Start-up Problems

[jabberwock95]

Well, my computer is having problems. Nothing new there, but they seem to be of a more serious nature than usual. When I press the power button everything spins up, but the screen stays blank. There are no error beeps, the monitor, gfx card and power supply are definitely working, and I cant get anything else to happen no matter what I try.

My thinking is Motherboard/CPU problems, and my next step was going to be to remove the board and try running it 'out-of-case' (the bench test) to make sure its not a short causing the problem. That is however unless anyone has any ideas/advice they could offer instead of this fairly time-consuming process?

Any suggestions welcome, except from the one guy who will take that to mean I welcome people telling me to STFU and GTFO. You know who you are.

Thanks.

 

[Asus]

Check your harddrive connections and make sure the jumpers are correct. My brother didn't set his drives up right over the weekend with his new machine and it was acting similar. Although a blank screen and no post could mean a few things. I'd just check the basics first. Connections, power plugs and settings (jumpers) etc. Maybe remove things that are not important for it to boot (extra harddrives, cd drives).

 

[Saketi]

try a different monitor! try a different GFX card! What r u system specs?

A blank screen usually means something is up with the GFX side of things, if it was HDD related u wud get beeps.

here is a handy guide on PC Beep Codes....

Beep Code Descriptions
1 short DRAM refresh failure
2 short Parity circuit failure
3 short Base 64K RAM failure
4 short System timer failure
5 short Process failure
6 short Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short Virtual mode exception error
8 short Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short Display/Retrace test failed

 

[Asus]

try a different monitor! try a different GFX card! What r u system specs?

A blank screen usually means something is up with the GFX side of things, if it was HDD related u wud get beeps.

Some boards will not go any further if something is setup incorrect. They won't even post...like my brothers new board.
I've had my board not post before because a molex connector was not plugged in all the way (perhaps shorting). Some weird things can happen.

 

[Saketi]

Some boards will not go any further if something is setup incorrect. They won't even post...like my brothers new board.
I've had my board not post before because a molex connector was not plugged in all the way (perhaps shorting). Some weird things can happen.

maybe then the computer is shorting out?

Have u had the computer running previously jabberwock95

 

[jabberwock95]

Check your harddrive connections and make sure the jumpers are correct. My brother didn't set his drives up right over the weekend with his new machine and it was acting similar. Although a blank screen and no post could mean a few things. I'd just check the basics first. Connections, power plugs and settings (jumpers) etc. Maybe remove things that are not important for it to boot (extra harddrives, cd drives).

Thanks for the quick reply, I guess some back-story would be handy for people to better understand my problem.

It all started when I got back to my computer a few days ago and found that it was completely dead. I tried the power buttons/socket on-off but couldnt get anything to happen at all.

My first thought was the power supply, so I tried plugging the motherboard into an old 200W PSU I had lying around. The fans span up, so I decided the old PSU must be at fault.

Bought a new one (a cheap one im afraid) and it worked fine. For a day. Turned it on the day afterward and a loud bang and bright blue flash subtly told me something may be up.

Naturally the new PSU was toast, so after testing the comp with the 200W PS (it booted after I powered the mobo and master HDD) I decided to take the POS PSU back to the shop for a replacement.

Went to bed that night after turning everything off. Got up to find the computer in the position its in now (I blame gremlins myself). Will not post with either the 200W supply or a working 480W replacement new supply.

So to answer your questions, the jumpers havent been changed since it was working, the cables have been in and out a few times but im sure they are in firmly, and I have tried booting with just the basics (mobo, HDD, and gfx card) to no avail.

Sorry for the long post, but like all computer problems there is always a tale of horror/incompetance behind it. :cheese:

 

[Asus]

I'd just take the board out and test it if thats the case. Give the board a good look over see if you can spot anything that would cause this (burn marks, bad leaking capacitors etc).

 

[jabberwock95]

Damn you, computer!

After plugging/unplugging various componants and testing them in an old system I have, I decided to start disassembling the computer to remove the motherboard. But I thought 'one more test' and booted it up.

It worked. In its case-open, minus several screwes, only power and monitor cable condition, it worked. Yay! Then I made the mistake of screwing everything together (tightly), moving it back to the floor and plugging everything in. The bloody thing stopped working again!

So, looks like I will be disassembling the comp tomorrow and giving the mobo a good look over. On the one hand, it sucks that its broken, but on the other I have always fancied a 64 bit 3800+...