Computer issues

R

Rusty4560

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 24, 2007
Messages
1,131
Recently I've been modding my case and have ran into a few problems.
After doing some work on my case I cleaned my components and put them back in my case. However, when I went to turn the computer on I wasn't getting video. My hard drive activity LED was fully lit, my motherboard fans weren't starting, but my CPU fan was. I was not getting any video so I figured it was memory or video card.

I reseated my memory and video a few times and finally got it to boot.

Now I just finished the rest of my current project. I hooked up a strain of LEDs and then went to turn my computer on and now I have the same issues. I didn't touch anything when I plugged in the LEDs so I'm stumped a bit on this one.

I've reseated my memory again, which did nothing. My video card has the green light on so I haven't reseated that yet. I've tried starting the computer with no memory, no optical / HD drives, and no fans. Nothing changes the outcome.

I'm almost leaning towards CPU or motherboard now.

Any ideas?

Current symptoms:
No Video
HD LED fully lit
Fans not starting
Computer not POSTing
 
Something fairly obvious would be to test with spare parts if you have any. I suppose you would have already done that by now if you had, though.

I'm not sure on return-policies where you're from, but when these things happen to me, I usually find a very cheap stick of memory in a local hardware-store to test with. From my own experience, it's almost always the memory that gets buggered when "messing around".

However!

No video could mean anything from motherboard, CPU, graphics card and memory. HD LED fully lit (assuming you mean it's not blinking but just "on" all the time), I've never experienced, but that could very well be motherboard issues, and since the motherboard fans aren't starting either, my bet will be on a damaged motherboard.

If you can, try to test your memory, CPU and graphics card in a different system.
 
I have 2 nearly identical computers. My next step would be to test the components from that machine. I finished my project late last night. I didn't have time to get into a lot of troubleshooting.
 
The HD LED fully lit is just what it sounds like. I feel the HDD start but the LED is just on with no blinking. It isn't indicating activity.
 
I'm not sure which method is best, but I think I would test the components from the buggered machine in the working machine instead of the other way around. If the motherboard is buggered and somehow applying high voltages to certain components, chances are you could fry parts from the working machine (this is based on no personal experience, but just guesswork!)

On a side note - if you have an old PSU lying around, could you test your LED-array with it? If you've built the LED-array yourself, there's a risk that you've messed up the wiring and thus killed your PSU.
 
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I have an old power supply from an AT case that has a power switch wired into the power supply. I test all my wiring on that. The LEDs work fine. I don't have any grounds touching power wires. The way I wired the LEDs it would be nearly impossible to have crossed ground wires with power wires.
 
In that case, I'd definitely place my bet on the motherboard being damaged. I assume you've already tried resetting the BIOS and verified that all jumpers are where they're supposed to be? It may sound silly, but once in a while you'll add, remove, replace or reseat a component and somehow manage to bump those little devils off their pins.

But yeah, test the memory, CPU and graphics card from the buggered machine in the working one when you have the time. If they all work fine, then it's most likely the motherboard. Can't completely rule out the PSU, though.
 
Pull the parts out of your case and test right on your bench - you may have a short to your motherboard.
 
I reseated the CMOS battery and that seemed to do it. I love how something so simple ended up being the solution.

I'll post a few pics of what I was doing when I can find a camera. I think you will agree it was worth the headache.
 
These pictures don't do nearly enough justice to its actual look. Over exposed with the lights off : (

IMG_3812.jpg


IMG_3814.jpg


When it is all done the heart, teslas and the pipes will be red
The lightning, glass and base will be white.


Thanks for the help guys
 
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