My rig was purring like a kitten for the longest time. One night, I boot it up, things are going well, I log in to my guild's Mumble server and BOOM... the whole system shuts off. Initially, I would turn the system back on, it would POST, both screens would come on for about 5-10 seconds, then the screens would shut off, but the machine would continue to load the OS. Drunkenly frustrated, I decided to just turn the computer off and deal with it later so as to avoid causing damage to the machine (I completely ruined a CPU once by trying to fix a PC once while drunk).
Later came and the same thing would happen. So I began unplugging everything and only had the mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, and graphics card installed. Now it won't even POST. I've removed all but 1 stick of RAM (doesn't matter which stick) and the same thing. I've cleared CMOS, yet nada. The fans start up and the lights look all pretty, but the monitor just says it's going into standby and no POST.
So with those three crucial parts, which could it be? I could see a close-to-dead PSU giving me a problem by not providing enough juice (it's a 750w with no newly added hardware). I could also see that the mobo finally bit the dust on me, which would cause that, but there are no blown capacitors to indicate a dead mobo. I doubt all 4 of my RAM sticks are causing a problem, although I've read about how high-performance RAM can cause issues on mobos which doesn't have the setting in BIOS set to use such voltage by default (I reset CMOS, so it could be the case). I also don't think it's the GPU, because the damn system won't even POST. Or is it my CPU that actually shit the bed? I know a dead CPU is rare, but I'm completely at a loss right now and I spend every night looking over at her, hugging her and telling her it'll be okay.
Aside from the obvious problem of not being to use my computer, each of these parts is at least $100, and I'm not too keen on the idea of replacing more than one (unless needed). If I do that, I might as well just rebuild from scratch.
Anyone have any ideas? I don't care how novice or silly of an idea/suggestion it may be. I'll take anything at this point. Maybe I missed something really stupid and over looked it because I was over thinking the whole problem. I do this a lot and typically play dumb so that I hear all suggestions, from most simplistic to more advanced. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
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I have not reseated the processor yet. Every time I have gotten to the point of deciding I may try that, I'm already pissed off, which is never a good time to handle sensitive equipment. May I'll try that tomorrow.
You didn't list HDD on the list above. Do you have the OS hard drive attached?
For the video card, I can always borrow one from work to test out, and then bring my card into work to test. Wouldn't hurt to cross that off of the list. However, I don't think a bad GPU would cause the system to not POST; I very well could be wrong.
I didn't list the HDDs because I unplugged them from the system to test the core parts. Even without the HDDs installed, the system should still POST and then say that no disk was detected. Currently, I can't even get into BIOS to even mess around with RAM voltage setting to cross that off the list.
My money's on the power supply. Can you get another to test with?
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Thank you guys so far for your input; it is greatly appreciated. Hopefully I'll be able to test your suggestions this weekend.
Second
reseating the processor probably won't fix anything if it's been working fine for such a long time. My money is on the PSU.
I've built systems for over 10 years and I thought the same thing. Then I got a DOA 7950 that wouldn't show a picture on the monitor at all. Pop my old 4850 back in: boot up no prob.
Good luck!
You may not see any blown capacitors, but check to make sure they are all the right shape... my problem was essentially a short in the board which blew out the CPU. Hard drives, GPU and RAM were all fine and were slotted into a new system.
Primary cause of such things can be the PSU very easily. Had something similar recently. Specifically it was a PSU cable that was the problem.
May I ask what your motherboard model number is?
Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5
I just upgraded my mobo, CPU and RAM. I used my working video card from previous. I installed everything, and I get nothing as well. No POST, no beep, nada. I know one of the case fan ports wasn't working, I swapped the fan to another port and that one worked.
There's a diagnostic LED on the board, but that isn't even lighting up. I unplugged everything from the PSU except the mobo, and still nothing. I'm doubting the PSU, since it was working fine right before I took it apart. I do know the CPU fan and all fans plugged into the mobo are working, so it's getting power.
try taking everything out of the case and run it on top of a piece of cardboard to remove any chance that something could be grounding to the case.
even something as small as a fan or usb header wire that's slightly worn and rubbing against the case can cause a weird grounding issue that will prevent the computer from post.
and then also see if you can get access to a multimeter, then take the psu on it's own without plugged into anything and then follow this guide to check on what your psu is outputting: http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt.html
edit: yeah, I live in a goddamn podunk town, that doesn't have a good computer store. I'll have to wait until next week for a new PSU to show up.
I don't see a buzzer on the schematic, I could be overlooking it - but I don't see it. See if you can get a case buzzer and plug it into the speaker pins on the motherboard (in the F_Panel pin block). Its possible its trying to emit a beep code, but with no buzzer you cant hear it.
A big thanks to everyone who contributed.
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I'll stay on my 2010 Macbook and game on my PS3/3DS for a while I guess, maybe play a few games here and there on the Macbook (with crappy settings).
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