First post, by behshad
Hey there,
my first time posting here! 😄 So, I've been hearing a lot of good stuff about Asus P3B motherboards, but I'm not having the best of luck with couple of mines. I had one which was plugged in (but switched off) and it started smelling like it was burning caps and then has refused to turn on afterward (PSU's fine).
Now, I've got this P3B-f (attached pic) that's rather temperamental,. It only powers up now and then. When I hit the power switch, the green light on the motherboard comes on, and that's it. But I have figured out that if I connect hard drive(s) and plug and unplug the molex/ATA cables a few times, the motherboard eventually starts up just fine. Turn it off, and I gotta do the whole molex thing again to get it going.
Unlike my first one, this motherboard's capacitors seem to look okay, at least to my eye. no bulging or leakage. i have tried different PSUs, graphic cards and CPU/RAMs are fine. although very difficult to push in the memory sticks. i even tried a new CMOS battery in it
I am into socket 7 and older models, but I really want 1-2 P2/3 Windows 98-era PCs for my collection. Any ideas on what might be up with this motherboard or how I can figure it out?
Thanks a bunch! 😅🙌