Post, no video

A few months ago my computer died, and I believed it was the power supply. I replaced it, but no go. Then I thought it was the motherboard. Once again a replacement, but nothing. It seems to post, but will not show anything on the monitor. It's the same monitor as I'm using now, so I'm sure the monitor works correctly. Can anyone help me? Or am I doomed?

 

try memtest:

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1247

boot with the floppy you made ... and run it overnight or untill you get errors ... and post bk w/ the results

 

I'd love to, but it won't display anything on the monitor. All the monitor does is give me a bouncing box announcing no signal detected.

 

List your system specs

Especially your video card

Rick

 

Generic ATX mid-tower case
450W power supply
128MB DDR 2100 ram (1 stick)
Athlon 1700 processor

The first mother board was a Gigabyte GA7VTXE. The second was an ASUS A7V400-MX-AYX.

Two video cards: A Voodoo3 PCI, with 16MB, and an Nvidia TNT2 with 16MB. The second motherboard also had on-board video which produced nothing.

 

what if you were to strip everything down to just the motherboard/onboard video/floppy drive ... and try to boot to DOS (w/ the floppy drive)? im guessing that won't work

but you think your CPU might be toast? I'd hate to say run out and buy a new one, just to find out it still don't work ... this is a long shot but maybe a cable that you've been using is shot?

 

I tried that, but nothing. And I've replaced every cable in the computer with brand new ones I had, fresh from the packages. Could it be my memory? If it was the processor, wouldn't it display the logo for the motherboard on the monitor? Of it if was the memory?

 

If the computer could not find usable memory it would beep you would know it. If the memory is so so, say had some errors with it the computer would post but you would have problems trying to load the os. I don't think its the memory.

Do as Pyrate~ said and strip it down, mobo out of the case, install only 1 stick ram,cpu with hsf, psu, use the onboard video. Try and get a post if not power down hook up case speaker or speakers if the mobo has voice post and remove the ram, power up, it should beep or talk to you, then remove the cpu and power on it should beep or say cpu could not be found.

If it beeps or has voice post errors then good board and bad cpu. Most of the time no beeps or voice = bad board

Rick

 

One other thing, are you sure the psu is good?

Rick

 

Yup, PSU is brand new. I'll test bare minimum. Looks like it's the CPU then. Great, thanks.

 

Everything said all good advice.
A couple of things to note!
When a computer post's it will have warning or beep codes, that is true if you have speaker in the case, not external!

I just fixed an Asus mobo pc for a friend he had similar problems as you, All fans would spin no video no beeps, there were several problem's I had to correct the biggest is that this person had replaced the mobo, but failed to reposition the mobo standoff's one was shorting out the mobo (grounding it) & he had also had all of the front pannel wire header wired wrong, the last problem was the floppy ide cable was on backwards.

I would do, remove mobo from case place on mobo box, reset cmos. connect CPU/heatsink, memory, psu, connect case speaker, connect monitor to onboard video port, then try to post up and try to access bios this is done by pressing the delete key while booting.
see what happens!

 

Very good suggestion it would be very easy to overlook a standoff and not move it when switching to a different mobo. Experience teaches us these little things.

Rick

 

If there's a mouncing ball or something like that on the monitor and it says no signal, DUH, video card is shot. They do die like that sometimes, without a hint that something is going to happen.

 

I removed and replaced all the stand offs in positions so the board was completely braced, without possibly touching the case, so no chance of short, nothing. Removed it from the case, had to also move the power supply because the power cable was too short, but couldn't get a post, however my case speaker is so bad, I can't hear it over the power supply and processor fans. At most all I get is a clicking noise. It's in a similar pattern to the beep codes, though. I guess it is the processor. Alright, thanks guys. Guess, I'll just have to get a new one. Any way to tell visually that it's the processor? Though since I've replaced everything else, I don't see what else it could be.

 

i found this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20010917/index.html

where tomshardware.com tested CPUs w/o the heatsink

 

It might be hard to tell, its not uncommon when a psu fails to get a voltage spike and take out the cpu and other things, but like I said with a spike for only a second or so you might not see anything

Rick

 

While I realize hotter CPU's don't last as long, what's the danger point for a CPU? What temp does it start to melt at? Mine was running well over a hundred degrees, even considering liberal application of the included thermal goo that came with the fan.

 

I'm using a 19"" LCD monitor that came on one day,after a year's use,with a bouncing color bar that said check signal cable. Like you I started thinking the worst but mon. has four possible input cable selections (Which I never realized)and all I needed to do to fix,was press the selection button on the monitor bezel. Of course this probably isn't your trbl.,but I thought it was worth sharing..good luck

 

For Amd the max temp is 85c according there tech doc but please read the following very carefully, I wrote it sometime ago trying to explain the difference between a software readout and the max temp as listed by amd.

The max CPU temp that AMD publishes in the Tech Docs is measured directly on the CPU die itself. The thermal diode is part of the Mobo and "reads" the radiant temp from the CPU. The BIOS/software readouts use the thermal diode and these temps are typically 10-15C lower than the actual on die temp. Most AMD CPUs have a max operating temp between 75C-85C measured directly on the CPU die, which is the point where the CPU will start to self-destruct. If a CPU was running at 75C on die temp, the thermal diode and BIOS/software readout would be about 60C, which is [content edited] HOT !

In my experience, CPUs run at temps above 52C indicated by BIOS/software readouts can start to experience system hangs or crashes. Some folks have not experience problems with BIOS/software temps up to 60C. I personally would add fans or do whatever is required to keep the max temp under full load below 52C to insure 100% stability,

When you say 100 degrees is that 100F?

Rick

 

Yes, I do everything in Farenheit. And multiple cable selections? No, I've got an old CRT monitor. Serves my needs for the moment.

 

Well 100f is very good for idle temp, even 110f is around 43c right in the ballpark.
By the way here is a easy way to convert c to f

http://www.infoplease.com/pages/uni...pe=temperature&grp=&convert.x=45&convert.y=10

Rick

 

Great Info from Doby.
FYI, 52c = 125 F

Hey Doby, didnt see ya last post.

Nice link too!

 

Thank you for the kind words Asus. It just always bugged me that Amd lists the temps that way, very misleading.

rick

 

I usually had around 128F temps, but had a 12" desk fan circulating air through the case, which cut a full thirteen degrees off of it. I also had motherboard monitor running, and set it to auto alert at 156, and auto kill at 162, just incase.

 

128f/53c is not very good unless your cpu usage is 90 to 100%, if this was at idle or like just cruising the net you need to get that down.

Reinstall the hs or maybe get a copper one, clean the hs and cpu with isopropyl alcohol then apply a paper thin coat of artic silver5, goto artic silvers website for complete instructions.

Tie and neatly tuck all cables out of the way of airflow, this is a must.

Install case fans, 1 in front blowiing in,1 in rear in addition to the psu blowing out,these at a minimum, I also put 1 in the side blowing in and 1 up top blowing out. Use a fan controller to keep the noise down and turn'em up when needed.

If you do all of these you will keep the temps like I spoke of above, 40c idle and around 52c load.

None of these suggestions will help if your cpu is bad and won't protect against a power supply that went south but are good for future referance.

Rick

 

Well, I got it running. The processor is a little slower than before, but that's no problem. And that was under load, and idle. I've got a 12" desk fan running through the front, and out the back with the case and fan angled so the heat doesn't just stop when it hits the wall behind it. I'll look into a copper heat sink. Right now I've got a massive aluminum rig on top of it. Artic Silver huh? I just had the included compound on it. I'll check that out as well, thanks.

 

Well the included compound will work I use artic silver cause some compounds break down after awhile and you have to clean and reinstall, I have never seen artic silver do that and I think it runs cooler to.

My above suggestions were made so you could get rid of that desk fan

BYTW what exactly did you do to get it running.

Rick