8K3A+ C1 memory error.....have i killed it ? :(

[FragieSpice]

Here is the whole story, have tissues on hand because its very traumatic. http://users.bigpond.net.au/plod/forum/cry.gif

I was running my 8K3A+ system with an Athlon 1.2 GHz (o/c to 1.4 GHz) cpu no problem. I decided to upgrade to an Athlon XP 2100+. This cpu was known to run at 2.4 Ghz The install was a disaster. It posted, I reset the FSB to 166 then, BAM, horrible black smoke. In tears I cut the power and noticed the cpu core was black....... I had fried it !! It wasn't under warranty either due to L12 modded (defaults as 166FSB chip).... ahhhhhhh

So I put back in my 1.2Ghz Athlon, and to my relief they motherboard still worked. A week later I transported my case in my car to a friends. This time I had gone out an purchased a new 2100+ cpu. This time I was very carefull with the install, used thermal paste, made sure HSF was correctly orientated etc etc. They system would not post (C1 error displayed on board) !! I nearly had a heart attack........surely I couldn't have killed 2 2100's in 2 weeks Anyway, I found the cpu looked OK and when I reinstalled the 1.2 Ghz CPU it would not post either (same C1 error).

So I pulled the system apart. I have taken the board out of the case, have it on a bench, and the only things installed are cpu, ram, and power.

Every time I get C1 error on startup.

Here is what I have tried

-my orginal DDR333 512 MB of Samsung RAM in all 3 slots (RAM works I have tested it in other board)

-a stick of DDR266 256MB RAM (lemel, generic stuff, known to be working) in all 3 slots

- new 2100+ cpu, 1.2Ghz athlon cpu (known to be working, retested on other mboard), Duron700 cpu (known to be working)


So is the board officially dead ? What else can I try ? I have noticed that the latest bios for the 8K3A+ says "c1 error at post fixed". Is this the problem I am seeing ? How can I flash the bios if the board won't post ?

http://users.bigpond.net.au/plod/forum/cry.gif....... I am not sure If I can find the orginal receipt for this board.....so RMA is probably out

Now if the board is dead, how can I recover the stuff on my HDs (2x40GB running RAID 0) ?

[Rainbow]

I would reset the jumper for a few seconds to clear the BIOS and make sure the battery is properly seated.

Are any of the capacitors (usually the green ones) leaking or bulging?

Other than that it sounds bad

Sound's as though you gave it a hard time though