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Time for another round of "OH SHIT! WHAT'S BROKEN?"

-SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
edited June 2008 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
Well my PC seems to have deaded itself. When I power it up I get fans going, LEDs etc. But nothing to the monitor and no beeps or anything. I checked the monitor on another computer (the one I'm posting from) and it seems fine so there's something very wrong with my machine it seems.

I'm thinking the motherboard (asus a8n-e) has kicked the bucket for some reason. I'm not getting any boot up or anything so that eliminates a lot of potential broken bits, and the lack of beeps seems suspicious. Although I was wondering if it could be something going on with the PSU, but then the LED on the mobo wouldn't be lighting up would it?

Anyway, I was wondering if you guys had any other ideas or if you think I'm correct in my diagnosis. I guess if it IS the mobo it's not too bad because it would have to be replaced when I upgrade anyway since it was getting old and 939 pin etc, etc.

-SPI- on

Posts

  • elgatoelgato Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Hmm, I think you can google No Beeps and your motherboard name to see exactly what it means.

    elgato on
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  • El GuacoEl Guaco Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    It's a good guess, but I would also check the RAM. Try removing each stick one at a time to see if you at least get the BIOS Post screen, or borrow a compatible stick from another machine to rule that out completely. If you still don't get anything at all, it probably is the motherboard.

    The only other thing to verify in this case is the power supply. If you have a multimeter, carefully verify that you're actually getting the correct voltage off each rail. Not enough power can cause your system to fail to boot properly.

    El Guaco on
  • IdolisideIdoliside Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Could be video card. The computer might be starting up and you just not realising cos you can't see anything. Try that before ripping the motherboard out.

    Idoliside on
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  • acidlacedpenguinacidlacedpenguin Institutionalized Safe in jail.Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    I'm almost 100% certain its the ram, though again it could be the mobo or the videocard.

    exact same thing just happened to my gaming machine, new ram fixed the problem.

    acidlacedpenguin on
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  • Bill NyeBill Nye Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Yeah, to agree, I think some of your ram had poo'd itself.

    Bill Nye on
  • TransparentTransparent Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Someone posted a good flowchart for this situation in another thread, I'm too lazy to go find it.

    Transparent on
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  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Before you go testing parts, please try the following:

    1: Turn off the machine, unplug it, and switch off the PSU power.
    2: Hold down the power button for about 20 seconds.
    3: Plug it back in and try again.

    I've seen this maybe a dozen times, and this almost always fixes it. (including with my old A7N-E)

    MrMonroe on
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  • El GuacoEl Guaco Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    MrMonroe wrote: »
    Before you go testing parts, please try the following:

    1: Turn off the machine, unplug it, and switch off the PSU power.
    2: Hold down the power button for about 20 seconds.
    3: Plug it back in and try again.

    I've seen this maybe a dozen times, and this almost always fixes it. (including with my old A7N-E)

    I've never heard of this before. How does holding the power button on a machine with no power do anything useful?

    El Guaco on
  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    This is sometimes caused by a circuit that's holding a charge for no reason, which often happens when you have to do a hard restart at some point. Usually you see it with onboard video cards more than anything else, though it just happened to my work comp this morning, and it runs a Radeon 7000 so I can have two monitors. Holding down the power button with no power can sort of shake it loose; telling the whole comp to start running while it has no power will (hopefully) cause any charge to dissipate.

    This might, of course, not be the problem at all, but it's an easy test and fix if it is, and this sounds exactly symptomatic.

    MrMonroe on
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  • ASimPersonASimPerson Cold... ... and hard.Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Also, try re-seating your video card and RAM (provided that hasn't been suggested yet).

    ASimPerson on
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  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Hmm, well I removed all the RAM and powered it up. No beeps or any change at all.

    Also reseated the ram and video card, no change either.

    -SPI- on
  • IdolisideIdoliside Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    -SPI- wrote: »
    Hmm, well I removed all the RAM and powered it up. No beeps or any change at all.

    Also reseated the ram and video card, no change either.

    Try borrowing another video card and putting that in. Then we can at least rule out the video card.
    Have you tried swapping your ram sticks around at all?

    Idoliside on
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  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    If he didn't get a beep when he tried to boot with no ram its probably pretty safe to assume the problem is something with either the motherboard or PSU, assuming his case speaker is hooked up correctly. There's a small chance it could be something else, but your best bet is probably to start troubleshooting at the PSU.

    taliosfalcon on
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  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Did you try my suggestion ^^?

    MrMonroe on
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  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Yeah, no effect sadly. I'm starting to accept the fact that my trusty machine has breathed it's last, it probably took it's own life when I began looking at potential upgrade paths :P

    -SPI- on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Do you have an extra PSU layin around?

    It's probably either the PSU, CPU or mobo. Of these three PSU's are most likely to die without warning.

    Most motherboards will give you warning beeps for no video card or no RAM.

    nexuscrawler on
  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    I don't have any spare PSU's lying about but I might go out and buy a PSU tester to check it out with (or even a new PSU). It would be worthwhile to check out since a dodgy PSU would be easily fixed.

    -SPI- on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    i had this problem with the new comp I just built. PSU was dead on arrival no beeps on powerup just like you. I dug up an old one that wasn't even strong enough to power the computer fully and got the beeps.

    nexuscrawler on
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited June 2008
    This content has been removed.

  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    nexuscrawler wrote: »
    i had this problem with the new comp I just built. PSU was dead on arrival no beeps on powerup just like you. I dug up an old one that wasn't even strong enough to power the computer fully and got the beeps.

    I'm banking on this or a completely dead motherboard.

    tsmvengy on
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  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    -SPI- wrote: »
    Yeah, no effect sadly. I'm starting to accept the fact that my trusty machine has breathed it's last, it probably took it's own life when I began looking at potential upgrade paths :P

    Dude, never browse for upgrades on the computer you're going to replace. That's like taking your wife to help interview secretaries.

    Tofystedeth on
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  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Well I got a new PSU and swapped it over, no change. So that's the end for me. Time for a whole new machine.

    -SPI- on
  • IdolisideIdoliside Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Tofystedeth wrote: »
    -SPI- wrote: »
    Yeah, no effect sadly. I'm starting to accept the fact that my trusty machine has breathed it's last, it probably took it's own life when I began looking at potential upgrade paths :P

    Dude, never browse for upgrades on the computer you're going to replace. That's like taking your wife to help interview secretaries.

    I lol'd. So true.

    Idoliside on
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