No post, no video!

S

skyline889

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
1,368
Well I just got back from college, I start my pc and whaddaya know, it won't post. The first time I started it up it posted but showed a Windows error message. After I restarted, it wouldn't post at all, no video, no nothing. The computer "turns on", the fans all run and stuff, but nothing will show up on my monitor.

I've tried resetting the cmos, installing a different graphics card, removing all but one dimm of ram, unplugging my SATA drives; nothing has worked. Dead motherboard? Also one more thing, when my video card's power cable is unplugged, there's usually an alarm that goes off, now when there's no power connected, there's no alarm no matter what video card I plug in. Do you guys think it's a dead psu or motherboard? I'm not sure what else could be wrong here. :( Please help!
 
This may sound silly, but I just went through this same thing. I ended up having ram that died after 6 months...

Some ways to check if it is your memory:
1. Boot with no memory and see what post code beep error you get.

2. Boot with no video card installed, but have memory installed. (Physically remove the card from the board)

If you don't get a post beep error code with setup #2, it means that the bios is getting hung up some where in memory. Thus bad ram.
 
Hmm, I don't have a case speaker installed, I'll try installing the ram in another computer though. I really hope it's not dead, I've already RMA'd one set of this ram once. Thanks for the advice!
 
If you are hearing an alarm go off with the power cable to the vid card off, then you have a case speaker. Or how do you hear this alarm?
 
I'm not really sure actually. I know I didn't ever install the case speaker though since it's still in the bag of parts for my Rocketfish. I thought it was from the card itself but maybe the mobo makes noise?
 
It might, some mobos have a speaker/buzzer loading place, but most of the time they are not loaded.
 
I've heard some graphic cards have speakers on them that will go off when the card is ran at 1x speeds (no 6-8 pin plugged in). It might limited to certain brands, I haven't really looked at the pcb's in a while.
 
I tried testing the ram in another computer and all 4 dimms are ok. I also tried another psu and got the same results so the only thing I could think of is that either the motherboard or the processor is dead. Do you guys know what the symptoms for either would be?
 
If you pull out the RAM and vidcard and try to POST, but hear no error beeps, its either the board, CPU, or PSU. You can test the PSU w/ a paperclip trick (instructions in the troubleshooting guide sticky). I'd also re-seat the CPU. Make sure you have a case speaker plugged in, since your there is no onboard buzzer.
 
It is possible to damage components on a motherboard and have it not post, or rarely run with missing features. If you're using a large cpu heatsink it could have damaged the motherboard while transporting it.
 
The board will power on with no CPU, you just wont POST. POST checks the CPU, Vidcard, then the RAM, typically in that order (sometimes it'll check the ram before the vidcard). If any of those have issues, the system won't POST... but if the board is ok, and the PSU is fine, then it will certainly power on.
 
-PK- said:
It is possible to damage components on a motherboard and have it not post, or rarely run with missing features. If you're using a large cpu heatsink it could have damaged the motherboard while transporting it.
Click to expand...
The pc has been sitting at home, unplugged for the last two months so I'm not really sure how it broke.

The board powers on, but there's no post. I can install the case speaker and try and put everything back together and see if it works.
 
Thanks for all the help guys, I got the computer back up and running. I completely reassembled the pc and it's working ok now. I traced it down to the sound card and finally realized that some wire was shorting on the card. I moved the front panel wires around and now everything is working ok!
 
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