No video, no keyboard, no post beeps, exhausted my knowledge

Kamar

So, I'm going to be as thorough as I can here and hope someone can help me figure out a fix or what's broken.

First, background. My computer has been iffy about booting for a while now...it loves to take about a dozen tries to get started. I think it has trouble detecting my main HD for some reason? But I don't think this has anything to do with this particular issue, unless it's indicative of a mobo problem.

So, I got a new stick of ram today as a birthday present. Exact match to my existing stick, a 8gb Gskill stick. Shut down, pop it in, boot up ready for the song and dance. Get a 'memory changed, do setup or accept defaults' prompt, choose to enter setup. While I'm in there, I decide hey, let's turn on MSI fast boot, that sounds handy. Restart.

No video. No keyboard. Mouse has its led light going but eh. Fans going, stuff moving and chuffing and clicking, though. Restart. restart restart restart.
Okay.
Shuffle SATA cables, that helps sometimes!
No change. Hm.
Play with every conceivable combination and single and slot choice for RAM.
Nada. Getting worried now.
CMOS reset with jumper thingie.
Nothing. Okay, pop out the video card and pop the battery, then jumper again, put it back in.
STILL no video, no keyboard. I thus have no clue if it's POSTing and getting hung up by my normal boot bullshit or if something different is afoot.
Pop out both sticks of RAM and boot it. BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP. Okay, getting post error codes. Ram back in, boots completely silent.
No video, no keyboard.
Unplug everything, take out everything, dust everything, and plug in just one HD. Nothing. Try another HD. Nothing. Another HD, no HD, all the same result. Pull everything and check the CPU, looks fine, put it all back in.

When I power it back up, I notice the ethernet port light flickers for a split of a split second in the back, not sure if that should be steady or not.
Mouse has enough power for LED, but nothign else plugged in seems to be getting any signal or power.

I'm thinking something has gone awry with my motherboard or PSU, but I'm not sure which and I'm super broke so replacing either or both means borrowing money which I'd rather not do.

Any thoughts?

edit: Found another video card to try, tried with DVI and VGA, none of it did anything different.
Also worth noting that it keeps running indefinitely--or at least, it keeps the fans spinning and occassionally sounds. If I had to guess, I'd maybe guess it's booting to an error message or prompt that I can't interact with as I can't see it and have no input.

Ark Evensong

Just to make sure, you've tried running with just one RAM stick? (old one, if you can still tell the difference.) Also after the CMOS reset?

I'd suspect the new RAM as DOA, but that's about where my troubleshooting skills end. Good luck!

Kamar

Yup, tried it with just the old stick in each slot. And just the new stick, also in each slot.

Kamar

Found another video card to try, tried with DVI and VGA, none of it did anything different.

Also worth noting that it keeps running indefinitely--or at least, it keeps the fans spinning and occasionally makes basic computer whirring clicking sounds. If I had to guess, I'd maybe guess it's booting to an error message or prompt that I can't interact with as I can't see it and have no input.

dispatch.o

Unplug the power supply and give it 10 minutes. While you're giving it the 10 minutes disconnect the power from everything except the motherboard. Not even worried about video output so take the card out, just looking for some beeps.

If you get beeps. Add things back one by one. Your power supply may be going, which can explain boot up wonkiness.


Edit: unplug all your USB devices as well.

Zilla360

Did you try taking the CMOS battery (ideally for a few hours with the Mobo unplugged) out as well as using the reset jumper?

mRahmani

Seems like you've tested almost everything else, power supply would be my number 1 suspect right now. See if you can scavenge/borrow a known good one to test against.

Kamar

No beeps with just one stick of ram and nothing else plugged in. The three long beeps for no memory if I boot it with no sticks. I did reset CMOS with the battery out, though for more like 10 minutes than multiple hours.

No extra power supplies around or I'd definitely have tried that by this stage.

Guess it's looking like 'buy a new mobo and PSU' if I want it up and running sooner than later?

Skeith

I'd try a PSU first just because they're less of a hassle to deal with.

Kamar

A few threads on Tom's Hardware with near identical symptoms (no video, spins up, beeps when ram is missing but is silent otherwise, etc) all ended up being the motherboard, so I'm thinking that's my problem.

I guess I'll pull the whole thing out and make sure nothing hinky is shorting it before I buy a new one.

Kamar

No difference with it all cleaned up and fired up sitting outside of the case. Guess I need a new motherboard.

Veevee

Might as well upgrade the cpu while you're at it. Probably should get a better power supply, too. Better safe than sorry.

And look at that, whoever got you that stick of RAM really got you a new computer. I hope you said thank you.

Noizlanif

Might as well get some new ram too, and a case, and a GTX 1080. A new mouse and keyboard might help. I think a 27 inch ultra wide 144hz monitor might also be needed.

Riboflavin

Zilla360 wrote: »

Did you try taking the CMOS battery (ideally for a few hours with the Mobo unplugged) out as well as using the reset jumper?

This. Try this before ordering a MB. Take out the battery and disconnect all power. It will reset any saved options in the bios.

Armoroc

Riboflavin wrote: »

Zilla360 wrote: »

Did you try taking the CMOS battery (ideally for a few hours with the Mobo unplugged) out as well as using the reset jumper?

This. Try this before ordering a MB. Take out the battery and disconnect all power. It will reset any saved options in the bios.

I'm having the same exact problem. Exact! I just removed the CMOS battery and I guess I'll wait for a few hours.