Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Dead System

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    253

    Dead System

    Just when I thought things were going well, I woke up this morning to a system which will not boot. This is so frustrating. Maybe my wife is right, and computers are an invention of the devil.

    When I turn the system on several things happen. The fans come on, and the light on the motherboard comes on. A little message comes on the screen, alternating between "analog" and "digital", as though searching. That lasts about fifteen seconds, and then the monitor power light starts blinking. It goes into power saving mode. What doesn't happen is anything else. There are NO beeps, no further action of any sort.

    I tried switching to digital video, with a DVI cable, and I get a floating message telling me to check the analog cable. I've tried three video cables, all with the same result. I've tried two monitors. I reseated every connection and card I could find. I've tried two video cards.

    I backprobed the power connection on the motherboard, to test the power supply. The number 8 pin, the "power-ok" pin, gave me 4.42 VDC. Acceptable there is between 3 and 6 volts. I probed points at 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. All were within tolerance.

    I tried the "bootstrap" method. I disconnected about everything except the keyboard, the monitor, and some RAM. Same result.

    It's the classic "dead system". But, it's what I have, so I have to make it run.

    Within the past year I've replaced the power supply(Antec), maxed out the RAM, upgraded the CPU to a whopping Athlon XP 1800+, and turned the system into a dual boot. I think I have threads for each of those.

    This is an older AMD Athlon system on a Gigabyte 7-ZXE board. I've got multiple hard drives, a scanner, a printer--nothing too exciting.

    And now it's the classic 'dead system'. I need some help here, folks. I'm sending this from my daughter's computer because I don't have a working system I will be checking only sporadically for the same reason. My daughter will be relay messages.

    What thoughts do you all have?

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    Posts
    5,739
    The symptoms are typical of a bad motherboard or cpu.

    Any signs of bad caps? Is the cpu heatsink attached correctly? CPU fan running?

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    253
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocketmech View Post
    The symptoms are typical of a bad motherboard or cpu.

    Any signs of bad caps? Is the cpu heatsink attached correctly? CPU fan running?
    I can't see any sign of bad caps, though they can be hard to spot. It would seem odd that the motherboard would go out so suddenly, but I guess it's possible. I believe the heatsink is attached correctly. I'll check that in the morning. I'll need some new thermal paste for that. There are three fans in that tower: one at the bottom front sucking air in, one in the power supply pushing air out, and one on the cpu. All are running. Still, it's always possible that I fried the cpu. It's been in there a couple months (see a previous post).

    I'm now on my daughter's o;d Tower. It IS old. It's running W98.

    Is there a sure way to check whether the cpu is fried? Or the motherboard?

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    Posts
    5,739
    You could try the Clear CMOS jumper on the mobo and/or try your old cpu . Did you try one stick of ram at a time?

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    253
    I just got back from Frys with some thermal paste. I'll try the old cpu tomorrow. It's too close to 'going to work' time to try today. I tried one of the sticks of RAM singly, but not all. Maybe I can do that quickly today.

    I can clear the CMOS with a jumper on the motherboard. I'm not sure I see the immediate purpose though. Could you explain that to me, please?

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    Posts
    5,739
    Clearing CMOS will erase your current bios configuration and force load bios defaults. This helps relieve any inadvertent overclock or other misconfiguration. It's really a long shot for you since you were likely running stock anyways, but on occasion this helps regardless.

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Canadian prairie
    Posts
    3,798
    When a computer is dead, the usual suspect is the PSU. Clearing CMOS and checking for bad caps is a logical first step, but VOM, DMM and PSU tester probes cannot confirm that a PSU is good. Do you have another that you can swap in to test? That's the only way to be sure.

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    253
    I tried all three sticks of ram sinngly. Nothing good happened. I'll try the old cpu in a bit. It's an Athlon 1100 which I pulled not too long ago. I was hoping for a performance improvement with the 1800. The 1100 was still good when it came out.

    The power supply is new within the last year. It's an Antec Earthwatts 430, EA-430D Green. It's not fancy, but gives me all the power I need for the system I'm running. If it's failed I'm going to be very unhappy. Unfortunately I have no spare to change out. It's going to be more a process of eliminate everything else.

    Next step will be change out the cpu. I'd much rather have fried the cpu than killed the power supply.

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    253
    The system is up and running again. It's back on the Athlon 1100 cpu. Guess the 1800+ was somehow fried.

    It's always good to be able to fix things with parts on hand. The only expense this go-around was for the thermal paste. That's a good thing. There is never a good or a convenient time to spend money.

    Anyway, the panic is over. My thanks for the help. That's always appreciated.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •