Nothing Happning... Zip.. nada!

I tried to boot up my PC, and not a lot is happening.
Everything buzzes and spins as I would expect it to, but nothing shows on screen.
Checked every component from ram to monitor, to no avail.
My No:1 guess(educated) is that my Motherboard is missbehaving. Possibly not accessing the ram, but I am no expert.

Any second opinions?

 

No strange beeps? Unplug from the wall, open the case, and check all cables and make sure they're connected properly; both data cables and power cables. Next, check all your cards; make sure they're all seated firmly in the slots. Now, take each RAM stick out, and put it back in, making sure it clips in all the way. Check all your fans and heat sinks; they should be clean of any crud and the fans should be spinning freely, w/o any resistance. Now try to power up. If you still get nothing, it's most likely a power supply problem. Usually, if there's a RAM or video issue, the PC will start beeping all crazy. If you have access to another power supply, hook it up and see if that does it. Good luck, and let us know what happens!

hd2k

:major Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

 

Thanks for your reply HD2K

I'm no stranger to building PC's. I have replaced everything except the motherboard and CPU with all the goodies from my surplus bits mountain.
I can verify that everything works ok on other machines.
This is a problem I haven't seen before. I thought it was the Monitor at first, then the video card, then I noticed the lack of POST beeps. It has me stumped.
Just though I would check incase I missed something glaringly obvious.

Thanks for your help

 

Welcome to MG, FFP.

Has this pc ever worked or did you just assemble it?

When you power up describe what you see on the monitor, including its own power light. Does this light change colour?
Ditto on the keyboard

 

Thanks for the welcome Studiot. Been a long time admirer of the MG Site. Thought it was about time I joined in.

Now to my wee problem.
I haven't used my Desktop PC in a while, as I got distracted building a media centre (which is stupendous by the way). Admittedly, I did rob a few bits from the Desktop a while ago (AGP Card and RAM), and I hadn't switched it on since then, but i put them all back when it wouldn't reboot.

Nothing appears on the monitor. It stays black. I cant remember what the light does (I'm at work at the moment) but I am sure it is green. The monitor is good. Works fine on other machines.
The PCI video card is good, as is the AGP Card. The onboard could be a bit dubious but can't get into bios to check the primary display though.
RAM is fine. I have 2 x 256 and 1 x 512. Tried in all combinations.
Keyboard is wireless. Has no lights on it. Will attempt a corded keyboard tonight.
The HDD spins up. The Green LED on the hard drive flashes away for a few seconds, then goes off.
All the fans humm nicely.
PSU is good. Checked a few of those as, funnily enough, a PSU went wonky on one of my work PC's the other week. You just cant beat hands on experience!

I would still get POST if the keyboard was faulty wouldn't I?
The fact that I get no output at all on my monitor, and no POST beeps makes me think there is something wrong with the motherboard.

Shame. It was a good wee machine. :cry

 

Have you got two cards in there?
Which one are you using?

I will wait till you post the answers to my questions as they are the only way to gain any clues unless you have a post card for testing.


Try also reseating the processor.
Make sure everything nonessential is removed.

Yes a duff keyboard can prevent boot as can a problem USB device.

But watching the action of the lights can be very informative as a good vid card will produce a sync signal to the monitor, which cause the power light to react.

Normally the keyboard is one of the first things tested in post so if the lights on that flash or something post has started, so the processor is running.

I will be out in the field for the rest of this afternoon.

 

I only run the one card at a time. I tested it with an AGP, PCI and onboard Video cards.
With all other duff keyboards I have encountered, I at least get the primary display flash up, and the start of POST.

Re-seating CPU.. Oh I just love playing with Arctic Silver

Everything non essential has been removed. Even the seatbelts and airbags!

Thanks for your help.

Studiot - Out standing in his field ... Ha Ha ..

 

Latest update..

Just checked all the lights. No change in monitor light when I start the machine.
Same with the keyboard. No lights at all
The only light to come on is the power and the HDD light. And that switches off after a minute!

 

No reaction from the monitor = nosync signal = no motherboard powr to the a good video card.

No reaction from the keyboard = no power to the keyboard and no post attempt by the motherboard.

On power up the motherboard and power supply exchange control signals. If the power supply doesn't receive the appropriate signal from the motherboard, regardless of the state of a processor, it turns off again.

So the odds are against your motherboard. There are some unusual conditions that can prevent boot however, both with a processor and the pci bus. I recently had a lightning damaged modem that was shorting the pci bus preventing startup. Removal lead to instant life. But you say you have removed all non essential stuff.

 

Ive done a bit of research, and it appears that my motherboard is very very power hungry.
Could be the PSU after all.
I only had an old 300w PSU to test it with, so i'm off to purchase a new one and give it a whirl. Will update tonight.

 

New PSU Didn't work.:cry
Guess its my CPU then!

Thanks for all your help

 

I'm afraid nothing lasts forever.
Look forward to the last and hopefully happier installment.