Odd Problem

[Andrew87]

My friend owned a DFI Infinity NFII Ultra and left his computer on but when he came back to it the monitor was blank. He couldn't do anything so was forced to turn it off from the powersupply, however from this moment the board never posted again.

I tried diagnosing all the problems, swapping out components, trying an alternative AGP card and PSU although the system would still not post. We could also only get beeps from the motherboard when all components were fitted but the RAM wasn't. I tried resetting the CMOS and moving the board out of the case onto antistatic material to check it wasn't shorting and it still would not post.

I assumed the motherboard had died so my friend ordered an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe although we are having problems still! No matter what happens there are never any beeps, perhaps the case speaker has broken? Although the Asus Post Reporter does correctly identify if the CPU/VGA/RAM/FDD/HDD's are not connected.

Everything appears to work as it should upon powering up. All the fans spin, the CD-ROM drives get power and the keyboard LEDs briefly blink on and then off. However, there is no output to the monitor, floppy disks do not get recognised and the system will not boot. Apart from the initial blink of the keyboards LEDs, pressing Num Lock, Scroll Lock etc does not result in the LEDs lighting up.

Upon playing about with the components I discovered if I remove the AGP card (Radeon 9800 Pro) the system will try to post (no beep still) and the Post Reporter states VGA card missing. When this is the scenario, the Floppy Disk drive is accessible (blinking LED) and the harddrive also appears to attempt to boot to the operating system. The Num Lock, Scroll Lock and Caps Lock buttons on the keyboard also result in the LEDs lighting up.

I've tried the usual, resetting CMOS, resitting heatsink etc but still no luck. This problem is very peculiar especially as the board appears to work when there is no card in the AGP slot.

I think the problem could ber another dead motherboard (dead on arrival). However, after discovering the AGP oddity above I think it's possible either the graphics card is faulty or possibly the PSU (why else would the keyboard/floppy not work correctly when an AGP card is present)?

Would a BIOS flash help? Can I flash the BIOS with no VGA card attached, as this is the only way to make the Floppy Drive accessible.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Sandman]

This reminds me why I keep a cheapo ($5) PCI video card around. If you can afford it, go get one and try it out.

It sounds like your video card to me, maybe it was zapped by a power surge. Try it in another computer if you can. Take a look at it (and the other parts) for obvious damage, like leaking or loose caps, burned areas, etc. It's also possible that it's the AGP connector on the motherboard, but without a different card (that may be killed by testing the slot!) you can't tell. Good luck.

 

[Andrew87]

Thanks for the reply, I'll try an old TNT2 in the new motherboard when my friend comes over today. Anyone have any other ideas?