[z970gx]

Hi, all. I've got an Octane that won't boot, no matter what I try.

When it is plugged in, it automatically turns on (fans blasting), does not display any picture, and is unresponsive to any inputs of the power button. The lightbar does not come on, and neither is the boot tune present if headphones are plugged in.

I've already removed all of the RAM modules except the first two in bank one to no difference, I've cleaned out and reseated the hard drives, system module, PCI module, and XIO boards to no difference, I've loosened and then tightened the compression connectors' screws to no difference, and the only thing I have yet to do is reseat the CPU modules. After examination, I've also seen no evidence of the internal (frontplane?) pins bending.

As far as the 7 diagnostic LEDs, they are always in one of the three configurations, or something similar (attached photos).

What's even more curious, is that whenever the system is so much as tilted or moved, the LEDs change to a different configuration. Therefore, I suspect some form of looseness / insecurity...but I'm not experienced enough with these machines to be sure.

As to how this originally happened (it's spent 15 years in this state) ... The best I can gather is that the machine was once working fine, but I believe it was often moved around while in service, and one day it apparently just "stopped working", exhibiting the symptoms above. This is another lead for me to think it is some sort of a loose component problem, but of course, I am here for a reason.

Much appreciated. :-)

[Jacques]

Hi, all. I've got an Octane that won't boot, no matter what I try.

When it is plugged in, it automatically turns on (fans blasting), does not display any picture, and is unresponsive to any inputs of the power button. The lightbar does not come on, and neither is the boot tune present if headphones are plugged in.

I've already removed all of the RAM modules except the first two in bank one to no difference, I've cleaned out and reseated the hard drives, system module, PCI module, and XIO boards to no difference, I've loosened and then tightened the compression connectors' screws to no difference, and the only thing I have yet to do is reseat the CPU modules. After examination, I've also seen no evidence of the internal (frontplane?) pins bending.

As far as the 7 diagnostic LEDs, they are always in one of the three configurations, or something similar (attached photos).

What's even more curious, is that whenever the system is so much as tilted or moved, the LEDs change to a different configuration. Therefore, I suspect some form of looseness / insecurity...but I'm not experienced enough with these machines to be sure.

As to how this originally happened (it's spent 15 years in this state) ... The best I can gather is that the machine was once working fine, but I believe it was often moved around while in service, and one day it apparently just "stopped working", exhibiting the symptoms above. This is another lead for me to think it is some sort of a loose component problem, but of course, I am here for a reason.

Much appreciated. :-)

Take it all apart, clean and inspect every single connection. Reseat everything and check if the cpu module is seated correctly. It sounds like there are two things going on here - loose connection and possibly a hardware issue preventing you from getting to prom. I suspect either bad cpu, bad ram or bad mainboard. Does the xbow fan run when powered on, if not you may have a dead xbow chip as they get hot and if it’s been running fan less for a while then the xbow could be fried, unlikely but possible.

Take out all the drives, keyboard and mouse, run 2x known good dimms if you can. And take out everything you don't need - pci module, drives, other xio boards (apart from gfx)

Make sure to check compression connectors for dirt/dust/damage. Don’t touch them, clean with compressed air.

[z970gx]

Hi, all. I've got an Octane that won't boot, no matter what I try.

When it is plugged in, it automatically turns on (fans blasting), does not display any picture, and is unresponsive to any inputs of the power button. The lightbar does not come on, and neither is the boot tune present if headphones are plugged in.

I've already removed all of the RAM modules except the first two in bank one to no difference, I've cleaned out and reseated the hard drives, system module, PCI module, and XIO boards to no difference, I've loosened and then tightened the compression connectors' screws to no difference, and the only thing I have yet to do is reseat the CPU modules. After examination, I've also seen no evidence of the internal (frontplane?) pins bending.

As far as the 7 diagnostic LEDs, they are always in one of the three configurations, or something similar (attached photos).

What's even more curious, is that whenever the system is so much as tilted or moved, the LEDs change to a different configuration. Therefore, I suspect some form of looseness / insecurity...but I'm not experienced enough with these machines to be sure.

As to how this originally happened (it's spent 15 years in this state) ... The best I can gather is that the machine was once working fine, but I believe it was often moved around while in service, and one day it apparently just "stopped working", exhibiting the symptoms above. This is another lead for me to think it is some sort of a loose component problem, but of course, I am here for a reason.

Much appreciated. :-)

Take it all apart, clean and inspect every single connection. Reseat everything and check if the cpu module is seated correctly. It sounds like there are two things going on here - loose connection and possibly a hardware issue preventing you from getting to prom. I suspect either bad cpu, bad ram or bad mainboard. Does the xbow fan run when powered on, if not you may have a dead xbow chip as they get hot and if it’s been running fan less for a while then the xbow could be fried, unlikely but possible.

Take out all the drives, keyboard and mouse, run 2x known good dimms if you can. And take out everything you don't need - pci module, drives, other xio boards (apart from gfx)

Make sure to check compression connectors for dirt/dust/damage. Don’t touch them, clean with compressed air.

Thank you, will do.

[indrema]

I have the same issue in two different occasions:
1) a V10 dead, fixed by change it
2) some XBOW pins related to the mainboard bended, fixed by removing the XBOW and put them back in position.
I’m starting to collect Octane the last year and I’ve quickly understand how difficult is maintaining those! Actually I’ve 4 ones in relative good working conditions, so is relatively simple make a diagnosis.
Anyway, I’ll already know that one day no one of my Octane lights up anymore.