You hear lots of people on the net complaining about the Tyan Tiger MP S2460. Quite a bit of it is well deserved. Tyan has a reputation for making "fussy" boards. They are fine for the system integrator who assembles dozens to hundreds of machines who can take the time to learn the properties of the product and compensate. They can pose a challange to the home enthusiast who just wants the durned thing to work.
In this document I will describe a step by step procedure to bring up a Tyan Tiger MP S2460 for the first time that minimizes the chance of your returning a perfectly good board that does not seem to work.
The first thing to remember is to take your time, take things one step at a time and double check everything you do. The Tyan Tiger MP S2460 is NOT your basic motherboard. There are several things about the board I do not like. Several things that an installer has to be extra careful about. I hope by my pointing these out that people will avoid common mistakes when installing the product.
To begin, get your motherboard, case, power supply rated with at least 30 amps of +5, memory, processor and heat sink togather in a clean and unclutterd work space. Make sure you have your anti static bracelet attached to your wrist. These things cost 5 bucks folk and will prevent a ton of trouble going forward, and will be the subject of a future rant.
Once you get everything togather, make sure you have the FSB jumpers correct. This is easier if you do it before installing the motherboard in the case with the board sitting on the anti-static foam. Don't forget to connect your anti-static bracelet clip to the motherboard (I find the lugs on the serial port a convenient place to attach the clip) before you touch the board. I actually had to get out the wife's magnifying glass and a flashlight to make sure I got the jumpers right on mine. Dang that writing on the pcb is tiny. And yes, there ARE 4 jumpers to set FSB, and yes they are in two separate groups on the board.
Once you have made sure the FSB jumpers are set correctly, you should install the motheboard in your case. I kept the anti static bracelet cliped to the motherboard until I got it in the case with the power supply connected, then transfered the clip to the case. You should only install 2 or 3 screws at this time as you will be removing the board later.
Once the board is in the case you should install a processor in processor socket 0 (the one closest to the memory), attach the heat sink and connect five, and only five leads to the motherboard. These five leads are
That's it. You should not connect anything else. Do not install any cards. Do not connect any keyboard. Not a ps2 keyboard, not a usb keyboard. Do not connect your usb hub. Do not connect anything to the motherboard other than the 5 wires listed above.
If there are any wires other than these connected, REMOVE THEM!
Also, I probably don't need to mention this to anyone who has read the manual, but the documentation on the front panel connector from tyan sucks. Pins 1-2 go to the hd led (perpendicular to the rest of the connections) and if you do not look VERY CAREFULLY at the picture, and do not very carefully count your pins, it is VERY EASY to get the speaker hooked to the wrong pins. Sound coming out the speaker is used for the first step of diagnosis so having the speaker hooked up wrong is going to make things VERY difficult to diagnose.
At this point you should plug the power supply into the wall and press the power button on the case. The processor fan should starte to spin immediately as well as the fan in the power supply. If the both fans are not spinning, start looking for power supply issues. The speaker should beep almost immediately in the sequence 1-short 3-short 3-short 1-short. This beep code is NOT in the manual anywhere I could find, but it should beep. Pressing the reset button should repeat the sequence.
At this point, if your system does not beep. Double check your speaker lead. There are only 5 wires on the board so it should not be hard. Look carefully at the manual and make sure you got it hooked up right. If you are sure you followed my directions to the letter and didn't "improvise", and the board still doesn't work, you have reduced your chances of returning a perfectly good board from 3/4 to about half.
If your system did beep as reported, or if you want to continue on the assumption that you hooked the speaker up wrong, the next step is to install memory. You must remove the motherboard from the case to install memory on the Tyan Tiger MP 2460. The memory sockets are very tight and the board does not have enough support for the pressure you must apply. Come on folks, you just spent a minimum of 500 bucks on parts and you are willing to break the board and go without for days because you are lazy and impatient?? I though not. Remove the motherboard from the case and place it on the anti-static foam that came with the board on a firm flat surface. I used a kitchen table. I am sure I don't need to remind you to transfer your anti static clip from the case to the serial port before lifting the board out of the case and to leave it connected at all times. Place the board on the anti static foam, remove the AMD approved memory from its anti-static envelope and install it in the first memory slot. This is the memory slot closest to cpu 0. On a side note, if your memory does not work in this slot, there is absolutely no reason to try other slots. Yeah, you MAY think you can get it to work in other slots, but there is no way it can be reliable. Put it in slot 0. Line the notch up with the bar in the memory socket and press firmly with both thumbs until it "snaps" into place. You WILL hear a reasuring "click" when it snaps in. Like I said before, you can NOT get the memory in properly without removing the board from the case. Please don't try. Best case is you break the board, void your waranty and are stuck with a wall display. Worst case is you break the board, lie to tyan saying you didn't abuse it and wait for weeks while they replace it. In between is you crack a trace and have a flaky system.
Now you should reinstall the motherboard back in the case and reconnect the 5 basic wires. No more. No less. No boards. Just the 5 basic wires. Reconnect the power supply to the wall and press the power button, cross your fingers, and wait. The fan on the heat sink should spin immediately, as should the fan in the power supply. 6 to 8 seconds later you should hear two beeps. Another two seconds later you should hear one more beep. Pressing the reset button should repeat the sequence.
If you get this far, you have gotten past most of the false DOA problems that most people encounter. Your motherboard is basically functional and you have memory. At this point you should install a video card and a keyboard and make sure the video comes up. My ancient diamond S3 agp card started immediately upon powerup.
In parting. They Tyan Tiger MP S2460 is not a good "starter board". It takes high power processors, it is rather picky about its memory and its power supply. It has issues with some peripherials, and it is just plain down right finiky. Oh, and did I mention that it is wants to draw more power than the ATX power supply connector will permit? Don't be too supprized if you melt your power supply connector after extended periods of high use on a fully decked out system. On the other hand, if you are willing to take our time, do your homework and are very careful in what you do, you can get plenty of enjoyment out of the product and be satisfied that you were able to acomplish something that many can not.