to turn on the computer immediatly after turning it off, the computer will lock up almost immediatly. It will read the processor and that is it (actually sometimes it won't even get that far).

I've already checked the ram an it is good. What do you computer gurus think could be wrong? Is the board bad, did I screw up installing it? This is the first Motherboard that I have installed. Could it be a setting in the bios? I'm begging for help asap, because I only have a few more days where I can exchange the board if it is bad.

 

[ShoobieRat]

Motherboards are so cheap, dude, and the technology improves steadily, that I'd just skip checking if the board is good or not and buy a new one. I mean, if it's bad, it's gonna be hard to tell, and you could easily fry more good stuff by testing it out.

Let this be a lesson to you, though. Always use a surge protector WITH a power buffer, and (if you can afford $100) use a EPS. Trust me, it's an investment you'll never regret.

 

[zerozero]

try and reinstall XP with minimal hardware installed (i.e. HDD, CD-ROM 1 stick of RAM, video card, mouse and keyboard). If you are successful, continue installation with one piece at a time until the broken part is found. If your computer was struck by lightning, it is possible that something else is dragging your system down....

 

[xotix]

make i recommend a ups. i bought one 2 weeks ago. lightning fried my mobo and psu last year when i was writing c++ programs and i regretted not saving a thing.

thanks to apc i have 18mins to do everything and shutdown if i have no electricity.

 

[MrBob]

I apologize, my post is a little confusing.

I have already bought and installed a new motherboard and CPU (I'm 90% sure it was the CPU that got fried) for my computer. But now I'm having problems with the new motherboard, probably caused by my newbieness with installing motherboards.

I don't know if I screwed up on something during the install (most likely) or is it a setting in the bios? Or is something else bad, perhaps the power supply? I'm looking for ideas on what might be causing the problems. And solutions that will hopefully not cost anything as I have already spent over $400 on this with new board, Video Card and chip.

I think tommorrow I'm going to try the minimalist install and pray that it works.

Thank you guys for you help so far.

The funny thing is that the Computer wasn't on, during the storm, and the powersupply was actually turned off too. I probably should get a ups, though.

 

[_SiLv3R_]

perhaps it is ur hard drive thats locking up on u... and yes a power supply could be the problem as well...

 

[MrBob]

Incase anybody was wondering it turned out that the motherboard was bad. I bought a new one and was able to get everything up and running.

 

[ag3]

You are the second person who has had their rig hit by lightning. lol.

 

[Raekwon]

yeah, lets try not to make this a normal occurance

 

[MrBob]

doesn't suprise me, there were some very long, very nasty storms going through the midwest last week.