Motherboard Problem Opinions

Motherboard is DFI Lanparty (not sure the model).

--- YESTERDAY ---
Last night everything was fine until it just shutdown unexpectedly.

I tried turning it back on and when I pushed the power button, it looks like everything is starting but then it shutdown instantly in 3 seconds.

Opening the case this is what I noticed when I turn it back on, the video card has no power at all (no fan running). Obviously unplugging the Power Supply cable to the video card will just have the beep warning due to it sucking the power from the motherboard itself (as all PCI-Express video cards would do).

So I thought it would be my Power Supply that was the problem so I decided to just unplug it from the surge protector and go to sleep.

--- TODAY ---

In the morning I decided to test again and plug it into the surge protector and try turning on the power.

This time, everything was running even the video card (since the fan is running now) BUT there is no Post or anything.

I noticed the error code 88 on the motherboard.

No matter what I do (unplugging everything from power excluding the video card) it is always the same result of Error Code 88.

Is this a good indicator that the motherboard is dead? I did some research that 88 generally result in RMA for replacement (due to CMOS corruption, NB death) but this is a 6+ years old board or so (RMA is obviously out of the question).

I would like any opinion on what you think it could be.. but to me, if the hard-drive, cpu, video card and all the fans is running.. the power supply should be fine. And since there is no POST or anything with the 88 code on the LED motherboard, I would assume it could be a dead motherboard whether it is the CMOS screwed up or something similar.

I don't think it could be CPU or GPU (which could also be possible) too right?

I would assume the mobo would attempt to POST but then give a different error code for CPU or GPU.

 

All may not be lost (i hope )
Code 88 does refer to CMOS and the first step should be to reset the CMOS by removing the battery from the motherboard for about 30 seconds and then replace it,also you say this is a 6 year old board so it could require a new battery but i would first try resetting the CMOS.

Another way to clear the CMOS is to short the "CLEAR CMOS" jumper on your motherboard, assuming you have one (most motherboards do).

Open your computer and look around your motherboard for a jumper labeled like this. These jumpers are usually located near the BIOS chip itself or near the CMOS battery.

 

I did remove a "battery" on the motherboard (it was a circular shape) which I assume is the CMOS battery. I tried turning it on without it and after but it had the 88.

I could try the "Clear CMOS" jumper, I'll need to pull out the manual to see where it is, I am sure there is one iirc.

Thank you for that suggestion about the clearing, I hope that will fix it.. although given the problem that happened last night and today, I fear it could be the worst already.

But honestly, it just looked weird as yesterday's incident and today feels like two separate problems.

Last night would mean the power supply is dead or bad (as the video card wouldn't run), while today the power supply seems to be fine (as everything is running including the video card) BUT now it is the motherboard.

 

It is difficult to diagnose a dead motherboard as there can be so many thing that can be wrong.
Take a really close look at the capacitors on the board (the small round canisters)to see if any are swollen or leaking if you find any it is a costly job to replace them.
You could also try and borrow a PSU and try that to eliminate the problem being the PSU.
You could also remove all components (memory,video,fans ect) and try a start then replace them one at a time and each time try a start.
If all this fails without some electrical experience with a multimeter it would be difficult to diagnose and i would suggest that as it is 6+ years old the best idea would be to replace it.

 

Well, clearing CMOS didn't help. I removed the PSU plug and battery waited 15+ minutes and tried and didn't work.

I tried removing the PSU plug to the video card and it still made the BEEEEEEEEP sound (as it should for a PCI-E gui).

I guess somewhere on the motherboard is dead.. I'm guessing the northbridge since that seems to be the most common occurance for this type of DFI Lanparty board (dfi lanparty nf680i sli).

Thanks for helping, I guess I'll look for a good Core2Duo mobo to replace it (too bad I can't find any with RAID1 types on Newegg).