No video output

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bliss

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The symptom is that there is no video output from the PC. There are no beeps when the power is turned on.

Tried on 2 different monitors.
I've tried the onboard video card and the PCI video card.

I have tested the PSU with a multimeter.

I reset the CMOS by removing power and the battery (there is no jumper I can see). I figured since I had my multimeter already out, I'd test the battery: 0.5v. Hmm. Anyway, it should still boot, but it might have issues with the BIOS clearing out.

I put the battery back in after waiting about 15 minutes and it booted! Well, sort of. It started to load Windows and then the screen went dark again - no signal, and stayed there.

I'm thinking motherboard. Anyone think otherwise?



EDIT: I was playing around with it some more and this time when it finally booted, I got into BIOS. I was checking settings and such, and it rebooted! It's a symptom of overheating but being in BIOS doesn't cause much heat at all. Very strange.
 
Can you post the temps?

Is your heat sync properly seated and working?
What volts are you running?
 
Cannot post temps as I do not have a probe. I'm ruling out heat as the cause due to the fact that I can leave it turned off for an hour, and it doesn't turn on at all. It turning on is somewhat random, but unplugging the power and removing the CMOS battery seem to have an effect.

I removed the heat sink to check the socket type and found it to be secure and with a proper amount of grease which was still wet. The fan is operational.

The volts should be default - my client doesn't seem like the kind of person who even knows what overclocking is. (He initially called me because he thought his problem was a virus.) If you're talking about the PSU voltage, the pins checked out to be within 0.5v of what they were supposed to be. I also verified that each ground was operational.
 
You can access your temps in the BIOS.

Do you have another PSU you can swap out in the computer? Just a gut feeling, but it sounds a lot more like a PSU flaking out than the mobo. Unless there is a micro-fault in an embedded circuit that doesn't cut out until it heats up (extremely doubtful) it just doesn't fit to me. I could be wrong, of course, but it would be a lot easier to test with another PSU than another mobo to rule it out.
 
Yeah I know that most BIOS let you view temps, but it's not easy getting there!

The PSU was my initial thought too, but I tested each pin and found them to be okay. Though that hardly puts any stress on it, so maybe when it's under a load it craps out? I dunno. I'll try swapping out the PSU tomorrow - stores are closed now.
 
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