This is a long story, but I have to expalin everything so you can appreaciate the problem.

I purchased a bunch of hardware to build myself a new machine. Building PC's nothing new to me, so I ordered what I wanted:

Soyo Dragon Plus
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
RAID Max PSU

Everything worked fine with this setup. I later upgraded to a :

Soyo Dragon Ultra Platinum

Everything worked fine for two weeks, then the system wouldn't work. I thought I fried my CPU, because I unlocked it, or possibly a short. To confirm, and test I ordered:

Athlon XP 2100+

I put this processor in the machine and it still didn't boot. I was going to order more part to build a another system out of the Dragon Plus, so I went ahead and ordered the rest. I tried swapping everything, video cards, memory, HD's, and so forth, and still it wouldn't boot. So, I put my old motherboard back in, and tried angain, and it started to behave the same way. I removed everything from the case, and tried it outside the case to see if it was shorting tho the case somehow. Still the same. The mobo's will turn on and LED will work, but no video, or bios screen. I can hear the drive working, like it's loading the OS, but no video. Tried the new video card, but still no video. The only thing that I haven't swapped is the PSU, can a PSU cause a problem like this?

I'm completely stumped on this!

Best Regards,
Lonnie Bailey

Not sure if the powersupply can make your computer bahave exactly as you said...but you never know.

What´s the wattage of that PSU?, anything below 350w is a no go in your case methinks.

This is my old <font color=blue>Downdated</font color=blue>, <font color=green>Uneatable</font color=green> & <font color=red> rotten </font color=red> sig.

Not sure what it was exactly, but it WAS something on the Soyo motherboards that caused all the problems. Damn thing killed two processors somehow! I went and purchased a real motherboard yesterday from Fry's, the new Gigabyte KT333, and a 1800+ to replace these Soyo piece of craps.I've contaced both Soyo, and Outpost regarding the problem, because I got both the board and the processor from them, they may cover them both.I believe the Soyo motherboard is defective, even when it worked it had problems with the RAID and sound. My PSU works flawlessly with the new mobo, and processor. The PSU is a RAIDMAX 400w, which is a pretty good PSU. The only thing that made me question it, is because it was a one of the ones they send to hardware e-zines for testing, or reviews. Anyways, the new setup runs fine, much better than the Soyo's ever did with the 2000+, and 2100+, which is pretty amazing. The only problem I have with the Mobo, is that Gigabyte, didn't use active cooling on the north bridge for some reason? You would think a KT333 board, would expect some FSB OC'ing, and add extra cooling.

Best Regards,
Lonnie Bailey

It sounds like from everything you've posted like unlocking your processors and your overclocking tendencys that SOYO is not the problem, YOU ARE!!!You're running top of the line processors on the cutting edge, if you overclocked past the boards BIOS FLASH it would have shut down, theres probably really nothing wrong with the motherboards that the latest BIOS flash wouldn't have straightened out. Try to remember this in your future ventures, if you're going to overclock to the next processor level, FLASH the BIOS to cover it up to that range, and if you're already at the high end, WAIT until the next processor level BIOS FLASH comes out.

that post makes no sense...

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

just one silly question: With all the swapping and such that you did, did you try to clear CMOS?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

I can't speak for any other brand motherboards but for what I've seen happen in the SOYO motherboards, when you push the FSB high enough on a SOYO board it will autorecognize the next processor designation, so if you're running a AMDXP1900+ processor and you increase the FSB up to the level that the processors Mhz is around 1680, the BIOS autorecognizes an AMDXP2000+ and shutsdown, because it wasn't FLASHED for a 2000+, when you flash it for a 2000+ it doesn't shutdown, and lets you do what you want to. You are right in the clearing of the CMOS always reset it for me. I'm not against overclocking, I'm doing it myself however we're taking the product responsibilities in our own hands if we're going to overclock, if we push it too far its our problem not the manufacturers.

OK - I see what you're talking about now. I had never heard of that symptom, but it sounds plausiblee.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

I cleared the CMOS several times, because the board kept starting up on it's own when I turned the PSU on. Clearing the CMOS was the only way to stop it from doing that. This is what lead me to beleive there was a short somewhere.

Best Regards,
Lonnie Bailey

Strange you say that, I am sorta having the similar problem. My old power supply (300 watt enlight PSU) wouldn't let me startup correctly without 2-5 boots. I think the power supply isn't enough below 350 watts. I tested it using a friend's 350 watt Antec PSU, and it helped a bit, but still isn't great.

"When there's a will, there's a way."

Power supply units can go bad. I shorted one out one time when I put in a new internal modem. I think this can be caused be eiter age of the power supply or when an I/O board touches against something it shouldnt like another I/O board or the bottom of the case.

Make sure the motherboard does not touch anything on the bottom of the case. Sometimes the mounting hardware can short it out. Try using those little paper washers to keep from shorting it out.

I had a similar problem with a FIC AD11 motherboard. I think what it was is sometimes they just sell you a lemon. I am sure some companies do not do much in the way of testing to ensure quality control.