DEAD COMPUTER???????????

[halljams]

I don't know what's up.

I have dual athlon mp 2400's on a tyan 2460 MB.

It won't even boot up to the basic dos type black and white lettering pre Hard drive recognition.

So i can't get into the bios.

None of the drives are registering any activity on start up.(no blinking lights just solid lights, so they are all getting power.)

I tried taking both ram sticks out one at a time to see if one was bad but that ain't it.

I tried new cables on the drives, disconnecting the drives all one at a time, taking out pci cards, changing video cards, read the MB manual....

I'm lost.

 

I'm calling the vendor of the puter tommorrow but if anyone has any idea what this may be i'd appreciate any ideas.

I have a 550 watt power supply and only recently have tried to install UAD-1 and powercore but i took those out and still have the problem. The only other thing in the pci slots is my motu 424 card and a video card, which like i say i tried replacing to no avail.

 

I'm leaning towards thinking a dead CPU or MB.

 

Anyone?

[Anderton]

That happened to me once. I forget the exact cure, but in my case there was some kind of hard reset option on my MB, I think it required a jumper on two pins. That essentially restored the CMOS to its normal settings. Of course, you would lose any defaults you had changed.

 

I wish I could remember the exact routine, but Pete Leoni walked me through it while I was panicking, so it's all a blur...I just remember being highly relieved when everything worked again!

[Tele Kinesis]

Did you try to disconnect EVERYthing that it doesn't need to show the BIOS? Disconnect ALL drives. Remove ALL cards, except of course, the video. Temporarily disconnect the power cables to all drives and fans. (BTW, did you measure the voltages from the power supply?)

Once you have EVERYthing except the motherboard, video card, processor(s) and one stick of RAM removed, turn it on and see if you get a display. If not, swap the RAM module. (On the Intel MB's we use, you can actually take the RAM out of Slot 0, and put it in Slot 1, and it will boot up. That indicates to us that the Slot 0 is bad, and we trash the MB. Don't know whether that will work on yours.)

You say it's a dual processor? Can you run that board with just one? If so, take out #2, and see if it works. If it doesn't work, swap the processors. While they are out, carefully and closely re-examine the pins to make sure none are bent over. I've seen some that our production has assembled that were. (Hard to find good help, I guess). Probably wouldn't hurt at this point to swap the video card again, just to see. I've seen stuff where a couple of things were bad. Makes it hard to chase down.

Basically, you want to strip it down to the barest basic minimum amount of anything that it would need to boot to a screen. If you do get a screen at some point, start by reconnecting power to things, one at a time. (Connect the floppy, power up, if it still works, power down. Connect the CD/DVD, etc.)

If you get it down to the barest of bootable to screen, and it still doesn't work, I would suspect the MB or processor(s), given all the voltages from the power supply are correct.

Also, if you can't find, or it doesn't have a BIOS jumper, take out the battery for awhile to see if that makes it lose all it's settings.

 

Good luck.

 

Tele

[Rim]

Listen for beeps, too, as you power up. Your MB should have explanations on what the beeps mean. One short beep usually means normal so anything else usually means some kind of problem. Make sure the speaker output on the MB is connected to the dinky speakers found inside your computer.

[halljams]

Originally posted by Rim.:

Listen for beeps, too, as you power up. Your MB should have explanations on what the beeps mean. One short beep usually means normal so anything else usually means some kind of problem. Make sure the speaker output on the MB is connected to the dinky speakers found inside your computer.

Thanks guys.

Yeah i did at one point get one long beep and that was the last time i got to the "writing on the screen stage".The manual says nothing about one long endless beep unfortunately.

I hope a CMOS reset does it.

[Rim]

CMOS reset is worth a shot but I wouldn't be hopeful.

 

Another thing to check are the fans - both on the CPU and in the power supply - although this is a long shot, too. Even with broken fans though, a computer will usually pass POST (Power On Self Test) - the beeps - before it overheats and shuts down or goes goofy.

 

It sounds MB related, either the MB itself or the CPU (or both). Process of elimination is your only hope.

 

- Rim

[Raymar]

I was having a couple of problems with my PC recently like you're having. Mine would freeze up then wouldn't reboot, just a black screen. The fans were going, the CD ROM and recorder lights came on but it wouldn't even read a diskette. Nothing to work with and I thought the motherboard was toast.

 

I popped the hood and pressed the cable from the HD to the motherboard with a screwdriver, and for good measure I turned the CMOS battery a little bit. So far its working fine, doesn't freeze up now. Had me going for awhile.

 

Steve

[Alndln]

9 times out of 10 it's just a VGA card ever so slightly out of it's saddle,try pulling it out and reseating it.Also when's the last time you changed the mobo's battery?

[Philip OKeefe]

Step one - make sure you're getting power from the power supply. Do the fans come on when you switch on? If not, then that's your power supply. I had one go bad once. Easy to replace. If power comes on, you should use a meter to check the power supply voltages - it might be enough to spin the fans but not enough to power up.

 

If the PS is fine, the next step is to reset the CMOS as Craig suggested. On some boards, this is as simple as changing a board jumper, while others may require you to pull the onboard battery.

 

I agree with other posters that you should do complete testing - pull everything you don't need. Try one CPU, then the other seperately. Ditto for the RAM sticks and slots. Remember to be systematic in your approach - start with the basics and go from there.

 

I also agree that there's a very good chance you have a dead mobo... but you need to check things out completely first before you run out and get a new one.

 

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

[halljams]

Thanks so much guys, all awesome suggestions which i have gone thru as of last night.

Nothin!

I ordered a new MB, should be here tomorrow.