Need help diagnosing "power" problem

O

OBSESSION

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
78
About 7-10 days ago, I started experiencing random lock-ups and the occasional BSOD. I shrugged it off as Windows acting wonky, as it sometimes does and clears itself up after the next round of updates.

Yesterday, the hard lock-ups got much worse. On a reboot attempt, I had power to the case and fans, but no signal to the monitor. I don't think the HD spun up either. On every boot-up attempt since then, I get full power and spin-up for about 8 seconds, then nothing. The entire rig shuts down. No output reaches the monitor, and I can't enter the BIOS.

I figured the PSU was shot, and replaced it with a brand new one. Same exact power-up then shut down problem. At this point I'm frustrated and stumped, not sure what direction to take next. And I was about 1 month away from a full upgrade anyway...

System specs (built myself 2.5 years ago.)

MSI K8N Neo Platinum Mobo
Antec True430 PSU (replaced by BFG 650w in attempt to solve problem)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle CPU
BFG 6800 GT AGP Vid Card
Corsair XMS 1GB (2x 512) DDR 400/PC 3200 Memory
WD Raptor WD360GD SATA HD
Creative X-Fi w/front panel
Antec P160 Case
Misc: CD, DVD, Floppy/Card Reader, Fans, etc.
 
since it's not the power supply, that leaves ram, cpu, and motherboard. My guess is the ram. Try booting up with just one stick, and then the other.

also, just as a no brainier, check to make sure all of your cards, ram, cpu, heat sink, power cables are seated properly too...
 
Okay, tried pulling one, then the other stick. Same problem. Before my original post (and while installing the replacement PSU), I checked if things were plugged or seated correctly.

So... unless both sticks are toast, it would seem I'm looking at a mobo or cpu issue. Lovely.
 
unplug everything but mobo, cpu, psu, ram and video card.. and see if it locks up or even displays bios.. it might be video card (dead fan?) and might be wise to run memtest 86..
 
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