m10000 won't power up

**swzine** · 11-21-2003, 09:10 PM

I have a wierd problem.

I have an Epia M10000 motherboard and I can't get it to power up or display anything. It seems to revolve around the CMOS reset. Here is what happens:

With the CMOS reset jumper in one position, which I am pretty sure is the "reset" position (it's whatever the factory setting is) I can power up, but nothing displays on the screen. I have tried both the VGA, Composite, and Svideo outputs and get nothing!

With the CMOS in the oposite position, which I believe is the normal operation position, I cannot even power the computer up. No matter what I do it won't even start up the power supply. I have even tried various keystrokes to start, wondering if the power switch is somehow disabled. If I switch it back it powers up fine again, but doesn't boot.

I am stumped here! In addition to the actions described above I have also tried swapping the RAM and the HD with other units that I am postive are in working order. Does anyone have any clue what is going on here??? It is either broken or there is something simple that I am not aware of with this board!

I cannot find anything online about this problem. There are probably better boards for this post, but I figured I'd start here since it's for an MP3 car and there are a lot of mini-itx people here.

**MikeH** · 11-21-2003, 09:21 PM

Swzine....

...er...my M10000 manual sez:
"You can clear the CMOS by shorting 1-2 pin while the system is off. Then return it to the 2-3 pin position. AVOID CLEARING THE CMOS WHILE THE SYSTEM IS ON; THIS WILL DAMAGE THE MAINBOARD".

Sound like you may have powered up the board with the pins in the 1-2 position. Look at pg 2-18 of the manual.

**swzine** · 11-22-2003, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by MikeH

Swzine....

...er...my M10000 manual sez:
"You can clear the CMOS by shorting 1-2 pin while the system is off. Then return it to the 2-3 pin position. AVOID CLEARING THE CMOS WHILE THE SYSTEM IS ON; THIS WILL DAMAGE THE MAINBOARD".

Sound like you may have powered up the board with the pins in the 1-2 position. Look at pg 2-18 of the manual.

I saw that in the manual, but I think it's referring to actually jumping it while its on - because of it will short the board. Anyway..the thing I don't understand is that it says 1-2 is normal and 2-3 is clear. Then the statement below refers to "returning it to 2-3". That's why I am realy not sure what it's on right now

All I know is that it powers on one setting but not on the other, and it was like that from the first time I powered it up. You could be right, but all I know is that I left everything in the factory defaults on the first power up.

Is your jumper on 1-2 or 2-3?

**MikeH** · 11-22-2003, 11:55 PM

I'm not sure where you are looking in the manual, but my manual (pg 2-18) says you short pin 1 to pin 2 to clear the CMOS (when the power is off) and jumper pin 2 to pin 3 for normal operation, which is where mine is set.

**Man** · 11-23-2003, 12:47 AM

Send the board back, make sure you put the jumpers back the way they came.

Another thing, when you can get it too boot, can you get into the bios, and what PSU is the computer running off.

**swzine** · 11-23-2003, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Man

Send the board back, make sure you put the jumpers back the way they came.

Another thing, when you can get it too boot, can you get into the bios, and what PSU is the computer running off.

I am not sure of the power supply model number. It's 150 watt that came with a falcon CR53 barebones with the M10000 board.

The company I bought from is going to take it back and replace it for me. I don't think I damaged anything. I think I just got a defective one. A few people on viaarena forums seem to have had similar problems.

Also, I found out that the manual may have had a typo and it's powering in the standard mode, and not the clear CMOS mode which makes more sense.

My manual has a diagram on page 2-18 saying that pins 1-2 are normal and 2-3 are clear CMOS. However, someone sent me a link to a PDF of the manual and that copy has a diagram on page 2-18 that shows 1-2 as clear and 2-3 as normal. It only powers when it's in pins 2-3.

I cannot get to the bios. I can't get to anything. Basically, it powers up, the fans turn on, and everything stays on, but it never tries to read any drives, nothing appears on the screen, and I get no beep codes.

I no longer believe that the Clear CMOS jumper has anything to do with it now that I know it's powering up on the standard mode. It had this problem before I ever even touched that jumper. The misprint in the manual is the reason I was confused. I think the problem is something more major that cannot be fixed by anyone but the manufacturer. Just so MikeH knows I am not crazy, here is a link to the scanned page from my manual. http://essistants.com/images/manualpage.gif You'll see it's the exact same as the page in your manual (even the warning box) but the diagram seems to be backwards! The page number and everything is the same. Very strange, huh?