dead cpu/motherbord ?

Diarmuid

well,
I got back from a trip abroad (3months) and when I switched on my PC I got a bit of a surprise. The PSU works, lights up the leds, lights up the CDRW and HD and all the fans but nothing else. The PS won't boot and no signal is going to the monitor, It's not even getting to the bios stage. The lights just stay on an nothing else. Looks like a dead motherboard to me.

If the CPU was dead would the same thing happen?

As it happens I have ordered a new Athlon so if the CPU is dead then I could just pop that in a work away. But if the motherboard is dead I am abit apprehensive about popping in the new Athlon.

As for a new motherboard, I need something with SDRAM (PC133) socket A. I had a look at Komplett and this looks like a canditate:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=37733&t=845&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=10&GrpID=5&s=pl

BTW The computer was switched off and plugged out for the period I was away. If the CMOS battery was dead would this still happen?

Diarmuid

Col_Loki

I think its unlightly its the CMOS battery, have had a good few Pc's over the years & never once had to change a battery. That doesent say its not the problem.

Does the computer Beep once (recognising the Ram) at start up?

There is a jumper that can be used to reset the BIOS, mite be an option?

If you are getting a new Mobo, would you not think of getting even 256Mb DDR ram? Its soo cheap at the min? The Abit KD7 Is a good board if your willing to add a few more bucks (doesent support Sdram).

Diarmuid

well I have 760Megs of SDRAM so I dont fancy throwing that away just cause my motherboard has packed it in. What sort of percent difference does the DDR make ? less than 10% ?

I will reset the CMOS and the computer does beep but nothing after that I'm not very optimistic about getting it working

BKtje

disconnect everything from the pc except for gfx card, cpu, and a single piece of RAM. (Just to rule out something else causing a conflict/error )

XDA

If B-K-DzR's suggestion doesn't work, then I would suggest carefully (earth yourself if possible) removing and re-seating all the pci cards, graphics card, memory sticks etc. A dodgy connection on any of those could also cause this sort of problem.

You also said that your computer beeps now when you turn it on. Is there a pattern to the beeps ?? If there is then this is an error code which can be checked on your mo-bo manufacturers web site and might indicate the cause.

Regards

XDA

Yrthilian

ok this sound like the problem i had a few years ago with an old system i had.

all the components were replaced and the system still didnt work there was only one peace of the system not replaced and the was the power unit. It provided powers to all the systems but didnt get to the bios and would not boot i gots me a new system out of it but i later discovered when playing around wif the system the the psu was not working properly as i tried it in another system and had the same issue

well basicaly what i am saying is you might want to see if you can get alone of a psu and see if that might be the issue

Yrth

tribble

More than 50% of all PC's that I fix are in here because of power problems - The CMOS battery today caused a Motherboard (gigabyte 6WMM7) not to boot at all, unless I replugged in the ATX header. It took me 3 hours to realise tht the battery was outputing .68V instead of 3V. Changed it and alls OK. Mind you I've never seena CMOS battery have that effect.

Bottom Line - Change the CMOS battery, and then the PSU - in that order.

tribble

kmb

Hi ,I have had this problem before exactly with a friends computer and it was the cpu at fault.I also tried everything inc cmos,psu,cooler etc and by trial and error it turned out to be the cpu..so my advice is to try a different cpu and also make sure that the cpu fan is working properly and is rated correctly with your cpu ....

Diarmuid

well the problem was the PSU. Fortunatly it was the first thing I tried and it worked !! Thing is the original PSU was quite new (a few months) so a bit of advice. Dont buy the cheap PSUs from Dawn Computers.

The PSU was working but must not have been supplying a clean supply to the mb.

Thanks for all the replies

GRAHAM2002

May sound silly but have u checked to make sure that the processor is seated properly?:D

Typedef

Remove all ram, gfx cards and pci cards etc from mobo and switch on machine, if it doesn't whinge about lack of ram,gfx etc
try removing CPU and if it still doesn't complain (via beeps) then you have a fried mobo, else try adding your ram, gfx and or cpu in different permutations to find the failing component.

Then replace that component.

<Payment via women for amourous pleasure if you please>

Capt'n Midnight

You disconnected everything from the mother board, except CPU and power connectors. (and left a power connector on a HDD to give the PSU a live load)

If the MB & CPU have any life left you should hear POST code Error beeps. (check all jumpers and re-seat any chips - maybe drop the MB speed if you can)

Then add ram + video etc...