Computer suddenly won't POST

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Andyf

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Hi, I booted up my PC this morning (see sig) and it didn't seem to POST. Nothing shows up on the monitor (checked all connections) and no beeps from the motherboard (I fitted a buzzer, but if I'm honest, I don't even know if it works still! I think it beeps on boot usually but wouldn't have noticed if it stopped one day).

All the fans spin up and then it just sits there. All power lights are good. The reset button just makes the HD light blip a few times.

I reset the CMOS (for lack of anything else to do) but to be honest, its been so long since it I touched anything, I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

What are the obvious things I need to check for a start?

As I say, I haven't touched anything for over a year (I can only assume the settings in my sig are correct!), and everything has worked fine, except the HD getting to that 'its decrepit, I really should change it' stage.

Thanks for any help!
 
So you're back to stock.... I'd pull 1 stick try, then switch sticks and try... also diffrent slots.
Pull your hd too, but you should've atleast got the bios splash.

You have a Digital Multimeter? As it could easily be a blown psu... even with it being a quality one. Check the 12Vs to ensure its up to snuff.
 
Well I got around to having a go this evening. It doesn't look good:

1) The PSU seems to check out, the MOBO plug is reading the right voltages on each pin. Same with an arbitrary PCIe plug.

2) I did the obvious: disconnect all SATA and IDE inputs, pull all the plugs from the back. no change.

3) I tried each of the two RAM sticks separately in each of the 2 slots. no change.

I'm guessing, therefore, its either MOBO or CPU.. is that a reasonable assumption?

At the moment a bit loathe to take the mobo out so I can do anything else (the HSF has a backing plate)... Any suggestions as to what to try next? If it is one of those two, what can I do about it anyway? How will I know which is at fault?


I wish I knew for sure if that **** buzzer works. No stuff on screen, but that doesn't rule out GPU failure.. the only test I seem to have is that the power and reset buttons dont work.
 
Pull the video card out and try it. With no video card installed it should beep if it's getting that far into its pre-test.
 
nah, I'm afraid taking the GPU out doesn't seem to make any difference...

Perhaps its worth getting hold of a cheap LGA775 CPU to see if its the MOBO or CPU...

Its it worth re-seating the CPU anyway before hand?
 
If it was working I doubt if it's bad, the cpu that is. I've tortured tested a bunch of cpu's and I haven't had one die since the early AthlonXP days. I'd bet $100 it's the mobo.

It wouldn't hurt to try re-seating it. Blow the socket out with compressed air and use new thermal paste.
 
I'll do that when I get around to it...

I believe ASUS offer 3 year warranties on MOBOs... not sure if overclocking has done anything to the warranty... MOBOs are designed to overclock.

Do I not need to know for sure its the MOBO before looking into getting a replacement through warranty?

If not, what are my options? I'm about a 2 years out of the loop, and can't even find a P35 board- would I upgrade to P45? I'd just be plugging all the old components back in... I really don't need to be upgrading to the new socket.
 
You reset the bios so I wouldn't mention anything about overclocking. Just tell them you've replaced all the parts including the cpu and video card. If they have a replacement or a different model of equal value or more they'll probably just ship you a new one. If not they may repair your board or tell you it works as is or if they find signs that you've physically damaged it (cracks, scratches, bend pins, etc...) they may say you've voided your warranty.

A P45 mobo will work, just make sure it's a DDR2 board your you'll have to replace the memory 2.
 
Thanks very much for the help. I think I'll throw asus an email about RMA. As you say, I reset the CMOS, but is there anything else I should worry about that might make them classify it as CID?

Just a little worried if its the CPU.. are CPU faliures rare then, vs MOBO faliures?


If warranty doesn't work, it'd be a big step to spend £100 on a new MOBO to find that something else was the problem. How do I know that a different problem didn't break the MOBO (and would therefore break my new one?)

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Ahh so an update... found something odd:

I took the mobo out completely to bench test it.

Now, when I tried it without any RAM at all, I got the 'no RAM found' beep pattern. As opposed to with any combination of RAM, where the thing just hangs. Perhaps the GPU is bust as well? The really annoying thing is, I have a cheap GPU SOMEWHERE for just this reason. Just I can't find it! ARG!

Anyway, does this RAM thingy shed any light on the matter to anyone? :)

In the meantime, the HSF has come off, I was going to reseat the CPU and rebond the fan on, but I couldn't be bothered to clean the surfaces and find some more MX2. Tomorrow perhaps...
 
Set it all up outside of the case on a large piece of cardboard so you know the mobo isn't shorting out on something and see if it works.
 
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