Dead system. Mobo or CPU?

[BigCat]

My system won't start. I've believe it's the CPU but I am not sure. Unfortunately, I have no other system to test the components.

System gets power, fans get going, hard drive spins up briefly, nothing at all is sent to the monitor. Monitor actually never "wakes up". There are no post beeps. I don't hear the drive like trying to start the OS. Inserted a floppy disk, no difference.

If I remove all the RAM, the mobo beeps when powered on, which is good. Removing the CPU makes no difference, no beeps, just as I described above. Shouldn't it beep in lack of a CPU?

I've clear CMOS. No change. Any ideas? I have a P5K deluxe/wifi w/ a E6850 processor.

Thanks

[maxidius]

It might be the video card which is dead, not CPU or mobo. I had this experience once. However, if you have no other components, or PC to test, it is very difficult to guess.

Check the video cable, or use another hard disk to test, if possible. Otherwise, you may have to ask your friends if they can test each component for you. Sorry that I can't do much, rather than merely guess.

[BigCat]

Thanks maxidius. Wouldn't the system continue booting with a bad video card? sorry for the dumb question, I've never had a bad video card so I don't know. My guess is that it would boot and I would be able to log on to the box using remote desktop or something. Isn't that the case? Again, I could be wrong, I don't know. Does the system halt at boot if the video card is dead?

Originally Posted by maxidius

It might be the video card which is dead, not CPU or mobo. I had this experience once. However, if you have no other components, or PC to test, it is very difficult to guess.

Check the video cable, or use another hard disk to test, if possible. Otherwise, you may have to ask your friends if they can test each component for you. Sorry that I can't do much, rather than merely guess.

[zapionics<alt>]

It could be the vid card... maybe you could pick up a very cheap second hard card from somewhere just to test it.

But its really hard to say, actually. What about taking it to a computer shop where they could do some fault tracing.

[maxidius]

If the video card is dead, you don't see anything on the monitor screen, even the BIOS boot-up phase of the mobo. Because you can't see anything -- the monitor is just black -- you have no way to guess, although the hard disk may work, the LEDs may blink, etc.

However, there may be one signal on the monitor which says -- NO INPUT, or "No data input", depending on the monitor maker. With this sign, there is only two possibilities: either the video card is dead, or your PC doesn't boot up.

If the PC doesn't boot, you are back to square one to guess which component is not working, CPU or mobo.

As Zapinonics suggested, you may use another cheap video card, kind of PCI, or whatever junk video card you may borrow from your friend. Or, if your friend is kind enough, you can bring your PC to his/her house, temporarily borrow the video card and put it in your system. Then you may be able to know if it is the video card or else.

I re-read your posting. You said there is no beeps, or the hard disk seems not working. Try to check all cable, power plugs. If you use Pentium IV or later, there is one auxiliary 4-pin, or 6-pin plug, which is somewhere near the CPU. Without this aux power, the mobo won't work.

Try to find some friend, or anyone near you who may help to check your system. Good luck.

[Baud]

Take your graphics card off the computer; I believe you should then hear some beeps.
For the beep codes, have a look at: Computer Post / Beep codes.

I also believe there's something wrong whith you graphics card. Try it on another system, or (recommended) use another one (whatever it is that fits in your graphics socket) on your system.
A wrong cable should result in some "no input" message at your display, so I don't believe the cable is wrong, but who am I ?

[BigCat]

there are no beeps at all, even if I remove the CPU. Which is strange.

The only time I get beeps is when I remove all the RAM. Why doesn't it complain about a missing CPU. It does not beep when I remove the video card either.

Originally Posted by Baud

Take your graphics card off the computer; I believe you should then hear some beeps.
For the beep codes, have a look at: Computer Post / Beep codes.

I also believe there's something wrong whith you graphics card. Try it on another system, or (recommended) use another one (whatever it is that fits in your graphics socket) on your system.
A wrong cable should result in some "no input" message at your display, so I don't believe the cable is wrong, but who am I ?

[Gavsman]

imo it is the graphics card that is faulty, i had my geforce 2 mx card which i did insert in my mobo and tried it but to no avail, the monitor just didnt respond to it
but when i put on the on board graphics it works fine, its almost 2 years since the card got fried imo .......

[maxidius]

If it beeps when you remove RAM, perhaps your mobo may still work. But that is not enough to identify the source of trouble.

How about PSU of your PC? Take out everything, including network card, keep only the video card to test first. Sometimes, when there is no the video card, there are beeps too. But I don't remember exactly.

[Baud]

By the way, did your system ever start successfully; did you apply some changes since then? Are all PSU connectors on their place on the motherboard?

[traveler]

Hey BigCat! Sorry to hear about your troubles.

The only way to trouble shoot is to accurately determine which parts work and which parts don't. And keep testing until you tried them all. That requires taking your parts out one at a time and inserting them into a known working computer. As maxidius said, try to get the help of a friend. Put your RAM into another computer-make sure it works. Put your video card into another computer-make sure it works. Put your CPU into another computer-Etc. Don't forget to test the PSU. See if one of the rails stopped working there. There's a nice digital PSU tester out now made by Coolmax.

Just putting another video card into your box doesn't mean a lot. If it doesn't work, the card could still be good but something else is stopping the signal. Make sure you can absolutely rule out that a part is bad by actually seeing it work somewhere else, and if it doesn't work in a known working computer, then rule it as a bad part.

You could try your luck with an RMA. The new part should be a good one.

Don't sell or give away your old computer parts. You may need them one day for testing things. Unless you have a friend or a favorite computer shop to help.

Regarding beep codes ... They only hint at what is stopping a boot up process. Think: It could be the motherboard fried. So test all the other parts.



__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
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Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[BigCat]

Thanks folks. Yes, my problem is the lack of a test system. This is my first and only one PCI-E/LGA775 system. Components are not compatible with any other of my home PCs.

Anyway, I bought the cheapest video card I could find and that wasn't the problem. I've suspected the CPU since day one so I have sent it to intel for a replacement. It is still under warranty.

This system ran for more than a year. For the first 8 months or so I did mild overclocking on the processor until couple of months back when it stopped booting (same symptoms I have today). So I set it to run at specs back then and was able to boot again just fine until now. Though many times I had warm boot issues, the machine wouldn't boot from a OS restart; I had to power off completely, then start cold. I never knew what it was. The symptom was always the same though. No post, no video, no beeps.

Maybe "sudden death syndrome"? :-) Do people still talk about this? I think most overclockers upgrade their systems before the components get killed, that's why they don't see issues in the long run :-)

Anyway, I probably won't know more until I get the new processor from Intel. Hopefully, that will be it. The mobo does indeed shows many signs of life, but as you all said, you never know until everything else is ruled out.

Thanks for the feedback. Will update this when I get the new CPU.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by traveler

Hey BigCat! Sorry to hear about your troubles.

The only way to trouble shoot is to accurately determine which parts work and which parts don't. And keep testing until you tried them all. That requires taking your parts out one at a time and inserting them into a known working computer. As maxidius said, try to get the help of a friend. Put your RAM into another computer-make sure it works. Put your video card into another computer-make sure it works. Put your CPU into another computer-Etc. Don't forget to test the PSU. See if one of the rails stopped working there. There's a nice digital PSU tester out now made by Coolmax.

Just putting another video card into your box doesn't mean a lot. If it doesn't work, the card could still be good but something else is stopping the signal. Make sure you can absolutely rule out that a part is bad by actually seeing it work somewhere else, and if it doesn't work in a known working computer, then rule it as a bad part.

You could try your luck with an RMA. The new part should be a good one.

Don't sell or give away your old computer parts. You may need them one day for testing things. Unless you have a friend or a favorite computer shop to help.

Regarding beep codes ... They only hint at what is stopping a boot up process. Think: It could be the motherboard fried. So test all the other parts.



__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
Western Digital Raptor X Hard Drive / Two Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives /
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 / Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speaker System /
Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[Baud]

Well, of course, overclocking is not recommended, but most of use do it without any problem. But on one day, the worst can happen and your're here with you nearly dead system.
Like Traveler said, you should try to investigate one thing at a time, preferently with an alternate component : cpu, memory, cards, connectors, cables.

One free try that costs nothing: disassemble your system, including the MB from the case, take the dust out of it, separate the cpu fan from the cpu, clean both of them and don't forget to place thermal paste (it once worked for me on a p4p800).

[BigCat]

Got the new CPU, and that wasn't it. Got mobo out of case, connected basic stuff, gave power, no change, same stuff.

Will get a cheap motherboard tomorrow to try. Weird.

[BigCat]

got new mobo in, still have the problem. Put a new PSU in. No help.

so now I have:

- new video card (PCI)
- new CPU from intel
- new motherboard
- new power supply

I have only the above components connected. I get no beep codes and no video to the screen. CPU fan works.

You are probably going to ask about the RAM now. I had initially 4 1GB sticks installed. I have tried all combinations, from just 1 stick (trying all sticks), to 2, 3 or 4 sticks installed. It does not make any difference. Could all 4 sticks be bad?

I don't know what's going. I've tried 3 different monitors know to work elsewhere at home, with their own cables. Tried DVI as well as VGA output from the new card. I get no freaking video or beep codes.

Originally Posted by BigCat

Got the new CPU, and that wasn't it. Got mobo out of case, connected basic stuff, gave power, no change, same stuff.

Will get a cheap motherboard tomorrow to try. Weird.