pc won't start

[twist3d0n3]

can you get into the bios?
if not press F1 at startup

no dice dude, doesn't even start, literally the lights on the mobo start and reset buttons light up when i plug in the psu, press them and nothing...

 

[flying grouse]

OK. I see youv'e still not got this fixed.

You can also try a hard reset. Unplug the PSU from the wall receptacle and remove CMOS battery, then press the power button on the case for 10 seconds. Replace battery and power cord and see if anything has changed.

If you power the board with no cpu installed it will reset the board to original factory defaults. Give this a try also.

If you think your BIOS is corrupt give this website a try.....http://www.biosman.com/biosrecovery.html
Also try naming the file the same as the ".BIN" or ".ROM" file that is in the root directory of the original Asus cd that came with your board.

 

[twist3d0n3]

certainly a different approach. i'll give that a whirl now and report back

 

[twist3d0n3]

tried the battery out/power button help, still nothing

will give CPU out a try after i've had some pizza

 

[flying grouse]

A dead or weak CMOS battery will cause most boards to seem dead or act as though it has a mind of its' own. You cannot test a battery with a multimeter because even a weak battery will test close to spec voltage, so unless you have a battery tester, replace the battery with a new one to see if anything changes

try it with one stick of RAM on slot B1 and disconnect all hardware except main board power connection and the cpu+HSF

 

[G-Dubs]

Sounds like a faulty PSU to me,

Did you say you could "spark start" it?

This is gonna sound daft cos I'm sure you've checked this, but is the power switch on the rear of the PSU switched to "on"?

"When you have discounted the probable, whatever remains, no matter how impossible, must be the Truth"

Kudos points for identifying the quote (no it's not south park)

 

[twist3d0n3]

good shout; i'll pick up a new battery tomorrow.

as for only 1 stick of ram, it makes no difference, i've tried each stick in each slot and tested accordingly.

i've tried it with the 8-pin mobo power cable and 24 pin only, but still nothing...

 

[flying grouse]

even a failing PSU can cause problems, do you have a spare to swap

plus leave the cmos battery out of PC untill tomorrow

 

[twist3d0n3]

Sounds like a faulty PSU to me,

Did you say you could "spark start" it?

This is gonna sound daft cos I'm sure you've checked this, but is the power switch on the rear of the PSU switched to "on"?

"When you have discounted the probable, whatever remains, no matter how impossible, must be the Truth"

Kudos points for identifying the quote (no it's not south park)

yeah i've hot wired it to prime my w/c loops, so i know the psu is completely ok.

don't worry about the psu switch being on, generally i trace the 'circuit routes' of all cables to identify nooby things like that

i'm gonna go with either the X-Files or the outer limits

 

[twist3d0n3]

even a failing PSU can cause problems, do you have a spare to swap

yup i've got a tagan Bz-900, that does exactly the same. have hotwired it too to check its ok, and it works flawlessly

 

[flying grouse]

yeah it looks like you have covered all you can, when you leave the cmos battery out, also leave the jumper on to short the clrtc pins

 

[twist3d0n3]

yeah i'll do that overnight, hopefully it'll work tomorrow

thanks all for the words of advice; i shall report any advances in the morning, hopefully they will be positive...

 

[SlugForAButt]

Sounds like the only thing you haven't been able to check out it the motherboard.
You got any way of doing that? Or testing your components on another motherbaord?

 

[twist3d0n3]

nope, haven't got a spare floating around and sadly all my mates are console/laptop jockies... sucks being a student for having mates with expensive pcs

 

[AMG]

what do you mean by 'trick out the bios into beeping for me'?

I got annoyed and ripped the mem out all of it(not literally ) than I throught hang on I m going to see if the mobo beeps(meaning its alive and kicking) as the poster was not really helping me all it said was CPU_INT, and sure it beeped, if you got your specker connected that is it will work if the mobo is alive

 

[twist3d0n3]

so wait, if i get a speaker hooked up to the cpu_int header (am i reading this right?) and it beeps it is ok?

 

[twist3d0n3]

oh wait are you talking about that crappy little lcd they bndle with it? bugger i'll have to find it! hehe

 

[Corasik]

yeah it looks like you have covered all you can, when you leave the cmos battery out, also leave the jumper on to short the clrtc pins

This... plus remove the ATX and ATX+12 power cables from the motherboard, so there is no chance of residual power in the PSU 5vSB from maintaining the CMOS settings.

You could also try removing all the memory, the PC's speaker should really go for it with beeps with no memory installed . (it wont start to post it will just beep like mad).

Of course this is all assuming that you have a case speaker connected

 

[G-Dubs]

a certain retail park outlet do a neat little pack of assorted mobo/reset switches and hdd lights and buzzer etc that may bo of use to you in problem solving. They attach straight to the mobo frony i/o connector strip.

 

[twist3d0n3]

i haven't got a pc speaker, but i may have to check out this retail park place... i only live 2 minutes away from the retail park in cambridge so its all good

haven't managed to get to a shop to buy a replacement BIOS battery yet, but i've got the mobo POSTER display; this says CPU INIT.

the problem still lies with it not powering up; so i'm presuming something must be shorting somewhere?!