Help me pick a motherboard

[Squintz]

I was running an Asus P4P800-E Delux motherboard and it took a dump. It won't boot up 99% of the time and is not even doing a POST. I have been swaping parts between it and another PC all week long and I have it narrowed down to the Motherboard or Processor.

The only requirement that I have is that it needs an AGP slot for my existing video card and I would like it to have onboard sound with SPDIF Optical Audio Outputs so I can pump the sound into my theater.

The problem I have is that I don't know what terms I need to be searching for in order to find a board that will fit my existing case. I really like my case and want to keep it. Can you guys help me out? I'd like to stay away from ASUS motherboards this time since this is the second one that has failed on me in about 6 years.

 

[CollinR]

Whats the primary purpose of the machine?

Your mainboard is an MATX and so you should be able to use any other MATX solution (or smaller). You case might allow for more, dunno with out it's part#.

Does it beep when it starts?

Do you have the case speaker connected?

 

[Squintz]

When it does start it does beep. I have not been able to get it to start for a few days now though. The only way I was able to get it to start was to remove the BIOS battery for a long period of time. But that has stoped working also. When it starts it only boots up to the login screen and when I log in the desktop starts up but shortly after the screen goes blank and I can't get it to boot back up.

I've swapped the power supply and got the same results and I also put the Hard Drive in another PC and it booted fine. So that eliminates those as the possible cause. The video card works when the computer starts but the other PC does not have an AGP slot so I can't test it. I'm sure the POST would still work even if the video card was the problem. I've removed the CPU and RAM and placed it back in. I've done everything I can think of other than try a new motherboard and new CPU. Because of the POST issue I am leaning towards motherboard.

The case is a large ATX case if I recall. It has 4 CD Drive Bays and 2 Floppy Drive Bays as well as 2 bays for the Hard Drive. It's a beast of a case but I like it because it's easy to work on and has plenty of fans to keep it cool.

So I guess I have a MATX board inside an ATX case right?

That is good to know since I can't seem to find a selection of ATX boards. I'll start looking at MATX boards. It looks like Intell P4 Socket 478 boards are not so popular these days either.

I am using this as my Main CQC server. I will be doing some development with the PC using Visual Studio and CQC's IDE. It's my workhorse PC. I don't play games on it but I will be listening to a lot of music which is why I want the optical audio output to pump to my theater. This is the current setup and I don't want to do any more wire runs.

Thanks for the help.

 

[electron]

Check if your mobo has blown capacitors. Also, how many beeps (and are they short/long)?

 

[Squintz]

How can I check for blown capacitors?

There currently are 0 beeps. When it does work (which has been a few days) it's the normal 1 beep.

 

[electron]

Usually, the top is 'bulging'. See the link below for more details with pictures:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195

 

[mustangcoupe]

also check the bios battery. I have had systems that would not boot if the battery was dead. replaced and all is AOK...

 

[felixrosbergen]

I've just pressed the order button on NewEgg.com for my new server that will run SageTV, CQC and some other things....

I was going to get the Gigabite GA-EP45C-DS3R but switches last minute to the GA-EP45-UDP3, looks like a fairly new board on the market and not much review. Guess I'll be a ginea pig....

Anyway, i picked that board for it's nice price, plenty of power management functions, lots of USB ports and many SATA ports, dual gigabit nic.

In a few days i'll be able to tell you if i like the board...