Fans spin but no video - motherboard doesn't POST or boot up

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x509

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Friend's backup system. ASUS H87M-E motherboard, Intel processor, but I forget the exact model. 16 GB. Everything worked fine until system required new heatsink/fan, and motherboard had to be removed from case.

Fans spin (heatsink, chassis) and power LED comes on, but no video.
Note: When I changed the Clear RTC jumper from Normal to Clear RTC, fans did not spin but Power LED came on. Idea was to reset BIOS.

Update: When SATA cables connected, HDD spins up.


So what else can we do to get this board to boot up?

What we checked:
  • Disconnected all SATA data and power cables.
  • Power Supply 24-pin and 8-pin cables checked out good using Power Supply tester.
  • CPU removed. Socket inspected very carefully for bent pins. CPU replaced.
  • Removed RAM sticks and powered up. No video. Inserted just one RAM stick, one at a time, and powered up. No video. Power LED always came on.

x509
 
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cmos battery, test and or replace it. board is old enough that its prob dying and ive seen that cause all sorts of weird issues.
edit and double check its not outputting to the onboard vid.
 
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any GPU installed in that system?.. that happens with a bad contact in the GPU slot, which are very common when people take off the parts for cleaning, etc.. also check cooler mounting pressure, too tight coolers can cause bad contact in the RAM pins on the CPU and/or RAM traces from slot to CPU causing the described issue..
 
pendragon1 said:
cmos battery, test and or replace it. board is old enough that its prob dying and ive seen that cause all sorts of weird issues.
edit and double check its not outputting to the onboard vid.
Click to expand...
Friend is out of town until Sunday night, so we will pull out the CMOS battery Monday morning.

I never would have thought of this point. Suggestion is much appreciated.
 
Araxie said:
any GPU installed in that system?.. that happens with a bad contact in the GPU slot, which are very common when people take off the parts for cleaning, etc.. also check cooler mounting pressure, too tight coolers can cause bad contact in the RAM pins on the CPU and/or RAM traces from slot to CPU causing the described issue..
Click to expand...
GPU in system, but motherboard also has built-in video with VGA (!) output. Tested the VGA output after I pulled the vid card. No joy.

Dismounted the heatsink so I could inspect the CPU socket pins for bending, etc. When I reinserted the CPU, I was super-careful not to put any force on the pins. When I re-attached the Hyper 212 cooler, I was also very careful not to overtighen the atachment screws.

If we try the CMOS battery on Monday and that doesn't solve the problem, then I'll pull the board out from the case and inspect the bottom traces for cracks, etc.

Now the reality check part is that this system is about five years old and my friend's backup system. He runs Linux and mounts of the drives from the backup system into his main system Linux system config. But his main system case has room for another HDD.
 
Can you get into the BIOS? If so, see if it's indeed set to display onboard video or PCIe video. I suspect you'll have to get into the BIOS anyways since you've now reset it, and PCIe video will need to be primary. When you installed the new heatsink, was there a plastic film on the heatsink that needed to be removed? (Some people forget to remove this, which will cause overheating).
 
Woot910 said:
Can you get into the BIOS? If so, see if it's indeed set to display onboard video or PCIe video. I suspect you'll have to get into the BIOS anyways since you've now reset it, and PCIe video will need to be primary. When you installed the new heatsink, was there a plastic film on the heatsink that needed to be removed? (Some people forget to remove this, which will cause overheating).
Click to expand...
Can't get to the BIOS, because my friend's system won't POST.

When I instal a heatsink, I always inspect the contact surface. This was over a month ago, so I don't remember if there was a plastic film in place. But I suspect overheating is not a problem, because we don't even get the ASUS splash screen.

I haven't had a chance yet to remove/replace the motherboard backup battery, because either he is out of town, or he is in town but I'm too busy that day. He's due back about one week from now.

x509
 
I had a board a few years back that was shorting on my case somehow and was behaving similarily. Have you tried booting with the board outside of the case?
 
Eyeball Kid said:
I had a board a few years back that was shorting on my case somehow and was behaving similarily. Have you tried booting with the board outside of the case?
Click to expand...
It was actually the backup battery. It's a CR 2032, rated at 3V, but the battery on the motherboard measured less than 1V. So I popped in a good CR 3032, and SHAZAM!, the system booted up right away. Of course, the date was set to 2009, ;) but I fixed that easily.

All is well in the world again. And fortunately I did not need to call ASUS "support."
 
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