PC won't boot, HDD activity light solid red

[Beeblequix]

I think my bro-in-law's PC has a bad motherboard. MSI K8M NEO-V Via K8M800.

Power comes on -- CPU HSF spins up (now with 100% fewer dust bunnies!), PS fan spins up, top and side illuminated case fans blowing nicely. Front temperature readout shows ~76 degrees F. Front hard drive activity light stays solid red.

I switched out:
1) power supply with known good one. Same behavior
2) changed DIMM with known good one. Same.
3) added discrete AGP card. Same.
4) removed everything except CPU & memory. Same.
5) removed everything but CPU. Same.
6) cleared CMOS via jumper. Same.

There doesn't seem to be anything else to do with it but replace the motherboard. It's an old socket 754, and if it were my own I'd probably donate it to a nice landfill somewhere or jettison the thing into orbit. But it's my bro-in-law's and owing to the GWB Lame Duck economy his belt is very tight. It's out of manufacturer warranty so I'll probably end up getting him a cheap s754 board.

Any other thoughts? I'm >92% sure the board is hozed, and I think my methodology is sound.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186156 $39.97 + $8.97 shipping

http://www.partspc.com/ProductDetail...97&ProdID=9163 $45.99 free shipping

[Sterling_Aug]

I would run several diagnostics first before you spend any money on it.

1.) Run Memtest to verify the RAM is good. My bet is that it will pass ok.

2.) Run the hard drive manufacturers diagnostics. My bet is a bad hard drive is causing the PC to not boot.

[Beeblequix]

I probably should have mentioned more specifically --

7) pulled out the IDE cable so it wouldn't try to boot from hard drive. It did the same thing.
8) removed just hard drive from IDE cable and tried to book from a SLAX live CD. Same thing.
_) removed FDD cable. Same.

I can certainly check the RAM but I really don't think that is it since I'd replaed the DIMM with a known good one with no change in device behavior. I'll fully elimiate both RAM with memtest and hard drive later today, but my spidey senses say those are probably okay. I suspect the PC took a power surge and I doubt it was on a surge protector.

[bruceb]

This may sound a bit off, but did you check the CMOS Battery on the Mobo and the options in the
BIOS are set correctly or to the Default settings ? ?

[Rocketmech]

Looks like a bad mobo, go with the 6100 .

[Beeblequix]

I tested the memory and as I suspected it's fine.

The hard drive is in my external enclosure and is perfectly accessible in Windows Explorer (currently running antivirus scan).

Rocketmech -- I thought about the battery but it's only 3.5 years old and I've never seen a modern motherboard battery die that rapidly. It won't POST, and won't even get me to the BIOS.

I'm convinced it's a bad motherboard. I agree -- I'll go with the 6100. Thx guys.

[Rocketmech]

Well, it was bruceb who mentioned the battery. It is worth a try, 3.5 yrs is a bit old. Who's to say when it was made or how it was used. Cmos batteries are just batteries, they can fail like any other type. But, it sounds more like a circuit problem on the board.

[Ol'Tunzafun]

A computer should run with no CMOS battery at all.

I think my methodology is sound.

I think so too. I guess there is a chance that the motherboard is shorting out, but that's the kind of thing you would rather expect to find on a new build, unless a screw has fallen down behind the board or something like that; but that's a long shot.

[bruceb]

Since he can't even get into the BIOS I would now tend to agree that it is either a bad mobo or a bad bios chip. On some boards, they are easy to replace and on others they are soldered in.

You can try here for a new bios chip

http://www.biosman.com/replacement.htm

[Beeblequix]

Well I got the new motherboard, switched parts and at least now it can boot from CD because the XP bootup corrupted at some point & keeps rebooting. Can boot from CD and load Knoppix just fine. Think I'll put the hard drive back in an external enclosure, back up all the files and get them a nice clean install.

The url below describes the symptoms of a bad battery -- loss of BIOS settings & warnings with regard to dead battery on bootup. As I'd mentioned, it wouldn't even POST. I suspect they didn't have it on a surge protector and had a power surge (I know part of their city had power outages the day they called me because some of the ATMs I deal with went offline for a time, and they don't live too far from them). Honestly I haven't seen a bad battery on one of my PCs since the 90's. I have PCs in my computer room here that I still use all the time that are twice as old as theirs so I just don't think it's related, but I certainly appreciate the ideas.
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/mbs...eryDead-c.html

[Train]

I have had gotten 3 bad batteries on new motherboards in the last 4 years that gave none of the normal warnings. Yep, brand new right out of the box.

[Beeblequix]

Interesting. How did the boards behave? I'm not doubting you. It would help us understand the nuances better. Thanks.

[Train]

1st. It would show the BIOS version and shut down.
2nd. screen flash was it
3rd. nothing until battery was replaced which was a real hair puller.

[Nonna]

Am I correct -- on a laptop mb, you can't change the cmos battery. If its bad, you have to get a new mb, right?

[Sterling_Aug]

Am I correct -- on a laptop mb, you can't change the cmos battery. If its bad, you have to get a new mb, right?

Maybe 10 years ago or so, but not anymore.