Dead PC

I have been asked to look at a friends PC but I am drawing a blank. When I turn it on the power fan and cpu fan come on and lights briefly flash on the keyboard. There are no bleeps, monitor says "no signal found" so no BIOS or start up screen. The DVD/CD trays eject so there is power and there is a light on the motherboard.

I have tried swapping and replacing the DDR Ram and have tried a spare graphics card also removed the network. All to the same effect, i.e. nothing.

Its a Fujitsu Scaleo 600 with Gigabyte 815XT-FS motherboard. How can I narrow down what the problem is?

Thanks for any help.

 

more than likely the cpu is out. try replacing the cpu with one you know is good

 

Thanks, but if I dont have a spare how do I check the CPU?

 

well is there another motherboard you can test the cpu in

 

if not then most computer shops (ex. bestbuy, fry's) can test it for you

 

several things cause this:

short or grounded mobo, I've seen this several times, can be stand off in the wrong position, loose screw, skinned wire, even a burnt spot on the mobo

bad VC
dead cpu
bad PSU
bad memory

Ya might try to reset cmos

 

that could fix it too

 

Thanks I have tried tied the VC/PSU/Memory

if resetting the CMOS is removing powering down and then removing the battery then I have tried that as well. There is a local computer shop at the end of the road I'll see if he can test it for me.

 

If your CMOS gets scrambled, the computer can seem absolutely DEAD.

To properly reset (completely dump) the CMOS, you need to remove all power from the system. (Unplug it!)

Then carefully take out the cmos battery for at least 20 minutes.
Check the battery with a Digital Volt Meter.
It the voltage on the battery, out of the circuit, is not at least 3.0vdc, then it should be replaced.

If you don't have one and you know that the battery is over two years old, then just go get a new one.
It's usually a CR-2032, available at any drug store or electronics shop.

After a sufficient wait of 20 minutes or more, replace the battery, restore the AC power and again try to boot up the system.

If again it fails, the Power Supply Unit (PSU) has probably lost one of its voltages. The most common voltage to be missing is the -5vdc supply.
NO, you can't fix it. You'll have to replace the PSU.

If the PSU is either a Bestec or Codegen, I can almost guarantee that it's bad. I replace many of those, every year, in my computer business.
If you have to replace the PSU, replace it with one of at least 50% greater wattage.
They usually fail because they were under-speced from the git-go.

Good Luck,
The Shadow :cool