Computer died, won't POST

J

JCDenton

Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
701
I have a fairly established system that has been up and running for quite a while. Then today, while browsing the web, the entire screen turned solid light blue. I rebooted, and after about 5 minutes, the same thing happened. After that, I haven't even been able to get it to post. The first couple of times I turned it on, the fans turned on for a couple of seconds, and it beeped, but not the normal POST beep, and then powered off. Then I removed some of the nonessential hardware, and now when I turn it on, the fans spin up, but it does not post/beep, and the screen stays black. It doesn't power down though.

What is the most likely failed component? PSU or motherboard? System is below:

Antec Truepower Quattro 850w (~6 months old)
MSI P7n platinum (~6 months old)
4GB corsair dominator 1066 (3 months old)
E8400 (unsure of age)
2x GTX280 (both 3 months)
 
So you tried it with only one vidcard in there? Do you have a less power hungry card you could try?
 
i only have the GTX280's. The first thing I did was try it without the second card. I still have my old 550w PSU to try but I don't know if that is enough confirm that the motherboard is the problem if the system still won't post
 
Does it beep with no RAM and/or no vidcard? If not, its probably the board or PSU. The 550W should be enough for a single GTX... try it.
 
I would try resetting the CMOS to see if you can get the computer to POST.
 
Ok, so I have some interesting dimensions to add to this problem. I remembered that I have an extra MSI P7N motherboard laying around from a RMA I did a few months ago. I had sent it back because it would BSOD within a few minutes of booting up, and I bought a new one planning on selling the RMA board when it came back. Well, I had left the RMA board in its sealed bag and totally forgot about it.

Today I remembered I had it, which seemed pretty lucky since I now had a way to test the old mobo. Unfortunately, once I swapped it into my system, I discovered that MSI sent me back the exact same motherboard with the exact same problem! So, the remainder of my components are posting in this other motherboard, but windows crashes within a couple minutes so it is of little use.

So to recap, I have:
-One motherboard that was RMAed for crashing, and sent back to me with the exact same problem, and it will post but crash soon after
-One motherboard that won't post at all, and I noticed that the video card fan doesn't spin when I turn the system on.

Is it pretty safe to assume that I just have TWO shitty motherboards and the other components aren't at fault? I really can't believe they sent me back the same one, unrepaired, after I paid like $15 to send it to them....glad I never got around to selling it.
 
...
enginurd said:
Does it beep with no RAM and/or no vidcard? If not, its probably the board or PSU. The 550W should be enough for a single GTX... try it.
Click to expand...

Did you try the 550W?
Did you try the OTHER GTX280 by itself?
Do you have some low voltage RAM you could try?
 
Try the system with 1 stick of memory at a time, and only 1 graphics card. Generally, if it powers on and doesn't post or powers on and beeps, it's the memory or gpu or cpu. If it just doesn't power on at all, it's the motherboard or power supply.

But by the sound of it, you said the screen went light blue, but not a blue screen. It could be the GPU's or power supply because a faulty power supply (especially with that much draw) will cause the system to have graphical corruption. Try the system with only 1 memory stick, 1 gpu, no fans (just cpu) and no add on cards. ALso, rotate the memory and GPU but only keep 1 in at a time. If it still doesn't boot then you know it's most likely the psu or motherboard, probably motherboard.
 
JCDenton said:
Ok, so I have some interesting dimensions to add to this problem. I remembered that I have an extra MSI P7N motherboard laying around from a RMA I did a few months ago. I had sent it back because it would BSOD within a few minutes of booting up, and I bought a new one planning on selling the RMA board when it came back. Well, I had left the RMA board in its sealed bag and totally forgot about it.

Today I remembered I had it, which seemed pretty lucky since I now had a way to test the old mobo. Unfortunately, once I swapped it into my system, I discovered that MSI sent me back the exact same motherboard with the exact same problem! So, the remainder of my components are posting in this other motherboard, but windows crashes within a couple minutes so it is of little use.

So to recap, I have:
-One motherboard that was RMAed for crashing, and sent back to me with the exact same problem, and it will post but crash soon after
-One motherboard that won't post at all, and I noticed that the video card fan doesn't spin when I turn the system on.

Is it pretty safe to assume that I just have TWO shitty motherboards and the other components aren't at fault? I really can't believe they sent me back the same one, unrepaired, after I paid like $15 to send it to them....glad I never got around to selling it.
Click to expand...
Basically, you are correct. If one MB doesn't post and the other one one does, you know the MB is the problem. Which is good - the only other thing I was thinking would be the CPU.
 
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