M4-ATX ate my motherboard...

**Mastiff** · 05-24-2008, 12:38 AM

Has anybody had serious problems with their M4-ATX? I bought one and hooked it up to my beloved Aopen i975xA-YDG (socket M479), and after a few hours the mobo wouldn't boot up again. It just started to spin the CPU fan and show the power LED, but the hard disks and other fans didn't work. I measured the output from one of the hard drive Molex plugs, and it turned out that it only gave 5V on the 12V rail and 2V on the 5V. And when I put the computer on a regular PSU, it wouldn't start up. Had to replace the mobo (which I luckily had a reserve for - I'm not gonna be without my carputer!).

Can anybody give me a viable theory as to why this happened? I'm getting an RMA on the M4-ATX without any problems, but I seriously doubt that I'm gonna get anybody to pay for my YDG board!

**galvitron** · 05-24-2008, 05:45 AM

I'm guessing here, but it sounds more like a problem with the M4 than the MB. What is the M4 connected to? Is it in the car? A wall plug? Maybe the M4 is not getting the juice it needs and the MB can't boot.

**Bugbyte** · 05-24-2008, 11:35 AM

I've been experiencing this same problem. The M4 was working but now it lights the LED and the fan doesn't spin up. Haven't tried it with a regular PSU just yet.

**Mastiff** · 05-24-2008, 05:21 PM

Galvitron, nope. 4th line of my message:

Code:

when I put the computer on a regular PSU, it wouldn't start up

Bugbyte, hope your card isn't dead as well...

**Bugbyte** · 05-24-2008, 07:30 PM

We'll see. I'm out of town this weekend. I'll try it when I get back.

**Dougw133** · 07-31-2008, 11:22 PM

M4 ATX is garbage..All I have to say about that. They preach options that they barely know how to setup themselves. I My M2 ATX was ok, but you see a common trend with the PSU's...Everyone switches to DsATX or Opus

**Mastiff** · 08-01-2008, 02:51 AM

Well, I gotta admit I have been running it on another mobo since this posting was made, and I haven't had any more problems with it. Of course I don't give a rat's arse (*** was censored - talk about sensitive board!) about those functions, with a dual battery setup the only thing that matters is that it doesn't kill the mobo and starts when it should. Sometimes, when the auxillary battery has been low, I have to plug out power to the M4 for a few minutes be able to fire up the computer, so I wish it was possible to trun off the low battery protection all together. Except for that I'm a satisfied customer now. It actually manages to run the computer then the voltage is so low that the car's headunit won't work!

**nobb** · 08-01-2008, 01:38 PM

Sounds like you overloaded the psu which caused the voltage to spike on the rails killing your motherboard as well. This was a problem with the M1 and M2, but I doubt the problem has been addressed with the M4.

**rogerdugans** · 08-01-2008, 03:16 PM

I bought an M4-atx a short while back on specs and the hopeful sounding reports of fixes and successes, but am now having troubles my own self.
Thankfully, not quite so severe as dead components though.

I get random reboots and powerdowns, and USUALLY the system comes back on in 5 minutes or so.
I have trouble-shot everything else in thesystem and all is fine- except for the M4-ATX.

Great idea(s), not so well implemented.