[RESOLVED] ATX12v P4 connector

[hammockhound]

Hello Group,

I have:

Soyo P41875P Dragon II Platinum
Pentium P4 Galatin 3.2Ghz Extreme
4Gb DDR400 PC3200 w/ECC
500Gb Seagate 7200 SATA
Supermulti DVD
AGP video

I'm upgrading (or not) my video card and the requirements call for a minimum 450W power supply. Because my current PSU was only 350 I puchased a 700W PSU. It was my Mistaken Understanding that the 20+4 main power connector would seperate to provide the 20 pin connector for the board and the P4 connector for the CPU. Before installing the PSU I decided to double check my assumption online and at Toolkit.com an article clearly implied that the xtra 4 pins were to be left unplugged and that a 4-pin 12v molex to P4 adapter pigtail can be used to supply power to the CPU. After 4 local attempts to purchase said pigtail the last shop I went to told me that I can't do that and that the PSU needs to have a dedicated circuit for the P4 connector.
I hate conflicts!
I guess I need some advice as to who is correct. Also, the new power supply has a dedicated 6-pin 12v rail. Will this connector orient correctly to supply the CPU (w/two unused)?

Thanx for the help.

Hammockhound

[SuperSparks]

I cannot believe that your new 700Watt PSU does not have the 12volt plug already present - it's part of the ATX2 standard. Have another look, it will be a 4-pin plug with two yellows and two blacks, or it may possibly be in the form of an 8-pin with 4 yellows and 4 blacks, in which case it should split into two.

You can use a Molex to ATX12v connector, but it is far from ideal. The reason you are having so much trouble finding one though, is that the required plug has been included on PSUs for the last few years.

[hammockhound]

supersparks,
I think I'm having a DUH! moment. Thanks for replying so quickly. I didn't realize the 8-pin also split. Color codes and orientation match and I shall proceed. Wish me luck. Tanx again.

Hammockhound

[SuperSparks]

Good luck

[hammockhound]

SuperSparks,

Well, not quite resolved.

I changed out the PSU and installed the Radion HD3850 AGP card. The 20-pin part of the main connector fit cleanly w/ the 4-pin part loose and I seperated the 8-pin and used the half that oriented correctly to supply the CPU (P4). The peripherals were matter of fact.

The video card installed without any hitches. There was a 6-pin molex socket on the card so I connected a power cable to it. The old card and new are both Radion so I figured the drivers would suffice until I booted and I would install the hotfix driver for the new card from the download folder on C:\.

Power on. Normally I get one beep when it's ready to boot. No beep, no monitor. Every indication was that the PSU was working OK, all the fans were running including the fan on the new card. The power LED's (board and front panel) were lit. I reset at the front panel reset switch and it was apparent by the flashing Power LED on the DVD that it was resetting, still no beep or monitor.

I reinstalled all the old parts and am getting the same results. It was working fine before the changes. I made sure the RAM didn't get disturbed.

So at this point I don't know. RAM?, CPU?. Was I supposed to connect that 6-pin power connector to the card? Did I destroy the drivers somehow? Sage advice would be great.

Thanks.

[SuperSparks]

You definitely are supposed to connect the 6-pin connector to the graphics card, to put your mind at rest on that score.

In actual fact, the symptoms you describe are what you get when the 12 volt 4-pin CPU connector is not connected - all the fans spin up, etc. but you get no beep or monitor display. Double check that it is correctly seated, or try the other half - it shouldn't matter which half you use, but it's always possible to get a badly crimped wire I suppose.

[hammockhound]

Thanks,

I started another thread because I thought this might be closed as it was concidered resolved. I put everything back the way it was (old PSU and card) and I'm getting nothing still.

reset ROM? Try again for upgrade? I thought if I could get the machine booted I would create a disk of the new driver and uninstall the old driver before shutdown as per the cards instruction sheet.

Any new thoughts?

[SuperSparks]

I'll remove the Resolved tag and hide the other thread, it's better to keep everything in one place.

Try clearing the CMOS in case it got scrambled. There should be a jumper on the motherboard to do that, if there isn't or you can't find it then pulling the motherboard battery out for a few minutes will achieve the same result (unplug the power lead as well).

[hammockhound]

Supersparks,

I'm taking this one step at a time this time. I am starting with the machine back to it's original hardware configuration.
completely disconnect unit
remove original PSU
remove ROM battery
reinstall ROM batt 5 min. later
leave old video card in place (I know the drivers are present)
Install new PSU as already discussed (only one half of 8-pin will align correctly)
power on
one long beep, pause, long beep, pause, continuous till I shut it down

Hmmm...?
The P4 socket looked in excelent shape and is oriented correctly
Have not physically remove RAM, Checked to make sure they are seated well

Hmmm...?
What does the beep signal? Remember there was no beep before.

[hammockhound]

I had a thought!
I googled the beeps and the best I can determine is that a continuous beep in AWARD BIOS indicates a RAM problem. I then reseated all the dimms, powered up and still got the same beep pattern.

Then I thought, wait a minute, I have ECC ram and when I cleared the BIOS it reverted back to the default setting in CMOS which is non-ECC enabled.

How do I get to the CMOS if the ram isn't enabled?

[hammockhound]

hey Supersparks,

Thought you would like to know that this thread is resolved. I think it all came down to faulty connections.

After reseating the RAM 4 or 5 times I got a boot, reset my CMOS, installed the new graphics card and "waalaa" I'm in a good mood again.

I appreciate your forebearence.

Hammockhound

[SuperSparks]

That's great news

I was having a good long think over your BIOS puzzle, so I'm glad you got it back up and running again