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Post by floplexter on Sept 21, 2008 18:18:11 GMT
I'm typing this on a old laptop that the kids used for playing schools, which I've managed to hook up to my BT Hub.
Which would tell you that Metallica, my big fat beast of a PC, has died.
Scenario: Couple of times in the last few months the machine has gone into a kind of standby mode, randomly (not while I've been working on it, I should say). Usually, I press the reset button, nothing happens, so I hold the power switch till it offs itself, then switch it back on and all is well.
Not today.
It didn't switch back on,
I get the power lights coming up, all the fans kick in, the cd drive checks what's in the drive, the light on the motherboard pings on, as does the orange light on the network socket. What doesn't happen: the monitor stays in standby mode, the keyboard shows no lights, and (tellingly) the USB mouse, which usually has a wee red light on it all the time, is dark and silent.
I nearly wept. I mean, it's just a machine- the e-book has all my pictures on it, but I can't access all my music (now moving into the 120Gb realm), Outlook, games etc etc.
I have tried: Checked two different monitors in both the graphic card's slot and the onboard graphics slot. Nada.
Gave it a damned good clean. Unplugged and replugged the ribbon cable, SATA etc.
Took out the wee battery on the motherboard to reset it.
Sat depressed for a long time.
Any ideas? Death to Ming?
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Post by floplexter on Sept 21, 2008 19:14:26 GMT
I saw this on a tech place somewhere- sound likely?
Problem: The power LED comes on but the PC does not boot, there is no display on monitor.
Solution: Check if the processor is firmly into the socket. Check CPU jumpers to verify if CPU frequency is correctly set.
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Post by DC on Sept 22, 2008 1:58:06 GMT
Typically what will happen if the processor is unseated is that the system will boot, run for about 15 seconds - then give you a piercing wail of an internal alarm (each system/MOBO is different though and it would require your case speaker to be turned on in the bios and connected within the box).
USB devices tend to be the last thing initialised.
Remove extraneous hardware Pops. I.e. take out the vid card/network card etc to eliminate them as an option (it isn't them, but I like to be awkward - if your PSU is a bit goosed then the drain on it for vidcards etc can knock it below the required amount to charge the rest of the board), remove your RAM (one stick, or both sticks, or the only stick might be goosed), unplug your CD/DVD drive/s.
It's doubtful the processor has shifted for no reason - especially if you have a Heatsink/fan on top of it (in which case check the heatsink/fan hasn't been knocked - though it usually takes a screwdriver to shift the bugger).
Plug monitor into on-board. Boot it with the case open lay on its side so you can see into it. Check which fans initialise (how many do you have?). The system should complain you have no RAM as that is pretty much the first thing it tries to locate.
Re-insert a single RAM stick. Boot again. You should (hopefully) get your bleepy noise most computers make at boot up (again, depends if you ever got it and if your speaker was ever connected inside).
If you get a screen, then your PSU might be a bit goosed and it can't spread the power around. Reboot with the CD/DVD drive connected and try again. Repeat until everything is reconnected etc.
If you're still at a blank though you might have to reset your CMOS and start looking at boot errors, or a fried Mobo somewhere along the line.
Stu might have another idea of course.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 22, 2008 8:26:47 GMT
This is of course the point where I'm supposed to remember whether it beeped or not on startup...
Spoke to my brother last night who said it sounded like a knacked motherboard. If it was a RAM problem, he reckoned I would get lots of beeping.
The fact that there is nothing on the screen and the mouse and keyboard are not kicking into life suggested to him motherboard rather than the graphics card.
Me, I know naaathing.
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Post by Narcizo on Sept 22, 2008 10:40:13 GMT
Computers are rubbish.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 22, 2008 11:13:59 GMT
I suspect the graphics card. If the machine is warming up and running through the POST and then finds no video card it'll just sit at that point. It should beep or show you a series of lights to try to inform you of what's up. Sadly, to decipher motherboard POST beep codes you have to consult Alan the magic Alpaca who lives in a secret cave somewhere in Patagonia. With the manufacturer's name, board serial number and precise divination of which beeps you're getting, ("beep [pause] BEEP [pause] [pause] beep" means something different from "beep [pause] beep [pause] [pause] beep"), you might be able to work out how expensive things are going to be. Luckily, whenever a motherboard fails at a point along the POST it says fuck this for a game of soldiers, refuses to work any further and leans against the side of the case smoking a French cigarette, so the lack of lights on your USB gear is almost certainly a symptom and not a problem of their own. i would suggest removing and reseating the video card. If that doesn't work and you have an option on slots for the card, then I'd remove it and move it to a different slot and try again. If that that doesn't work, then I'd try to spawn a crap video card from somewhere, take that home and throw it in the case and see what happens. You can always bring the card back to whoever owns it after, as you're only trying to see what's what. When you switch the machine on with the monitor in standby, does the monitor do that static crackles as if it's coming back from power-save and then just slump back into power-save? Power on with fans, lights and dancing pixies and then no image is almost always the video card, with the power supply that DC mentioned as second favourite and then small percentages going to a mixture of esoteric nonsense surrounding fuxxored cables or, worse of all, motherboards with Alzheimers. Good luck.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 22, 2008 11:16:34 GMT
(Although I thought I read that you'd reseated the RAM, but now I can't see that. Give that a go too, as per DC's instructions. RAM chips fall out of their stupid plastic slots if you look at them askance.)
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Post by floplexter on Sept 22, 2008 11:24:20 GMT
Thanks, will try that this afternoon.
The graphics card is a PCI-E, the old one I have is an AGP, so that may be... anyway, whatever. I'll give it a go.
Would the fact that it has happened a couple of times before indicate anything in particular? I mean, this kind of involuntary standby mode.
I'll poke things a bit.
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Post by Sonic on Sept 22, 2008 13:21:39 GMT
It sounds very much like what happened with my computer Pops. I scrounged around, eventually locating where my brother had put my old desktop, and did that swappsy thing that was mentioned above, and I got a picture and access to my computer. My next trick, and it was dastardly one, was to find and AGP vid card. And luckily I did. Otherwise, it was a whole new computer. I think if you can get your hands on another video card(what Stu said), you'll know a lot more. I was going to say power supply second too Oh, and I broke my grip feet on my heat sink, which means I'll have to get myself a whole new computer. It looks like I'll be building from scratch, which will be fun. I know a cheap good place. The best sort :humb:
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Post by floplexter on Sept 22, 2008 23:04:45 GMT
OKay, so it was gone 11.30 by the time I got a chance to look at the machine, as per.
First thin tried was removing video card. It's a PCI-E- there are no other slots of that type, but there are 2 other white slots.
Reseated it and rebooted. Quite a lot of whirring and burring, kicking into action- nothing on the screen. To answer the Q, stu- there is no crackle then return to standby- there is nothing at all. No move from the orange light.
So then tried removal of vid card- pluigged monitor into onboard socket.
Nothing.
Removed and reseated RAM. Checked processor, but it is tight and under a fan big enough to blow Basingstoke into the North Sea.
Nothing.
Now tiring and will surrender for the evening.
I suppose the next thing is removal of vidcard and RAM, disconnection of cd drive, then reboot- yes?
Interestingly, poking about the vastness of the interior, I noticed that the cables than run in a bundle from the front of the machine are disconnected. well, half of them are. This explains why I could get USB sockets working on the front of the machine, but not the headphones or mic. There doesn't appear to be anywhere on the board to plug them into anyway. Bit daft.
Very disheartening business, all told.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 22, 2008 23:16:05 GMT
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Post by elth on Sept 23, 2008 10:36:56 GMT
I'm lucky in that the last time a part failed on my PC, the smell of burnt circuits emanating from the PSU gave a pretty strong indicator as to what the ballsup was.
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Post by DC on Sept 23, 2008 12:24:21 GMT
I suppose the next thing is removal of vidcard and RAM, disconnection of cd drive, then reboot- yes? Interestingly, poking about the vastness of the interior, I noticed that the cables than run in a bundle from the front of the machine are disconnected. well, half of them are. This explains why I could get USB sockets working on the front of the machine, but not the headphones or mic. There doesn't appear to be anywhere on the board to plug them into anyway. Bit daft. Very disheartening business, all told. Yes, strip it down - anything hardware you can unplug, do so, so the PSU is literally running the very minimum. It might have blown one rail or something. The less you've got it trying to power, the better chance you have of getting it to start the system. It's looking like either the Power Supply has 1 rail left, or somehow the board has gone pop (but that's very unusual without some interference).
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Post by floplexter on Sept 25, 2008 21:06:55 GMT
Okay, so have now tried all of the above. Removed cd drive, vidcard etc. PC cranked up and the red light (the 'thinking' light) stayed on for a bit then went off and there were hdd rumblings (all fans come on at once, by the way - three of them, one front, one side, one on processor). But nada. So offed it.
Tried with removing both RAM sticks. Nothing- the red light stayed on all the time, there wasn't a twitch from the hdd.
Tried some other RAM thing suggested on another forum to no avail and also registered with ASUS to post on their forum (probably, if it ever gets answered).
The power supply is 450W. Some other suggestion I saw said that overheating might switch it off automatically...?
Gah?
[/weeping. for the moment]
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Post by DC on Sept 25, 2008 21:21:35 GMT
If you've checked the heatsick etc is all seated correctly then that only leaves mobo or a burnt rail/s on the PSU.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 25, 2008 21:58:28 GMT
I'll switch my money to knackered MoBo.
Every time you switch on with a different set of components plugged in/pulled out you should be hearing a different message from the POST beeps.
The fact that you're hearing nothing whatsoever suggests the motherboard is just toast.
It's not the most expensive thing that can break in a PC, but it is the most annoying because everything plugs into it. I hate changing motherboards out because it means forking about with the CPU and getting them seated just so, (especially if it's an older AMD) can be a pain. Literally the last time I did it, as I caught a piece of skin between the heat sink and cpu and had had such a shitty time getting it all aligned and clamped down that I couldn't be bothered unclamping it. So I just yanked my finger out and christened the new (red) motherboard with blood.
I think it's worked better as a result.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 25, 2008 22:42:24 GMT
Irritatingly, I read on the ASUS forum somewhere that there is no onboard speaker, so a speaker is needed to hear BEEPs. I did attach one late in the day, but no beeps.
ASUS Troubleshooting suggests: 1. Please clear CMOS.
2. Please take out your memory cards and video card, try to clean their golden connectors with a rubber, then reseat them back.
3. Please take the CPU cooler out, add some thermal paste to the CPU surface, then reseat the cooler back and keep the cooler tightly installed.
4. Please keep the necessary components(CPU, one memory) onboard for a test.
Finally, we would recommend you to replace a BIOS battery to have a test.
MEant to add that there is wee green light on the board that apparently means power to the board is good.
Is it worth trying a new PSU first? My bro said motherboard initially and suggested one could be had with processor for £60-70.
Would you replace with exactly the same mobo? If not, what details do I need to get it compatible?
I rated my knoweldge when registering with ASUS as "Fair".
Maybe that's pushing the envelope a little...
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Post by Boony on Sept 25, 2008 23:21:54 GMT
I caught a piece of skin between the heat sink and cpu and had had such a shitty time getting it all aligned and clamped down that I couldn't be bothered unclamping it. So I just yanked my finger out and christened the new (red) motherboard with blood. I think it's worked better as a result. Sorry Pops, I can't add any further technical advice (you've already taken stuff out and blown on it, by the sounds of things), but a little sacrifice to the PC gods, like s1ut's, can't hurt. We all know he's going to silicon heaven now.
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Post by DC on Sept 25, 2008 23:37:09 GMT
Irritatingly, I read on the ASUS forum somewhere that there is no onboard speaker, so a speaker is needed to hear BEEPs. I did attach one late in the day, but no beeps. ASUS Troubleshooting suggests: 1. Please clear CMOS. 2. Please take out your memory cards and video card, try to clean their golden connectors with a rubber, then reseat them back. 3. Please take the CPU cooler out, add some thermal paste to the CPU surface, then reseat the cooler back and keep the cooler tightly installed. 4. Please keep the necessary components(CPU, one memory) onboard for a test. Finally, we would recommend you to replace a BIOS battery to have a test. MEant to add that there is wee green light on the board that apparently means power to the board is good. Is it worth trying a new PSU first? My bro said motherboard initially and suggested one could be had with processor for £60-70. Would you replace with exactly the same mobo? If not, what details do I need to get it compatible? I rated my knoweldge when registering with ASUS as "Fair". Maybe that's pushing the envelope a little... Well, you could always find another PC and try the components in that, or find another PC unit and cross the PSU cables over to rule that out rather than buying one. The lack of bleepiness is shite though. And yeah, Mobo is highly likely as once you'd stripped down all the components it should have had enough power to make it tick over. What is wrong with the Mobo could well be anything that ASUS themselves have suggested to you (or it's fooked).
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Fuzzy
Spider Monkey
stop chewing!
Posts: 918
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Post by Fuzzy on Sept 26, 2008 7:33:56 GMT
I'd put it down to a canked mobo.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 26, 2008 8:47:02 GMT
I have another PC that could try the PSU but it doesn't have a SATA thingy for the hdd, so would that work?
Would you go for a new PSU first or new mobo? This is new territory for me.
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Post by Narcizo on Sept 26, 2008 9:12:35 GMT
This is getting about 4 days after I'd have said "fuck it" and bought a new computer.
Nice perserverance the Pops.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 26, 2008 9:26:50 GMT
120Gb of music on the hdd makes me persevere. That and thefact the damned thing is only 18 months old.
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Post by DC on Sept 26, 2008 9:29:45 GMT
I have another PC that could try the PSU but it doesn't have a SATA thingy for the hdd, so would that work? Would you go for a new PSU first or new mobo? This is new territory for me. Well, the hard drive wouldn't initialise but it should still boot and give you a screen if the onboard is working and the processor is functioning etc. Of course you could also wire a different HD in at the same time running off the Mobo just to be doubly sure.
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Post by floplexter on Sept 26, 2008 10:04:15 GMT
Good plan, that. Now all I need is a spare few hours.
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