Altos G540 M2 wont boot, power supply and fans work but power button does nothing

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Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    Not yet, I'll remind them I'm waiting…

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  • Cam_D_1949
    Cam_D_1949 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    Just an update.
    Now when I apply power the case fans and the power supply fans both fire up.
    A green light on the power supply lights up as well.
    After around 5 seconds the case fans stop working. So I assume that power is getting to the motherboard.
    The front on/off switch does nothing however.
    I have taken out and replaced the bios battery.

    Now seeing what happens if I just leave it on.
    Fingers crossed.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    Keep us informed… My contacts at Acer are having trouble getting the service manual for that old model, but are still working on it. Green lights on the PSU are likely a good sign, though I'd feel a lot more comfortable if something would show up on the display. Fans running at first then shutting down is likely close to normal. What typically happens during POST on a server machine is a test to verify they can get the fans spun up to full speed, then backing them down to the speeds they run at normally, which is usually based on CPU temperature. If that process is happening then we're getting well into POST, so the CPU and memory circuits are active. Typically a failure that late in the process is supposed to give you an indication of what's going wrong, either something on the display or beep codes…

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  • Cam_D_1949
    Cam_D_1949 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    Just as a thought. When I turn it on the fans for the power supply and case fans do spin up. However, I cannot get any reaction from the on/off button. And no video out at all. When I get it up and working I will put in my new (second hand) CPU X5570.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    PSU fans, and maybe case fans, typically just need power to start spinning. No actual running required. Same thing with drives, they should spin up and do their internal self tests without the rest of the computer running. I wonder if the power button itself is working, or did we test that already?

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  • Cam_D_1949
    Cam_D_1949 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1297395#Comment_1297395

    Yep. Tested the continuity with the power button. Also tested shorting the power leads. No go. Good thought.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer
    edited September 16

    OK, the service guide showed up this morning. :) Here's the MB layout:

    image.png

    And here's the layout in the case:

    image.png

    Can you verify the cables running from the power supply modules go to the drive bays and the top of the motherboard only? If so, we know the lights on the supplies are green with nothing connected, if you connect only the drive bays, are they still green? How about if you connect only one cable to the motherboard? The other cable only? Let's try and pin down at what point the lights show the error…

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  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    BTW, all POST diagnosis relies on there being a sequence of beeps. They come in a sequence of four sets of 1-4 beeps, forming a single 8 bit byte:

    image.png

    Since you aren't getting any beeps we pretty much know that POST isn't getting started far enough to create a beep…

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  • Cam_D_1949
    Cam_D_1949 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    Did a check with the power connectors.
    All was green then with everything back after I turned the power supply on all fans fired up as well as the fan for the heat sink. However, the on/off button did nothing at all.
    Had lunch and tried again, all back to nothing accept for the power supply fans.
    Did another continuity check on the power switch. All is good.

    Ethernet green light does come up on the front panel and does indicate on the switch that the Ethernet connection has been made. (ONLY AFTER POWER ON)

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    The Ethernet connection happens without an OS or POST, as soon as there is power it negotiates sync and the light comes on showing the speed.

    On that previous motherboard diagram:

    image.png

    Try doing a clear to force a reset to factory defaults. With power disconnected move the jumper to the clear position for 30 seconds or so, then move it back, reconnect power and try again to turn it on.

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  • Cam_D_1949
    Cam_D_1949 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    So the power for the Ethernet does say we have power to the motherboard?

    Did a CMOS clear as per your instructions.

    Note that since yesterday I haven't had the case fans fire up.

    Sorry for the delays in reposting I live in Australia. (GMT +10 hours)

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 33,401 Trailblazer

    Yes, and I'm on the Pacific coast of the USA, so GMT -8 hours. We're either 6 or 18 hours apart, except we are currently in daylight saving mode, which changes it by another hour… :)

    LEDs on the Ethernet do indicate the PHY is seeing power, so the motherboard is getting juice. Do you no longer have the amber lit LEDs on the power supplies with everything plugged together? I thought that was the last state we were working with, indicating a power surge or short somewhere. If the power connectors are all in place and you are still green on the PSUs then we are no longer seeing that surge or short and we're back into trying to get POST to start.

    A complete failure to run POST is pretty basic, either the CPU isn't initializing or the CMOS is fully corrupt or non-functional. Typically the first thing that happens to get POST started is a CPU initialization, then a copy of the CMOS image to the bottom segment of memory, then an execution of that copied image. The first step in POST itself is usually to initialize the rest of the memory, and if that fails it generates an error (usually a constant beep tone). Once it knows that the memory works it continues with POST and generates beep codes with any errors it finds. You aren't getting to that second memory initialization step.

    Do you have any way to verify the CPU is functional? IIRC you only have one CPU installed, right?

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  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 11,441 Trailblazer
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1298143#Comment_1298143

    Hey billsey do you live in California the good old ? Newsome country🤣as the way things are there Newsome might even change the difference in hours between Australia and the west coast🤣just an observation.

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