Mobo, CPU, or PSU?

[LancerZero]

My family comp has developed a new and interesting set of problems. It started a few weeks ago, when (or so we're told) a surge went through our unprotected cable modem, through the router, and into the computer, through the ethernet card, and finally shorting the motherboard. Okay, so we bought a new mobo. Put it in, made sure that all of the jumper settings were exactly the same, and . . . nothing different.

eMachines T2482

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
3.5" floppy
Integrated video
PCI Ethernet card
80GB HDD

I took out the HDD and plugged it into my computer with no problems. The data's there, and it's not corrupted or anything. Tried putting an old AMD Duron 750 processor - also a socket A processor - in there. Same result. Processor fan spins up, PSU fan spins up, it makes all the sounds that accompany a normal start up - DVD drive and CD drive light up, HDD gets some activity, all the usual sounds - but NOTHING on the monitor. Its light keeps blinking green, like it's plugged in but is getting no signal. I lean close, and can hear the HDD still spinning, ready to go, and the fans are still going, but other than that there's nothing.

What's up with this machine? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gaara]

By "makes all the sounds that accompany a normal start up" do you mean that there is a single short beep during start-up...if this is the case it would lead one to believe there is nothing wrong with your hardware components as the POST has passed successfully

Check your VGA connection to make sure it isn't loose and make sure none of the pins are bent or broken...it would be nice if you had a second monitor to test

 

[905it]

Try putting in a test video card. A good choice would be some old ATI Rage II PCI card. Failing that, test with another monitor.

Also, make sure that your PC Speaker cable is connected properly to the motherboard or that your motherboard has a PC Speaker built-in.

Most motherboards present error codes via PC Speaker in the form of short and long beeps. However, because this is an eMachine, you can never really know for sure.

 

[LancerZero]

There's no post - no beep. But that comp has never beeped; I'm pretty certain it either has no system speaker, or it was improperly connected when shipped to the store over a year ago.

Alright, we tried a new 350 watt Antec PSU - same result, nothing new.

No pins are bent or broken, and the monitor is plugged in securely.

It's an onboard video card - if it's fried, wouldn't that mean the motherboard is fried? The only AGP video card we have is the one that's in my computer right now. Is there a chance that plugging in my AGP card into that mobo - if it's faulty - could mess my card up, too?

I read somewhere that bad RAM can cause a no-post. Is it possible that the RAM was somehow messed up in the surge?

If it was a bad PSU (it was bottom of the line, anyway - a crappy factory-installed 250-watt ATX wannabe junker), and it fried the motherboard . . . is there any way to figure out if that's what caused the problem, short of getting yet another new motherboard?

 

[Nitestick]

no it doesn't mean the motherboard is fried. it must POST if you get hdd activity. it sounds like a gfx problem

 

[LancerZero]

Uh . . . the graphics is onboard, built into the motherboard.

 

[Apokalipse]

it could be your RAM or CPU. first test that things were put in correctly, even if they lok like they have been