Another POST'ing problem!

tristala

tristala

tristala

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Joined
18 May 2007
Posts
10
Hi Guys,

Bought My new PC bits from OC about a month ago and has been running wonderfully up till today!! The PC went to sleep after not being used for a while and now.... nothing! All fans seem to power up, including the GFX card but I get absolutely nothing output to the monitors!

I don't have a case speaker attached, so if anybody could point me in the right direction of where I might be able to buy one that would be great, or if anyone has had a similar problem and found a solution this would also be useful.

My spec is as below:

Asus P5N32-E Plus Mobo
Intel Q6600 processor
Leadtek GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
OCZ (2x2GB) 667mhz RAM

The system hasn't been overclocked at all and I've tried reseting the BIOS. Unfortunately I don't have a spare rig which I can use to test each part individually :(

An help would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance.
 
You first port of call and I know this sounds obvious but it is a common error.. check that the cable from your PC to the moitor is conected and is functioning ok. Swap it out with a known working one. Better still, see if you can connect the PC to another monitor.. just to eliminate the cable/monitor.. If it works, it's the monitor or cable.

Assuming that it doesn't work and you've checked/swapped out the cable.. you need to check those POST codes.. If you have no speaker on you case, pop along to a local electronics shop (i can't post the names - sorry) and get them to make you one up. I had one done and it cost me a fiver! Connect that to the speaker pin and boot up..

Until you get those post codes, it's a bit difficult to see if there is a problem or not.

There are a few things you could do :

1. Check your CPU HSF is making good contact with the CPU and the fan is connected to the CPU FAN connector on the mobo.
2. That you have BOTH power cables attached to the mobo
3. that the Memory has a good clean contact and is installed correctly. Take them out, clean and reset if nec.
4. Same with the grahics card. Ensure that it's secure and making good contact.
5. With the power off, grab a multimeter and check that there is power getting to rails.

That's it for now..

PS which PSU do you have????

Post back.
 
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Hi huddy,

Thanks for the reply, I have the Corsair HX 620W psu. This evening I have completely stripped down the PC and rebuilt to make sure nothing had come loose, but unfortunately no joy :(

I've ordered a speaker to connect to the motherboard which hopefully should shed some light on the situation and am trying to borrow some RAM off somebody to see if thats where the problem lies.

I'm pretty sure power isn't the issue as everything powers up when I hit the power button. For when I do get the speaker attached, how generic are the POST codes? Do I need information for my specific mobo/bios.

Once again thanks for the help, hopefully it will be as simple as faulty RAM, so it will just be a waiting game once I get an RMA and send it back.
 
No problems.. I do think you should check the monitor/cable first.. A lady came to me 2 weeks ago with a simular problem. She went to "you know where on the high street" and they charged her £100 to replace a few bits. When she got home, she had the same problem. I went round and replaced the video cables - sorted. :)

So please eliminate that first.

Assuming you have eliminated the monitor and its cables: then proceed to check the components:

I think you are wise to to swap out what you can and memory is always a good place to start.

The BIOS beeps are only basic diagnostic checks for somethig serious and each manufacturer of BIOS has it's own set of error codes. Check what BIOS you have then head off to www.bioscentral.com which is a good reference site to diagnose your problem should the POST be failing.
 
Ok.. an update

Just thought I'd post an update in the hope that someone can help.. as things just got weird!

After Huddys advice and checking everything, I borrowed some memory from a mate, stuck it in, and bing! everything comes to life an works nicely (apart from running Vista x64 on 1GB of memory...slooooowwwww).

Great! I think then I must just have some faulty memory but to be sure I'll check it again, so one at a time I check each of the DIMMs. First one.. wow!.. everything works ok .. maybe I'm just being stupid.. try the second one.. nothing... excellent I've narrowed it down to one of the sticks.

Next step.. one final test before requesting an RMA, take it into work and try on a machine there... would you believe it .. both sticks work!

So there seems to be a problem between 1 of the sticks and my machine.. anyone got an explanantion for this? Or should I jsut request a RMA and send it back. Unfortunately because it was the OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel set I'll have to send both back and go back to my old pc while I wait :(

So if anybody can advise on whether I should just stick them back in the post or that I'm missing something obvious ..please let me know.

thanks in advance
 
Posting problem

Hi tristala

I read your post and thought i'd reply, after you tested the 1gig memory in the computer (your friends) did you try your stick again. Vista has a sleep problem as i've read and it wont boot after entering sleep mode try turning off sleepmode in vista (either sleep or hibernate ;)) and retrying your memory.

Let me know how it goes.
 
posting problem

After a re-read i learnt i posted incorrectly, too make sure it is the memory to save you a few £ if its not run a memtest over night and see if u get any errors, sry about last post got ahead of myself ;)
 
Hi Deaddude,

If I put the "faulty" stick in the machine it won't boot at all, it gets as far as powering up, but never gets past that, so the fan on the graphics card is going at full pelt but just stays like that! So I wouldn't be able to run any kind of diagnostics on the memory :(

Any other thoughts?

I think I'm gonna have to send it back, but my fear is it will be tested on return and work fine, thus leaving me out of pocket having had to pay for the memory to be sent back to me and then having to buy more to replace the stuff that won't work in my machine.
 
im having the same problems as you guys on here :(

graphics card just runs like mad, spins very fast.
no signal to monitor...

i taken out everything else, but still does it...
my PSU is brand new aswell the corsia one 620w :/
 
Try running memtest86+ on both or each stick of RAM. If memtest fails then then manufacturers RMA test will certainly fail.

If it passes, then it could be that your friends PC has lower settings which it likes. Therefore, it could be that your system is a bit on the aggresive side. You need to change the system in the BIOS to work in the safest setting and turn every thing up GRADUALLY. Remember to set the RAM divider to 1:1, losen the timings (stock) and check the manufacturers website for any specifics such as voltage requirements.
 
Hi Huddy,

Sorry if I sound stoopid here, but I'm presuming you mean put the memory in the machine that worked and run memtest on there?

The machine hasn't been overclocked at all and all the bios settings are as default, but i'll try doing a rest to defaults jsut in case something has magically changed :)
 
tristala said:
Hi Huddy,

Sorry if I sound stoopid here, but I'm presuming you mean put the memory in the machine that worked and run memtest on there?

The machine hasn't been overclocked at all and all the bios settings are as default, but i'll try doing a rest to defaults jsut in case something has magically changed :)
Click to expand...


Try it in the machine that works because this will eliminate any BIOS settings.

Just because the machine is set to default or SPD, doesn't mean will be stable.

For example, the when the 400MHz NF2 motherboard was released for the 200MHz CPUs a few years back, the vdim was still set by default to run at lower memory speeds. This means when you put in a set of PC3200 memory sticks, the thing would BSOD or fail to post. However, this was corrected by changing the vdim in the BIOS as recommended by the memory manufacturer. caught a lot of people out.

Let's take things one step at a time. Check those sticks using memtest first though. It's a good tool and will certainly tell you if it's a problem with the memory. Post back, then we'll go from there.
 
Hey Huddy,

Ok, heres what I did! put both sticks in the machine that seems to work ran memtest and eventually started getting lots of errors coming on the screen. But though it might be an issue with the board not supporting 4gb, as it was only showing 3gb as being available. So I took the good stick out, leaving just the suspect one, reran memtest, no errors! But when looking in the BIOS it was only registering as 1GB not 2GB, quick check by putting identical working stick in.. 2GB registered! So it looks likes one of the sticks is only half working.. which can't be right ;)

RMA time I think.. just hope the turn around is quite qucik! Don't want to go back to my old pc for long! LOTRO just doesn't cut it on there :)

Thanks for all your help
 
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No problems, It's best to test memory using memtest86+ with one stick in at a time.

The manufactures RMA can be quite lengthy so be prepared for a wait, becuase they'll do a diagnostic test there end. I had to wait over a month for some faulty OCZ to be replaced. your best bet is to buy a replacement, then sell the returned ones when you get them.

Good luck.
 
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