Another M2 ATX problem please help!

When I have my car PC connected in the car, I can't get it to post. Fan comes on, but I get no beep, no VGA..

When connected in the house to a standard ATX power supply it works fine.

The CPU and fan come on for 10 seconds, then it shuts off and just keeps restarting until I unplug the power. 10 seconds on, no post, restarts. Always the same.

Voltage is all OK and I'm using a good ground. Connected directly to the battery so amperage should also be fine.

I have tried reversing polarity of J8 without any success.

I have also tried unplugging everything and trying to boot with just the RAM and CPU (I am running an Intel E5200 and 1GB of RAM, the M2 should be able to power this)

Can anyone help? Thanks!!!

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Originally Posted by zoned019

When I have my car PC connected in the car, I can't get it to post. Fan comes on, but I get no beep, no VGA..

When connected in the house to a standard ATX power supply it works fine.

The CPU and fan come on for 10 seconds, then it shuts off and just keeps restarting until I unplug the power. 10 seconds on, no post, restarts. Always the same.

Voltage is all OK and I'm using a good ground. Connected directly to the battery so amperage should also be fine.

I have tried reversing polarity of J8 without any success.

I have also tried unplugging everything and trying to boot with just the RAM and CPU (I am running an Intel E5200 and 1GB of RAM, the M2 should be able to power this)

Can anyone help? Thanks!!!

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Im new to the carputer hobby but i have 13 years experience as a PC tech. Have you checked your jumper settings on the M2? Also, make sure the power going to the M2 is good. When did this problem start?

It really sounds like your drawing too much power, is your car running when you are testing in car? if not try starting car before you boot up comp. Hope this helps SNO

I have tried with the car running. As I said I have checked the power/ground coming from my battery and it is all good. Stable 12v with good ground.

I did at one point have the car pc stable and working in the car, only for about an hour, then I took it out to do some software modifications, when I put it back in the car it would not boot. I did not change anything in the car.

I agree it sounds like I am drawing too much power, but with only the CPU and RAM connected how could that be possible?

I have tried using different jumper settings always with the same result: 10 seconds of power and fan spinning, then it restarts.

Because the system works with an standard ATX in house power supply, I know it must be related to the M2. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what I may be doing wrong..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zoned019

I have tried with the car running. As I said I have checked the power/ground coming from my battery and it is all good. Stable 12v with good ground.

I did at one point have the car pc stable and working in the car, only for about an hour, then I took it out to do some software modifications, when I put it back in the car it would not boot. I did not change anything in the car.

I agree it sounds like I am drawing too much power, but with only the CPU and RAM connected how could that be possible?

I have tried using different jumper settings always with the same result: 10 seconds of power and fan spinning, then it restarts.

Because the system works with an standard ATX in house power supply, I know it must be related to the M2. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what I may be doing wrong..

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Do you have an additional 4 pin 12v power connector that connects to your MoBo? Some boards have the 20/24 pin connector and an additional 4 pin connector used for power.

Yes, I have the additional 4 pin connector connected.

Is the M2 failing? Or is this something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zoned019

Yes, I have the additional 4 pin connector connected.

Is the M2 failing? Or is this something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

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Providing you have good power, and ground connections it sounds as if the M2 has taken a crap. the only way to really test it is to hook up the M2 to an alternate 12v DC source. there is a thread on how to power on your carputer outside the car.

The thing that makes me think the M2 is fine is that it does power it up, but only for 10 seconds (and no POST), then it reboots. It's as if its getting some power, fill the caps, capacitors dump and it tries to fire, but then it doesnt have enough juice to keep going. It's the exact same symptoms you'll see from people who try to power their M2 in the house and don't have a power brick with enough amps. But how is this possible if the car is running and I am connected directly to the battery??? I've tested that I have steady 12v with a multimeter, but I don't have a way to test and see how many amps it is drawing when the PC fires.

I believe the same thing would also happen if I was drawing too much power on one of the M2's rails, but how could that be possible since I tried it after unplugging everything except just the CPU and RAM??

Last thing, which totally boggles my mind, is one time after this "restart loop" began, I disconnected the ground wire to the PC (pulled the banana plug) and the computer kept restarting... I counted 4 times before I pulled the hot wire and then it died fully. It was as if the computer was grounding itself somehow.... at first I thought there was just residual power left in the caps, but booting, running for 10 seconds, and rebooting 4 times seemed like way more power than the caps would hold. It IS mounted to a metal plate, but the case is acrylic.. I've never seen anything run without a ground before! Can anyone think of how this could be related/caused?

I'm really stumped here. Thanks again

Check your power connections, 12v and ground. I know you have said you have a good connection but if there is a poor connection at either end, the resistance increases. Check the battery connection too!

What mobo and CPU do you use?
I have one mobo with a pentium M CPU there I had similair problem. My M2-ATX started but never get to the post messages. When I tried it with a normal ATX Power it worked without any problem.
My mobo was withouth the P4-ATX power connector. When I connected a small amplifier Sony XM2020 on the P4-ATX power connector on the M2-ATX it started to boot. So the reason for my problem was my mobo and CPU didn't consume enough 12V power.

I don't know what CPU you use, but if you have a low power CPU it might can be something similair for you?