No BIOS beep with complete system

The system is:

805D
P5WDH
2x1GB Ballistix PC2-6400
Crucial Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB

Background:

The PC has been running fine for the last 3 months until this morning. Whenever the missus tried to turn it on it would reboot at differing times but generally within 5 minutes (getting to Windows for some of these attempts). I was asleep and she woke me up to say the PC kept restarting. My first thought was that it was overheating and when I went into BIOS and look at the Hardware Monitoring section the CPU was hitting 80C. I shut it down immediately, removed the side cover and wiggled the heatsink (HS) and yes the stock HS had worked loose (at least on the plastic lugs had "unpopped").

Problem:

I removed HS and CPU and cleaned them up before reapplying TIM, put back together and it would not POST, no BIOS beeps, nothing. With side cover still off I could see that all fans were spinning up properly and wiggling the HS noted it was nice and snug but the system just seems to "wanting" to boot with no joy (no BIOS screen, no Video, etc, etc, etc).

Troubleshooting so far (no joy=no BIOS beep codes):

- I removed the CMOS battery and reset the BIOS jumpers (no joy),
- I replaced the CMOS battery, reset BIOS jumpers (no joy),

Further research indicated to try removing components one at a time.

- I removed Video Card and BIOS error beep codes (restored the Vid Card and no joy),
- I removed RAM modules (left one and no beep codes, removed both and error beep codes, replaced both and no joy),

Research also indicates I can remove the CPU (as well as RAM and Video Card and RAM) and just leave the build with the Mobo and PSU and try for an error code. I haven't tried this yet and was hoping for some advice from you guys firstly. Also I was getting frustrated with the problem and needed to put it down for a while before approaching it again with a clear head (and cool temper so the neighbours don't have to hear all the swearing and cursing......lol).

a. Is there a decent step by step link/guide you can link?

b. Is it right with what I have read that I can remove the CPU and power up the mobo alone to test it?

I will probably have to remove the whole thing from the case and rebuild it it patiently to ensure there are no bad connections occurring with the mobo, etc.

 

Feed the monkey?

Seriously, and as much as I hate to say it, I think next step is to either remove the CPU, or try booting with a different CPU. If I remember right Intel guarantees their CPUs up to 85C, so it might be worth your while investigating their warranty policies, but for right now verify iif it's the CPU or not.

Good luck! Believe me, I sympathize with the frustration!

 

As a final point the BIOS light is clearly lit up and on (little green light).

 

Good! That means your motherboard is okay. That is good news

 

Sounds like dead cpu

 

That is what I am thinking as well. I suppose the best way to test is to place it in another system???

 

Yep. Or by placing a different CPU in this system.

 

Well it was indeed a dead CPU, thanks Asus and Mimsy.

As a final comment in case others ever read this thread the best approach is to place the suspect CPU into another known working system to test and NOT to place a known working CPU into the current system until it has been fully stripped. The reason being is you have to ascertain that there is not a bad connection or grounding going on with the current motherboard and thus risk the chance of frying another CPU.

So the method I followed was to unplug everything excepting Video Card, RAM and CPU/HS (you follow this method at your own risk!):

- Testing the current system I removed the Video Card (got BIOS error beeps) and then replaced,
- Removed all RAM (got BIOS error beeps) and then replaced,
- Removed the CPU (NO error beeps)
- Placed CPU into another known working system (system just went into a cycling mode of powering up for ~5secs and then restarting),
- Removed suspect mobo and all components from case, inspected underside for any signs of burning/scorching, closely inspected CPU socket to ensure all pins were straight and not "visually" damaged,
- Rebuilt suspect system on the mobo box (to ensure there were no bad connections/grounding occurring with just the Video Card, RAM, PSU and swapped a known working CPU, system was able to POST and I could enter BIOS.

Therefore through this process of elimination I was satisfied that it was indeed a Dead CPU and went and purchased another and it did indeed, fix the problem.

 

Also I forgot to mention I affixed the new Intel stock HS while the mobo was out of the system and made sure that the black central pins were down and firmly spreading the white lugs. I could look underneath the mobo and see that this was happening properly.

I really do hate the "newer" Intel HS and find them cheap and nasty bit's of rubbish as the pins can get bent very easily and spread to far apart, etc and then not readily enter the mobo. What is wrong with a couple of sprung loaded screws rather than cheap bits of "frail plastic" that can readily "FAIL".

 

Impressively thorough description of the troubleshooting procedure. Thanks

And congratulations on having your computer back up and running!