Member Avatar for texasbobby

I think it really hates me.....I built this rig about 2 years ago and it's been working very well until recently.

The Lian Li case I have doesn't have a restart button, so anytime it locks up, I've had to yank the power plug, wait, reattach and restart. Holding down the power button on the front of the case does nothing.

It locked up the other day, so I did what I've always done....pull the plug, wait, reattach and power up. Only this time, nothing happened. No noise, no lights, no nothing.

Suspected my power supply, so I removed it and took it to Best Buy/Geek Squad (I know.....I know.....) and they hooked it up to a (broken in half) power meter and said "it's bad....you need a new power supply".

Before replacing it, I took it back home, consulted the Tech Support guys at PC Power and Cooling. They recommended that I hook up 2 hard drives and use a wire to "jumper" the black and green wires on the main 24 pin mobo connector, per the PC Power and Cooling tech support page. Power supply came on, fan worked, both hard drives started to spin, so I guess it's not the power supply after all.

Plugged the mobo connectors back in, added a single video card, CPU and cooler, 2 sticks of RAM, both hard drives and powered up the power supply. All the fans work, the hard drives spin, the power supply is blowing air and making noise, the Onboard Mobo LED is lit up, but nothing else happens. No video card activity, won't boot, nothing.......

I'm now suspecting either a bad mobo or bad CPU or both. Really not sure how to check/eliminate either one as the culprit or if it sounds like something else that I haven't considered. I'm pretty much stumped at this point!

My system is as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800

ASUS A8N32-SLI DELUXE MOTHERBOARD

PC POWER AND COOLING 510 SLI POWER SUPPLY

2GB CORSAIR 3500LL-PRO DDR RAM (2 STICKS OF 1GB)

2 NVIDIA 7800 VIDEO CARDS IN SLI

2 74GB RAPTORS IN RAID 0 ARRAY

1 400 GB WESTERN DIGITAL DATA DRIVE

PLEXTOR 716 SATA DVD-RECORDER

ASUS DVD PLAYER

WINDOWS XP PRO WITH SP2

Any ideas on what this sounds like or where to go next? I'm really kind of stuck at this point......

Thanks for any and all help.

Texasbobby

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 133 Views
  • 11 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by wulawula

Dani AI

Generated

A focused, step-by-step diagnostic flow is the fastest way to isolate whether the fault is the motherboard, CPU, memory, power delivery, or something external. is on the right track with the minimal-boot idea — run a single change at a time and observe POST/beep behavior and any diagnostic LEDs on the board. Keep notes of each change so nothing is tested twice by accident.

Try this checklist (one change at a time):

  • Disconnect all nonessential devices and expansion cards so only the motherboard, CPU, one known-good stick of RAM, power supply, and a speaker (or onboard speaker header) remain.
  • If the front-panel switch is suspect, momentarily short the two power-switch pins on the front-panel header with a screwdriver to confirm the switch is not the issue.
  • Listen for POST beep codes. If none, fit a simple chassis speaker and consult the board manual for code meanings. Repeated memory beeps versus single CPU/beep patterns point to different components.
  • Clear CMOS (use the jumper or remove the battery for a few minutes) before trying again.
  • Reseat the CPU and inspect the socket pins and the underside of the CPU for damage. Look over the motherboard for bulging/leaking caps or burn marks.
  • If the system still fails to POST, bench-test outside the case to rule out standoffs or shorts. If possible, swap in a known-good PSU or RAM stick to eliminate those parts.

Notes and cautions: a PSU that spins with no load can still fail under load — a swap or a proper PSU-tester/multimeter check under load is more conclusive. Handle the CPU and memory with anti-static precautions. If bench swaps are inconclusive, the next definitive step is cross-testing the CPU in another compatible board or vice versa; that isolates which major component needs RMA/replacement.

Member Avatar for wulawula

1) try to start without hard drives, and look what will happen;
2) try to start without memory and look what will happen.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.