No POST is driving me crazeee! Help!

Hi, forum - Newbie here!

I wonder whether there's anyone out here in Internetland who can help me with this problem which is quite simply driving me crazy:

Up until a couple of months ago I was perfectly happily using this combo for running music apps in my studio under WinXP Professional:

Asus NF7-S Motherboard (not overclocked)
AMD Athlon XP2800 333hz fsb CPU
2 x 512mb PC3200 DDR SDRAM
GeForce MX440 64mb AGP 8X Video Card
2 x 200Gb SATR Seagate Hard discs
1 x CD-Writer
1 x DVD-writer
Emu 1820 digital audio system
300w power supply

One day I was working on e-mails on the Admin PC in the studio (they're not networked, and the Music PC is completely isolated from the Internet), and turned round about an hour later to see the monitor had gone black on the Music PC.

I'd been working on the Music PC earlier, and had just left it idling on the desktop, with no apps open. XP is stripped down to the max on this PC to maximise resources for the Music apps, and has worked very, very well for ages.

I re-booted the PC, thinking it had just crashed, and was immediately concerned that suddenly there was no POST check.

A dozen off-ons later I realised something was up, so I disconnected all the hard-drives, the CD & DVD drives and the Emu Audio System, and still nothing. The power LED's on the NF7-S mobo still came on, and the CPU fan still worked, but there were no helpful beeps...

So... I reset the BIOS. Still nothing. I swapped over the monitor and
graphics card from the Admin PC. Nothing. I took out the RAM and
re-seated the two modules singly, swapped them over then put them both back in. Still no POST check.

Speaking to a friend in the building who knows plenty of stuff, he agreed with me that it seemed that the problem was probably either the CPU or the MOBO going down (unless both sticks of RAM or the power-supply had gone, of course...), and the logical likelihood was that it was the CPU, so I went out and bought a new AMD Athlon XP3000 Socket A 333hz fsb chip and put it on the NF7-S motherboard... and no POST!

What was up with this? Logically, the only other things it possibly could be would be either the Motherboard, the RAM or the Power Supply. Being a bit impulsive to speed things up and get through this sudden pain-barrier faster, I bought a brand new Gigabyte 7N400 Pro 2 Dual Bios board, installed it all, put the new CPU in, the sticks of RAM and the graphics card, and guess what? NO POST CHECK.

Trying hard to ignore the sudden itching in my brain, I double- checked everything the micro-switch System Jumper settings on the Mobo, swapped over the graphics card and monitor again, and still no POST.

There are no beeps from the Gigabyte Mobo, except a single one when I power down by holding the power switch in for seven seconds, but the RAM led lights up, and the CPU Fan sparks up, and switches on and off regularly like you'd expect from a CPU under no load.

Then I put the old CPU in to see what would happen. No POST.

By now I was starting to feel a little crazy. Was it the power supply all the time? I've had a couple of badly behaved supplies before, and I know they're pretty sophistimicated little pieces of engineering, so maybe, just maybe...

So I bought a spiffy new 450w dual fan ATX power supply, put it in. No POST.

I bought a new matching 512Mb stick of DDR Ram and installed it on its own. Nothing.

Finally I sent the new CPU away to be tested by the shop I bought it from, and after a pathetic four weeks (that's another story, Maplin fans), they finally reported they'd found the CPU to be working.

So... I've actually replaced the entire computer with new components, and I've still got no POST check. Just what the hell is happening here???

Can anyone understand what this is doing to my head?!? What am I doing wrong here? I'm sure I've done everything by the book in isolating all the elements and replacing them. I've studied at depth all available literature on the new GA-7N4-- Pro 2 Mobo in case there's some little jumper I've missed, and am happy that setting the CLK_RATIO dip switches to OFF (Auto/Default), and the CLK_SW to ON (Auto) is correct.

I hooked up the power cables to the SATR drives (but not the data cables), and they fire up fine.

If anyone can make any helpful suggestions, I'd be very grateful. I've got to admit I'm completely beaten on this one, and don't know what to do next. I've built my last three computers, and this is the first problem I've ever had. Have I got two dead motherboards - one old and one brand new dead out of the box? Was I lied to by the Service Dept who claimed to have tested the CPU?

Help!

PETE

p.s. - No, I don't know anyone else with a working Socket-A setup I can try swapping components with to isolate the duds...

 

all i can say is D@MN sorry to hear about that happening you think maybe the case? maybe the reset button is messed up so when you go and push the power button it wants to keep doing that? have you tried a hammer? that always works for me lol but like i said maybe its the reset try unpluging the reset from the mobo and power it up

 

Hmmm. Hammer. Mmmmm. Tempting! LOL! I'm gonna try taking it out of the case tomorrow when my head hurts less!

Thanks for your help!

PETE

 

glad i could be of some help lol

 

I think you should treat this as a seperate problem from the first pc treat this as a working system you just have to setup RELAX
I apologise in advance its 1.30uk time im tired.If youv already tried this dont hate me just look at that little guy with the shades.

1.Look down at your carpet is it that lovely fluffy stuff that makes sound great in studios,if so take all your parts into another room its very static prone you could have been frying everything you touch.
1.locate the cmos jumper it can be found in your manual,move it to the other 2 pins that are next to it leave it for 10 secs then move it back make sure the jumper has been put back the way it is in your manual for boot.
2.boot up still nada turn it off take out the motherboard count all the brass standoffs your motherboard screws into,make sure non of them have become jammed underneath check for screws and debree they can short it out no perminant damage."hopefully."make a brew.
3.put back together check all plugs are tight.
4.give it a fry "i mean try"LOL
Try a different psu cable check its properly earthed"dont know why,im scraping the bottom of the barrel"
Ill try and think of something else tommorrow but one of the brains should have fixed it by then and you'll wake up and it was all a bad dream.

 

Rikky - Thanx for all that. I've been using an anti-static wristband, properly earthed, and the mobo is always on a sheet of anti-static plastic. I've reset the BIOS & CMOS, and I know the PSU cable is good... so... what I AM going to do today is take it all out of the case and try and run it externally to see if there is a short, as you suggest.

Would you believe I actually dreamt about this damn computer last night? How sad is THAT??!!

PETE

 

Might I ask you what the point of the poll is?

 

Absolutely, Goldfish - I'm genuinely interested to see how many people have converted to Firefox. I reckon it's far more than the claimed statistics, and it's obviously been enough to goad Microsoft into announcing a new browser, well ahead of the new OS release. I swapped to Firefox quite a while ago, and I've gotta say I'm very, very happy with it. It's fabulous. It makes my dinner and mows my lawn (well... almost!)

 

Lol... I see Results arn't looking too good now, though

I converted ages ago, and I do demonstrations for people to "convert" them. I just plonk my laptop down, and show em a few sites and how quickly and efficiently they load and the complete absence of popups, and of course the usefulness of tabbed browsing

 

Drat, drat and double drat!!!

Took it all out of the case, put it on the anti-static mat, hooked the PSU up, put in the new RAM, Graphics card, and... yep... you guessed... NO POST.

I'm feeling a bit lost now, I've got to admit. There's obviously power going through the board, because the CPU fan starts up, and the RAM LED indicator lights. The PSU's a brand new Antec 450w, I know the graphics card works 'cos I swapped it into my other PC. The monitor's fine.

So... was I lied to about the condition of the processor, or is this brand new Gigabyte motherboard faulty, and what can I possibly do now to narrow it down definitively? Suggestions, please...

PETE (Slowly reaching for the bottle of Paracetamol... )

 

With you on that one goldie!

 

HOORAY! A RESULT! LIFE IS GOOOOOOD!

Just checked old and new CPUs in this other socket-A setup, and they both POST. Result!

So... Now I know I've got two dud Mobos, and now I know who to shout at

I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who's been helping me out here. It's really, really appreciated

PETE

 

You haven't by chance left the 4 prong cpu power connector next to the cpu socket unplugged have you??
I did it on the first board I had with one and went through the same demented psychopathic goose chase you've gone through.
If it's not plugged in, the fans will spin, the drives will whirr, but no beeps, no video, no nothing. Nothing but the dreaded black screen.