I'm stumped. No BIOS screen, No boot.

[Mo0]

I've had an ongoing computer problem for a few months now. If need be I'll go into the circmstances, but basically the comp died. It crashed (massive artifacting onscreen) and never booted again.

The board gets power (green pow. LED on the board comes on and stays on.) The fans all come on, the HDDs spin up and come out of park, but thats it. The monitor stays inactive, no BIOS screen, no HDD activity.

I have no fucking idea what went wrong. I've replaced vitrually everything (PSU, CPU, 3 different mobos, RAM, video card, sound card) with no results. 5 months later with all these parts swapped out and STILL the same symptoms.

I am clueless. I have no idea where to go from here. The clear CMOS jumper is in the correct position. Suggest anything you think might work and I'll tell you if I've done it yet (short of the "Buy a new computer" option.)

Help...

 

[CVNet1]

is it beeping? ie post beeps?
If you don't have a PC speaker (the little round speaker with the 4 pin header that plugs into a 4pin header on the motherboard usually located near the power switch and reset button headers, then please get one. If it is beeping, then I'd try a different monitor and see if that works. If your monitor is an LCD then try to find a CRT to test with as I have encoutered some LCD monitors that for whatever reason do not display the resolution when the computer is in the BIOS.
If you have a pc speaker already plugged in there and are getting no beeps, then you might try pulling everything out of the case. Set it up on something non-conductive (ie wood but not antistatic bags) and plug the bare necessities for a post in (cpu ram mobo psu HD floppy) and power it up. If you are using rounded IDE cables, get the flat ribbon cables instead. When you do this make sure you plug in a pc speaker (same 4 pin speaker I talked about earlier) so you can hear the beeps if there are any. If you get no beeps, try removing something essential (RAM or Video card or even processor). In fact reseating your processor may yeild some result. One more idea, if nothing else works for anything, would be to unplug everything from your motherboard (PSU HD all external cables), and put the jumper on clear CMOS for an hour or so. Then put it back to normal plug it all in and see if anything changes (usually this was used for Nforce2 boards when bad overclocks occurred cause of a bug in the chipset that prevented normal clears from clearing the overclock settings properly).

Ok I've pretty much exhausted all the possibilities I can think of at the moment. Good luck

 

[Mo0]

is it beeping? ie post beeps?
If you don't have a PC speaker (the little round speaker with the 4 pin header that plugs into a 4pin header on the motherboard usually located near the power switch and reset button headers, then please get one. If it is beeping, then I'd try a different monitor and see if that works. If your monitor is an LCD then try to find a CRT to test with as I have encoutered some LCD monitors that for whatever reason do not display the resolution when the computer is in the BIOS.
If you have a pc speaker already plugged in there and are getting no beeps, then you might try pulling everything out of the case. Set it up on something non-conductive (ie wood but not antistatic bags) and plug the bare necessities for a post in (cpu ram mobo psu HD floppy) and power it up. If you are using rounded IDE cables, get the flat ribbon cables instead. When you do this make sure you plug in a pc speaker (same 4 pin speaker I talked about earlier) so you can hear the beeps if there are any. If you get no beeps, try removing something essential (RAM or Video card or even processor). In fact reseating your processor may yeild some result. One more idea, if nothing else works for anything, would be to unplug everything from your motherboard (PSU HD all external cables), and put the jumper on clear CMOS for an hour or so. Then put it back to normal plug it all in and see if anything changes (usually this was used for Nforce2 boards when bad overclocks occurred cause of a bug in the chipset that prevented normal clears from clearing the overclock settings properly).

Ok I've pretty much exhausted all the possibilities I can think of at the moment. Good luck

No POST beeps. It does beep once at me when I unseat the AGP card though. (On the borrowed Asus A7V8X.) No beeps when I unseat all my memory.

Monitor is a Sony CRT. Does the same with both my 17" and 21".

I don't have the time right this moment to set everything up outside of the case in a non-conductive environment, but I plan on doing this with my time off on Monday. I have torn down this computer twice since the problem has occured and neither time yielded any positive result (I've been assembling AMD socket A comps for years, I doubt I'd miss something the second time around.) I've checked all my cables for fraying and/or signs of pinching, but who knows...

Flat IDE cables, brand new both of them.

I doubt its the CMOS as it has done this with 3 seperate mobos (Abit AT7E, NF7-S2 and an Asus A7V8X.)

 

[Zepher]

I hate to say this, but do you know what you are doing?
If you pay for shipping both ways, I'll put it together for you and try and get it running.

 

[Mo0]

I hate to say this, but do you know what you are doing?
If you pay for shipping both ways, I'll put it together for you and try and get it running.

Been throwing these AMD machines together for years mano. Just never had a problem this enigmatic.

 

[waddles]

It should still POST even with farked hard drives, and since you've replaced everything, I'd say the problem is electrical. Most likely, something is being shorted. Could also be PSU (two bad ones in a row would be rare but not unheard of.)

 

[HybridHB]

The wierd thing is that im seeing this happen to more people everyday, and it seems to have different fixes for each person. This happened to my uncles pc 2x in a week. Swapping out the mobo fixed it every time. This also happened to my friend, and it was the video card for him.

 

[Elledan]

If you have a pc speaker already plugged in there and are getting no beeps, then you might try pulling everything out of the case. Set it up on something non-conductive (ie wood but not antistatic bags) and plug the bare necessities for a post in (cpu ram mobo psu HD floppy) and power it up.

Actually, you want to strip the mainboard even further:

- mainboard, PSU, CPU, HSF. That's all.
- reset the CMOS while the PSU is unplugged
- plug in the PSU and turn the system on by shorting the PWR_SW pins for a second
- the system should complain about missing RAM (look up the beep code). If it does, add it.
- now the system should complain about a missing videocard. If it does, add it.
- if you got this far, keep adding components (HDD, CD-ROM drive, PCI cards, etc.) until it fails again, then swap the component which made the system fail with a known working one.

 

[leeroy]

make sure components work in another mb
make sure no dead cell batt, fsb settings, etc

if there is a light on mb but it refuese to turn on , mebbe incorrectly seated heatsink

mite be bad power supply?

 

[KevinO]

It should still POST even with farked hard drives, and since you've replaced everything, I'd say the problem is electrical. Most likely, something is being shorted. Could also be PSU (two bad ones in a row would be rare but not unheard of.)

This is what I am thinking. Something shorted or not grounded correctly. I would test like you said out of the case and see what happens.

Good Luck.

 

[D3v1an7]

What are the system specs?

Were you doing any OCing before it asploded?

Are you sure that you have the RAM in the proper configuration? I have seen a PC do exactly what you described (boot with no video) because of the RAM being in the wrong configuration.

I would also memtest the hell out of your RAM in a friends box just to make sure it's not fried.

You have an impressive list of parts you have swapped out which leads me to believe that you have multiple failures in your box because you most likely swapped in one new part at a time.

I would recommend finding a working box and swapping in your parts until you find the one(or ones) that bork that box.

Good luck.

 

[iNViSiGOD]

Check to see if the motherboard is grounding itself out on teh case. I had that problem at one time and did exactly what you did, tried swaping out all the parts to no avail.

Remove everything and set the mobo on something non static conductive and see if ti does the same thing.

 

[ScYcS]

Ok, now some people might laugh at this, but i have seen this happen when you couple a specific Sony monitor model with a specific videocard (don't remember which models though). It was a timing issue with the Sony monitor and the signal of the videocard.

Jeez, i think it was back in the time when the Geforce2 GTS was out and the problem had to do with the Hercules GF2 GTS 64MB and a Sony model. Somehow the card had a specific time to initialize and if the monitor didn't respond in that time, you get nothing but a black screen...no beeps, no nothing, just the fans spinning as if everything is peachy.

If you can, try a diff monitor on the rig....don't laugh! It really happened.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I've seen similar with a Tyan MoBo and an Ati vid card, no signal, etc.
But it all worked once.

Quote.........
but basically the comp died. It crashed (massive artifacting onscreen) and never booted again.

Sounds like the MoBo & Vid Card died.
PSU ?
So the question is did putting new hardware into the comp kill the new hardware ?
Its a possibility.
If you can test your hardware is good then it will narrow down whats wrong.

Luck...........

 

[Mo0]

Ok, now some people might laugh at this, but i have seen this happen when you couple a specific Sony monitor model with a specific videocard (don't remember which models though). It was a timing issue with the Sony monitor and the signal of the videocard.

Jeez, i think it was back in the time when the Geforce2 GTS was out and the problem had to do with the Hercules GF2 GTS 64MB and a Sony model. Somehow the card had a specific time to initialize and if the monitor didn't respond in that time, you get nothing but a black screen...no beeps, no nothing, just the fans spinning as if everything is peachy.

If you can, try a diff monitor on the rig....don't laugh! It really happened.

First off, there was no OCing on this comp. I don't have the time or inclination anymore to mess with such relatively trivial shit.

This same setup (both vid cards + monitors) worked fine before AND there is 0 HDD activity barring them pulling out of park.

I jacked the known good GF2MX out of the computer I'm typing on and threw it in place of the GF4, nada.

The only "new hardware" added AFTER the computers death was the RMA'd stick of Corsair RAM that burnt out in the first mobo (Abit AT7-E.) I believe that was the reason the comp froze in D3 and crapped out. After that ionno.

Like I said I have rebuilt the computer from the ground up TWICE (ie. I removed all parts from the case and all parts from the motherboard, to no avail.) But it is entirely possible that something is grounding...

Blackreno: If the non-conductive surface thing doesn't work I'll be heading that direction (swapping one potentially bad part at a time into the known good machine.)

I appreciate all the help guys!

 

[waddles]

Like I said I have rebuilt the computer from the ground up TWICE (ie. I removed all parts from the case and all parts from the motherboard, to no avail.) But it is entirely possible that something is grounding...

I would bet the farm that something is shorting out within the case. This happened to me once... I kept switching components and could not for the life of me figure out what was going on, I finally took it into Fry's (had been buying all my components there) and they couldn't figure it out either. They were busy so after twenty minutes or so they gave me a screwdriver and a place on their workbench and I took it apart, and saw there was an extra mobo standoff right under the BIOS. Took that out, and it worked like a charm. Boy, did I feel like a schmuck.

 

[ScYcS]

First off, there was no OCing on this comp. I don't have the time or inclination anymore to mess with such relatively trivial shit.

Nobody even mentioned overclocking.....

 

[Mo0]

Nobody even mentioned overclocking.....

What are the system specs?

Were you doing any OCing before it asploded?

Are you sure that you have the RAM in the proper configuration? I have seen a PC do exactly what you described (boot with no video) because of the RAM being in the wrong configuration.

I just threw it all into one post for my laziness.

Only one stick of RAM (brand new Corsair) on the board

I have the whole thing apart on the kitchen table and I am STILL having 0 success in getting it to boot.

Also, the system speaker isn't making any noise when I pull out the memory, it just beeps once if I remove the video card. I think I'm going to swap back to my NF7-S2 from this ASUS, because I'm not sure what it (ASUS) is supposed to do and not supposed to do.

Any other suggestions besides plugging these potentially bad parts into my working comp one by one? My time is at a premium right now and I would like to exhaust all other options before going that rather time consuming/computer disabling route.

 

[Absentee]

is it beeping? ie post beeps?
If you don't have a PC speaker (the little round speaker with the 4 pin header that plugs into a 4pin header on the motherboard usually located near the power switch and reset button headers, then please get one. If it is beeping, then I'd try a different monitor and see if that works. If your monitor is an LCD then try to find a CRT to test with as I have encoutered some LCD monitors that for whatever reason do not display the resolution when the computer is in the BIOS.
If you have a pc speaker already plugged in there and are getting no beeps, then you might try pulling everything out of the case. Set it up on something non-conductive (ie wood but not antistatic bags) and plug the bare necessities for a post in (cpu ram mobo psu HD floppy) and power it up. If you are using rounded IDE cables, get the flat ribbon cables instead. When you do this make sure you plug in a pc speaker (same 4 pin speaker I talked about earlier) so you can hear the beeps if there are any. If you get no beeps, try removing something essential (RAM or Video card or even processor). In fact reseating your processor may yeild some result. One more idea, if nothing else works for anything, would be to unplug everything from your motherboard (PSU HD all external cables), and put the jumper on clear CMOS for an hour or so. Then put it back to normal plug it all in and see if anything changes (usually this was used for Nforce2 boards when bad overclocks occurred cause of a bug in the chipset that prevented normal clears from clearing the overclock settings properly).

Ok I've pretty much exhausted all the possibilities I can think of at the moment. Good luck

QFT

and i think you just saved my day with that advice
this:

SNIP...put the jumper on clear CMOS for an hour or so. Then put it back to normal plug it all in and see if anything changes (usually this was used for Nforce2 boards when bad overclocks occurred cause of a bug in the chipset that prevented normal clears from clearing the overclock settings properly).

my OC just went bad and it won't boot....ill try that

 

[Elledan]

Only one stick of RAM (brand new Corsair) on the board

I have the whole thing apart on the kitchen table and I am STILL having 0 success in getting it to boot.

Also, the system speaker isn't making any noise when I pull out the memory, it just beeps once if I remove the video card. I think I'm going to swap back to my NF7-S2 from this ASUS, because I'm not sure what it (ASUS) is supposed to do and not supposed to do.

If you've only got the CPU installed, does it beep at all?

A single beep without the videocard doesn't sound like a real beep code. At least it should repeat.

Any other suggestions besides plugging these potentially bad parts into my working comp one by one? My time is at a premium right now and I would like to exhaust all other options before going that rather time consuming/computer disabling route.

Reading about the parts you've already swapped, I'm getting the feeling that you might have to do with a 'killer component', i.e., a component which, just by being installed in the system kills other components. The heavy artifacting when it crashed seems to suggest this as well. Which components haven't you replaced in this system?

BTW, just to get the point across: if this a killer component you're dealing with, then inserting it into a working system will probably kill it (the system, not the KC).

 

[Mo0]

If you've only got the CPU installed, does it beep at all?

A single beep without the videocard doesn't sound like a real beep code. At least it should repeat.


Reading about the parts you've already swapped, I'm getting the feeling that you might have to do with a 'killer component', i.e., a component which, just by being installed in the system kills other components. The heavy artifacting when it crashed seems to suggest this as well. Which components haven't you replaced in this system?

BTW, just to get the point across: if this a killer component you're dealing with, then inserting it into a working system will probably kill it (the system, not the KC).

I found it. After swapping all my shit back into the Abit, turns out my Visiontek GF4 died.

So that means my stick of RAM fried, which shorted out my motherboard while my videocard died. Doom3 owned my comp with a triple failure.