HTPC wont post

T

trooper11

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Messages
350
Ive been trying to troubleshoot an issue im having with my htpc. its an older system using an MSI K8NGM2-FID motherboard, AMD 3700+ 939 processor and 3GBs ddr ram (2x 1gb/2x 512mb), and Seasonic 430W power supply all in a Zalman 160 htpc case.


the problem started after the system experienced a few shut downs in a row. the system would just shut off on its own. this happened a handful of times as i tried to troubleshoot the issue, but it now wont show any display when trying to boot.


I tried pulling all but one stick of ram, switching out the power supply, and plugging in another video card, but none of that made any difference. The msi board has a button to reset the cmos, but that didnt change anything either.

my first though was maybe the onbaord video had failed since the system was getting power (i.e. fans spin up, hdds spin up and stay running, etc). I got hold of another msi board and big suprise, same issue. so at this point, either all of the ram i have is bad or the cpu is at fault. i just wish i could confirm that somehow before i go buying more parts.

any other suggestions going forward would be much appreciated
 
Test with the bare minimum plugged in.
ie no power or connections to CD drives, hard drives etc, no USB devices plugged in other than mouse k/b, no network connection.
1 memory stick, no PCI cards.
Onboard video only.

Check the monitor still works on another PC.

Failing those, unplug it from the mains and remove the CMOS battery.
Leave it a few minutes and put it back.
See how that works.

If it still doesnt work, try leaving the battery out overnight as CMOS can be tough to clear sometimes.
 
well ive tried powering the system with only the front panel power running to the board, no usb, firewire, audio, etc. Ive also tried pulling the bios battery for a while and sitll nothing changes. ill try leaving the battery out overnight next, but this is becoming a very frustrating issue.
 
another question. im wondering if it might be the htpc case cuasing the problem. its a case that has a vfd display. i have everything unplugged except for the front power/reset switches and led lights. i left the battery out of the board overnight and still it gives me nothing. if a bad cpu isnt the cuase here, could it be the case itself? how can i test the system without the case since there are no onbaord power/reset switches?
 
The Basic Troubleshooting Guide sticky thread has instructions for a barebones bench test. Basically, use anything conductive to short (connect) the two power switch header leads. It doesn't sound like a shorting out issue, but you can pull the board anyways to rule out the case shorting the board out. Sounds like you might need a new PSU, though. Try another PSU if you have one, and go through all the steps in the sticky thread and report results.
 
yeah ive tried a new psu. i could still try buying a new stick of ram or a new cpu, i was just hoping to avoid that.
 
another update regarding this issue. i noticed that the motherboard doesnt make any beeps, etc when i have no ram in the system and power it up. im not completely sure if this board has a speaker, but if it does, would that mean the board has failed or could it still be the processor?
 
If there is a case speaker/buzzer plugged in, and there are no POST error beeps without RAM nor Vidcard, then its a problem with the mobo, cpu, or psu (or some combination of those).
 
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