# [SOLVED] Asus P5K-VM fails to boot



## oldandbroken (Apr 21, 2008)

Ok here we go. This is a newer build, used only for light office tasks and email/web browsing. Initial construction was about a month ago. The machine ran fine for 2 weeks or so then the HDD reported a SMART failure and required replacement. I loaded windows (XP SP2) installed board drivers, installed AVG FRee, MS Office 2003, Acrobat Reader .. all ran fine ... on MY bench. Took the unit to the customers place (my Father-in-law) connected it to his SOYO 15" LCD monitor and no joy. It posted, started to load the OS then I got the message "out of range" VGA 1600x1200 
hsync 75.5mhz vsync 59.9 mhz (as close as I can remember) I brought the unit back to my bench, connected it to my new VIEWSONIC VG2230wm LCD monitor, and it posted, but then crashed to "failed overclock" error. I managed to get it to boot to safe mode only to have it crash again. I have re-formatted the HDD again and re-installed XP SP2. I am curious though about a number of things.

1) Is it possible that the origional HDD was fried by a crappy PSU?
2) Is it further possible that the crappy PSU is hampered even more by a poor/cheap power bar?
3) Is it even further possible that the first 2 items might be exaggerated by weak or fluctuating power from the apartment building in which the customer lives?

system specs as follows:
Asus p5k-VM with core2 duo E6550 2.33GHz proc.
Seagate 320 GB 7200rpm SATA II HDD
2 Gb crucial balistix pc2-6400
LG SuperMulti DVDRW 20x SATA
ANTEC NSK3480 case with mATX380W PSU
I have an ANTEC TPII-430 spare that I can throw into this build. 
What do you think? Try to swap out the PSU or just return the MOBO and get something different?


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

*Re: Asus P5K-VM fails to boot*

Have you try'd resetting the cmos?

A 380W PSU is under powering the unit, I am not sure if you are using onboard video or a PCI-E card but if using a card your power supply will require at least 26amps on the 12v rails

You should be able to overcome the out of range by lowering the frequency to 60Hz and lowering the resolution. I dare say it had the resolution set from your initial buildup and was too much for the 15"


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## oldandbroken (Apr 21, 2008)

*Re: Asus P5K-VM fails to boot*



blackduck30 said:


> Have you try'd resetting the cmos?
> 
> A 380W PSU is under powering the unit, I am not sure if you are using onboard video or a PCI-E card but if using a card your power supply will require at least 26amps on the 12v rails
> 
> You should be able to overcome the out of range by lowering the frequency to 60Hz and lowering the resolution. I dare say it had the resolution set from your initial buildup and was too much for the 15"


Thank you for the help, Yeah I tried resetting the cmos but that didn't help any.

However, after going through a bunch of other posts on PSU problems and after reading this reply to my post I did replace the 380w PSU with the larger one. So far so good. I get it to post, I get it to load XP, I even managed to install the board drivers etc. All this with nary a crash or a murmer from the unit. Now if I could just get it to recognize the 2nd HDD... LOL TY for the great advice.
ray:


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