Need help from Hardware gurus

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HavocXphere

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My PC is died the other day, and I think either Mobo or CPU is fried. I switched it on the one morning and nothing happened except fans spinning & HDD light is constantly on. No beep and blank screen.

So far I've tried:
==>Different PSU
==>Removing HDDs & IDEs
==>Reseating RAM
==>Reseting CMOS
==>Removing peripherals
==>Removing Graphics card (only card in PC)
==>Removed fan & put new thermal paste on. CPU looks fine.

I can still try different RAM and a different Bios Battery, but I'm not so optimistic with that.

Can someone tell me if:
1) Can a PC get as far as BIOS without any RAM installed?

2) Is there a way to determine whether the mobo or CPU is fried without having spares?

3) What are the chances of this being dust somewhere or a rubbish connection?

Specs:
3000+
Gigabyte mobo 7N400-L
250W PSU
Surge-protection
Radeon 9600SE
CPU was running fairly hot (~55C).

Thanks
 
1) Can a PC get as far as BIOS without any RAM installed?

No, it needs RAM

2) Is there a way to determine whether the mobo or CPU is fried without having spares?

Yes, smell it, if it smells of burn, it's busted. Some people also recommend checking the caps on the motherboard for leakage, that's a sign it's gone to lala land.

3) What are the chances of this being dust somewhere or a rubbish connection?

Dust, not likely, unless you've got a bee's nest in your pc. Connection problem maybe. It could also be that your CPU overheated, so that would cause the pc not to POST or boot at all ;)
 
HavocXphere said:
My PC is died the other day, and I think either Mobo or CPU is fried. I switched it on the one morning and nothing happened except fans spinning & HDD light is constantly on. No beep and blank screen.

So far I've tried:
==>Different PSU
==>Removing HDDs & IDEs
==>Reseating RAM
==>Reseting CMOS
==>Removing peripherals
==>Removing Graphics card (only card in PC)
==>Removed fan & put new thermal paste on. CPU looks fine.

I can still try different RAM and a different Bios Battery, but I'm not so optimistic with that. I just recently had a motherboard that failed dead. It was the CMOS battery that went dead, short circuit! Replaced battery and board booted up.
Can someone tell me if:
1) Can a PC get as far as BIOS without any RAM installed? Nope! will get beep codes!
2) Is there a way to determine whether the mobo or CPU is fried without having spares? - Only if IC's get very hot!

3) What are the chances of this being dust somewhere or a rubbish connection? - Very unlikely!
Click to expand...


See text!
 
I agree with the Mr. above me, try another CMOS battery ;) It's something like R5 at your nearest Kodak store :p
 
OK. I'll raid another PC for RAM and CMOS battery.

dablakmark8 said:
do this swop the ide cables a round.and then restart.
Click to expand...
I removed all the IDE cables along with the HDD. No joy/beep :(

teraside said:
Yes, smell it, if it smells of burn, it's busted. Some people also recommend checking the caps on the motherboard for leakage, that's a sign it's gone to lala land.
Click to expand...
Smells like all PCs, but I'll inspect it for leakage/damage. btw, I thought the caps were sold inside?

NoADSLyet said:
1) Can a PC get as far as BIOS without any RAM installed? Nope! will get beep codes!
Click to expand...
Ok. I'll also try removing RAM to see if it gives beep codes. The gay manual does not have any beep codes listed though.

I'll try all of the above, but I suspect that I'm gonna be a few grand poorer soon...

Thanks guys
 
Try one Module of Ram at a time if you got more than one and try them in diffrent slots.
 
Not all caps leak, the newer ones just bulge, open a gap at the top in order to release pressure. So go through the caps and check to see if their tops are completely flat or not.
 
Ok. I did some googling on this.

Gigabyte nForce2 7n400 is a rubbish board. The net is full of people with exactly the same problem. One day it works, the next its dead. None of them got it working again and nobody knows whats wrong.

Next time (/next week) I'm buying an Intel with an Asus board.
 
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