Completely stuck, help!!

rmuir

rmuir

rmuir

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18 Mar 2006
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1,252
Hey

My brothers pc started playing up about a month ago, basically it was stalling on boot up, took 3 or 4 restarts to boot into xp. When it eventually got there, after about 5 minutes he got an error message ( not a bluescreen ) saying something about a graphics card error and it crashed. After which it will not boot.

In fact it does nothing, no bios beeps, nothing. Ive tried my graphics card in the rig and nothing, swapped the memory about and nothing.

spec is:

asus am2 mobo, am2 4600+ ( @ stock with stock cooling ), 2 gb gskill ram, seagate 7200.10 320gb hdd, HIS x1900gt 256mb graphics. Running windows xp.

So, anybody any ideas?

Cheers



Rik
 
If it were me, I`d be totally stripping out (even connected fans) and reseating all one by one. It would be be helpful if you had a spare HDD to stick OS on from scratch. Failing RAM has a canny knack of reporting gpu errors ;)

May be the mainboard (which I`m inclined to suspect first off) but hopefully not.

Can be many things but I`d start from a blank canvass and troubleshoot from there :)
 
so far ive tried hooking the hdd up to mine... and it works fine...

suppose i could wipe it in there and try that... ive reseated case fans, mainboard power, cpu, cpu fan, ram, gfx, sata cable.
 
mishima said:
Have you tried uninstalling the drivers for the graphics card, running a driver cleaner and installing the latest driver?
Click to expand...

i would love to but it wont boot. at all.

everything powers up and then it just sits at a black screen. it does this regardless of ram, hdd, gfx combinations.
 
it does this regardless of ram, hdd, gfx combinations
Click to expand...

So are you saying that you have swapped all of these? Just thought I`d ask as your OP never mentioned that you had tried your HDD in another rig and it also worked :)

If so, mainboard would be the offender IMO :\
 
rmuir said:
i would love to but it wont boot. at all.

everything powers up and then it just sits at a black screen. it does this regardless of ram, hdd, gfx combinations.
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't realise. Ok have you tried swapping the cables that you are using from monitor to graphics card? I would also try removing ALL usb devices from the machine (if you have any).
 
PSU or Mobo
Cant be anything else, trick with PC's is dont think too deeply into things.

No post at all is nearly always Mobo if its a good PSU, but either is possible. On the fringe of possibility is CPU but theres really no reason for a CPU to die completley for no reason.
 
Cant be anything else, trick with PC's is dont think too deeply into things
Click to expand...

Oh but it can :) A knackered fan plugged straight into the mainboard can cause a POST fail. An intermittently touching cable (as mishima suggests) can be a pain in the arse to track down. :)

If it were me, I`d be going down the cheap route before replacing a mainboard and/or PSU ... which could well be the problem but hey, just my O :)
 
auraindigo said:
Oh but it can :) A knackered fan plugged straight into the mainboard can cause a POST fail. An intermittently touching cable (as mishima suggests) can be a pain in the arse to track down. :)

If it were me, I`d be going down the cheap route before replacing a mainboard and/or PSU ... which could well be the problem but hey, just my O :)
Click to expand...

for 90% of folks thats beyond doubtful and i was basing my post on the assumption that the only connected devices were mainboard/cpu/ram and gfx if not onboard, i mean thats the fundementals of troubleshooting.

The reason i put it the way i did is because i fix PC's for a living, i run a firm that fixes PC's, and ive honestly lost count of the number of times ive gone somewhere to have a client tell me for 35 minuites about how he thinks a loose SATA header coupled with a bad sector on the HDD and a sprinkle of fairy dust has somehow resulted in a no post.

The fact is most people suck at fixing PC's because they insist on overcomplicating things with dismissable pseudo-tech know how.

No post = power or mainboard, thats what i tell my engineers and thats the first port of call. Things only get interesting if you replace mobo and try second PSU and theres still no boot, but then imo that usually means your mobo is DOA, mobos fail more often than anything in the known universe.
 
aye sorry, realised the op wasnt the most detailed..

anyway

Ive tried the hdd in my rig and it works.

Ive tried different combos of the ram with no result.

Ive reseated EVERYTHING

When i power it on, everything spins up fine but no bios beeps at all and it wont boot.

So next trick is to try display cable, then try some different ram.

He needs it for uni, as he's an oh so poor student he cannae afford to replace stuff really so i might have to donate my rig to the cause and buy a wee upgrade.. sure her indoors will see the funny side to that:D
 
rmuir said:
aye sorry, realised the op wasnt the most detailed..

anyway

Ive tried the hdd in my rig and it works.

Ive tried different combos of the ram with no result.

Ive reseated EVERYTHING

When i power it on, everything spins up fine but no bios beeps at all and it wont boot.

So next trick is to try display cable, then try some different ram.

He needs it for uni, as he's an oh so poor student he cannae afford to replace stuff really so i might have to donate my rig to the cause and buy a wee upgrade.. sure her indoors will see the funny side to that:D
Click to expand...

ffs m8 arent you listening. If it was RAM you would get beeps (im presuming you have a speaker attached to the mainboard?) The hard drive has absoloutley nothing to do with POST so why is it even connected? the computer does not need a HDD to POST. It could be screen or display cable based on what your saying so focus on those and if not try another PSU and then mobo
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
ffs m8 arent you listening. If it was RAM you would get beeps (im presuming you have a speaker attached to the mainboard?) The hard drive has absoloutley nothing to do with POST so why is it even connected? the computer does not need a HDD to POST. It could be screen or display cable based on what your saying so focus on those and if not try another PSU and then mobo
Click to expand...

aye im listening, take it easy.

Sure someone up there asked for all i had done, take a deep breath there eh.

The point to which i have yet to get an answer is.. THERE AINT NO BIOS BEEPS at all

like i say will check the cables next time i get a chance, i doubt its display related as its doing it on 3 different displays.
 
Come on Ultra, lighten up. The OP nor the vast majority that visit (including myself) these forums fix PCs for a living. If we did, why would we post and ask for help?

Comments like ffs just make me thankful that I don`t, and more thankful that I don`t and work for you if i did.

Do you know what though? As inexperienced as I may be compared to a guy that has his own business fixing PCs, I find some of the comments you made odd? Are u sure you actually command folk? Bet they`re loyal ;)

Just help the OP.

Edit: To say to OP, feedback on help offered thus far m8, we`ll all chip in :)
 
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auraindigo said:
Come on Ultra, lighten up. The OP nor the vast majority that visit (including myself) these forums fix PCs for a living. If we did, why would we post and ask for help?

Comments like ffs just make me thankful that I don`t, and more thankful that I don`t and work for you if i did.

Do you know what though? As inexperienced as I may be compared to a guy that has his own business fixing PCs, I find some of the comments you made odd? Are u sure you actually command folk? Bet they`re loyal ;)

Just help the OP.

Edit: To say to OP, feedback on help offered thus far m8, we`ll all chip in :)
Click to expand...
It becomes tiresome when you know what to do to help and people appear to go off on a tangent, i never post in here for that very reason. Everyone seems to know best with computers but the facts of the matter is that with IT there is no opinion only fact 1+1 is always 2 yet people insist on finding 3 and 4 and 5 all over the place. I appreciate that as a name on the internet i have no credibility in my profession but i do urge the OP to follow what I have said, especially as its advice id normally be charging for ha!
 
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rmuir said:
aye im listening, take it easy.

Sure someone up there asked for all i had done, take a deep breath there eh.

The point to which i have yet to get an answer is.. THERE AINT NO BIOS BEEPS at all
Click to expand...
.....Which means it isnt even starting the POST, which means it isnt a fault related to RAM/CPU or AGP
rmuir said:
like i say will check the cables next time i get a chance,
Click to expand...
Display cable fault is rare, if you've checked on 3 displays how have you not had another cable to test? If you mean other cables dont bother there is no other cable that will cause failed post (apart from PSU cable i guess but you need to check PSU anyway)

Im not having a go m8 but you're answering all your own questions and then somehow looking for something other than the obvious.

Just answer me this, do you have another PSU that you can borrow that will do your Mobo, any PSU will do so long as it has the correct 20 or 20+4 pin connector dependant on your board. Some 24pin ATX boards will still post with 20pin plugs (perhaps all boards? all the ones ive tried do)?

Does it post? If yes, new PSU
If no, new Mobo

Go from there.
 
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realise im probably answering my own questions, it was merely a case of just making sure there wasnt something screamingly obvious that i had missed.

Pretty sure i am using different display cable.

Another psu would be a pain to set up as its in my setup.

Suppose if thats what i need to do....
 
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