I am trying to help my son out with his Computer.
Someone UNPLUGED the Electrical Cord before the Computer
had fully shut down. Since then the Computer will not start up,
there is nothing, no post, no beeps.
I have tried the Hard Drive on another Computer and it also
would not open the windows, so I re-formatted and re-installed
windows on another computer. I find it unusual that this computer
will not work again after the Power was cut off ??

This Computer is a used one and looks like a custom job,
the dealer would not have anything to do with even trying to repair it.
I followed your instructions to clear the CMOS and still nothing.

The Mainboard is an ASROCK - K7S41GX - Rev. 1.03,
with Intgrated Video, Audio and an AMD Sempron Processor.
On a sticker it has - 686 AMI BIOS (1999) SW47 (0668)
Using Windows 98 Second Edition

I would certainly appreciate any possible help anyone may be able
to give me. I tried the ASROCK people and even with the information
that the dealer would not help, still suggested returning to the dealer ??
So I would kindly thank anyone with any possible suggestions. Al

so by no post (power on self test) u mean that the fan sits there spinning and spinning but u get nothing on screen no beeps, no nothing, if this is correct try unplugging everything see if it beeps at u or anything and then post back with results.

Hi, thanks for the message.

Everything unpluged, fan runs, can shut down from the mainboard,
but no beeps, no monitor, Nothing on screen ??

aburpt power outages have been known to cause havoc with systems.
You said you unpluged everything no RAM no HDD no optical drives no modem no PCI cards evrything off the MB. And still no beep codes?
From the extreme bare bones start adding one componet at a time .... one stick of memory then the next etc until you get some diagnostic codes.
Also if you have a PSU tester check the power supply one circuit may have fried.

don't shoot the mesenger because he tripped and spilled the beer

PetetheGeek

Thank you for your messgae, will try that and let you know.
this is unusual, because any I have seen this happen to, the next startup
you usually get the message "windows was not shut down properly"
and then it goes through the test. Al


I`m not sure if I am testing the Mainboard properly but, there is
conductivity through all pins on the 20 pin plug in, except 13 black Gnd,
and 19 Red 5 v. to Ground on the Minboard ?? Al

This post has been edited by Allan Barrer: Sep 5 2005, 06:48 AM

you have a 5v outage on the psu or you are using a dell power supply in which case the 5v is in reverse polarity. Either case it doesn't work for your motherboard try replacing the power supply with a known good to test.

Thank you for your information. I tried a new Power Unit and all
voltages check okay. I do not have a spare AMD socket 462
processor to try, so I will try and get one tomorrow and try that.
Thanks again. Al

The issue is this. With new PC's, you have the option to turn the computer on through your keyboard. Sometimes this is set up to occur by the person who sold the pc to you, but by default I am pretty sure its switched off. What you need to do, is look at resetting your BIOS. Now I know you are thinking "I cant do that without getting into BIOS". But you need to review your users manual on how to reboot the BIOS. One way is removing the battery. The length of time you should do this for, I do not know, last PC i did this to I removed the battery for 5 minutes. There is another way, where you connect a 9V current to the correct jumpers, and this resets everything. But as I said, dont try either of these without reviewing your manual, but the issue definitely sounds like a "keyboard power on" issue.

Hi, thank you for your information, sorry for the delay as we were away.

I had a chance to try the Processor in another Motherboard and it works fine,
post and everything is there, so the problem still lies within the Motherboard.

I downloaded a manual from the internet, and it only explains how to clear
the CHMOS by removing the Battery and putting a jumper on the clear
CHMOS pins , but that also did not work.

I would greatly appreciate any other possible help anyone may be able to
give me with this Motherboard problem. If anyone knows how to Reset the
CHMOS or Reset the (Possible Key Board Startup) I would be very please to
hear from them, and many thanks. Al

It sounds like a psu problem, check and see if the psu had any kind of overload protection as removing the power cord can cause electrical shock. this may have fried a circut or capacitor in the mb. remember though, some parts of the mb may still work such as power or leds or fans, but other parts may be done for. I suggest trying the mb in another machine and trying a new mb in the problematic one.
Nixx

I just wanted to drop a line here to share my recent experiences. I am a novice-intermediate repair guy. I do a few computers per week for additional income and experience. I've just fixed this "Computer won't post" problem. The short story is this: It was the RAM.

The longer story...

I got this K7S5A from a friend who said it wouldn't do anything. No beeps, nothing. I took it home and spent the past month trying to figure this out (periodically... I do have a "real" job). At first I suspected everything. Not knowing what controls what, I was left with a lot of troubleshooting. The lights would come on, but no video. The CD Roms would keep restarting, so that told me the MB was rebooting itself for some reason, it never got the point of showing video..or it did but the video card was bad so I couldn't see it...Hmmm. The user had recently been playing around in the BIOS but swears she reset the BIOS but it didn't work. I tried resetting the BIOS, no go. I then removed the battery and let it sit for 20 minutes...nothing. I checked the voltages from the power supply, seemed fine..though I couldn't check the amps or watts without putting a meter inline with the power...wasn't about to start disecting power cables for that. I replaced the video card, same thing no boot, no beeps, nothing but lights and restarting CD Roms. She had 2 RAM chips in there, old DDR 233mhz chips. I removed each one independently, nothing. So I figured it can't be BOTH sticks being bad, must be something else. I thought about replacing the BIOS chip, but I'm not good at soldering small stuff and a 6 layer board, if that is what a motherboard is, is beyond me. So I figured maybe Power supply. I ordered a new one of those...still nothing. I told her it was the MB or Processor, but I didn't want to just swap out one or the other because if the problem was caused by a voltage irregularity, I didn't want to fry a new one. Told her I could replace the MB/CPU for $150 and she'd have the same thing pretty much. I ordered the combo unit on sale for $123. With the power supply, I figured she'd pretty much get a nice refreshed system for under $200. Not bad... She's not into serious gaming or anything so you can do things cheap. MB gets here, no processor...sent away for new one, returned the one they sent, blah blah blah. Finally arrives, plug everything in, being very careful about static, no magnetic screwdrivers, everything all set... Turn it on......See a main screen...says press DEL to enter setup, yeah....this is great....press Del.....nothing......just sits there. WTF? Try again and again...check all connections.....crap......that's it, think it over for the night, put it all to the side. This morning I get up and think about it...the only thing thats the same is the video card, ram, case, drives.... Can't be the video, can't be the case (unless it was shorting out the mb, but I checked that on last mb..... doubt it's the drives...should be able to post with no drives...oh yeah, I tried that...wasn't the problem....what's left? RAM.

The problem with diagnosing bad RAM is that nobody really has any good RAM lying around to swap out. Who, other than a few of us nerds, has good DDR ram lying around? Well, me being one of the only 3 computer nerds I know personally started looking online....lot of money to invest in RAM if it's not the problem. What if I shocked the processor when handling it? What if I connected something wrong....what if what if....arghhhhh!.

Call dad! By luck, my father had an old stick of DDR memory lying around. he upgraded and didn't have enough slots to keep his old stuff. I grabbed that, plut it in....BINGO... post was fine, booted up, entered CMOS Setup......awwww yeah, this is nice.

wait, now I got this new MB and processor sitting here that I can't charge the customer for. She waited over a month already for my mistake not being able to think 2 ram sticks would die at same time. Crap.....maybe she zapped em in BIOS? Anyway.... now I'm off to the store to buy more RAM.. Yeah I could get it online for half the price but she's waited long enough. Not to mention her husband is my boss...can't very well tick them off... heh... ahh what a wonderful learning experience this was.

Go buy some cheap RAM. Spend $19 on Ebay and buy a 128 stick and wait for it. When it comes in and you check it, you may be very happy. If not, you wasted a few days and $20. So what?

CHECK THE RAM!!!!!

Thank you for your information, but I have tried a couple of different Memory
from a Computer that was working Okay. I have also tried different Power
units, even a new one. I tried the Processor in another Computer and it
works fine, so that leaves only the Motherboard. I tried the Clear CMOS,
and nothing has worked so far. I find it hard to believe that by unpluging the
electical cord the Motherboard no longer works, because if that is the
case, then a lot of people would have their Computers Ruined every time
the Hydo Power went out ?????

If anyone has any other suggestions that I might try to get this ASRock
K7S41GX Motherboard up and runing again I would certainly appreciate
hearing from them, as the ASRock web site is NO HELP and the answer
from the Company is to take the Unit back to the Dealer, and being a used
Computer, the Dealer want`s nothing to do with this problem.

Many thanks to anyone who may be able to help me Solve this problem.

Al

Since I posted this message it has been suggested to me that I do a BIOS
Boot Block Install but I am not sure how to do this. It says for AMI BIOS
which I have, I will need to make a bootable Floppy disk. Can anyone
please explain to me how to do this proceedure so that I can try it.
Any help or information would be greatly appreciated, as anything is
worth a try at this point with this Motherboard.

Al

This post has been edited by Allan Barrer: Oct 12 2005, 04:50 PM

As of yesterday I had 2 computers in my house that would not post. I fixed one. The error was so simple that I wanted to beat the 2 days that I worked on it out of it. I had the same problem no post, no beebs, no video, just fans. The solution, some how the keyboard went bad or fryed or something. I switched the keyboard and what do you know: post, video, and booted like the problem never happened. I never knew that a bad keyboard would prevent a comp from posting. I know its a long shot try it.

My other computer still wont post or anything. I tried everything too. Removed everything but the esentials, cleared BOIS, new ram, new power supply, new HD, and took it out of the case to make sure its not shorting. It has to be the cpu or mb. Im currently ordering a new mb for it. Why havent you tryed a new motherboard?

Hi whathefox, Thank you for your information, but the keyboard works just fine on
other computers, but will try another one anyway.

When a problem happens like this one, where the electrical cord was unplugged
before the Windows had completley shut down, it should not ruin the motherboard.
Many times I have had the Electricity go out very suddenly and it has not ruined
the motherboard. As you have suggested to replace the motherboard is VERY
easy. The great challenge is to try to find out what the problem is with the
motherboard, first of all and then correct the problem, so that any future problem
like this one, I will possibly know what to correct.
Al

Hi whathefox, Thank you for your information, but the keyboard works just fine on
other computers, but will try another one anyway.

When a problem happens like this one, where the electrical cord was unplugged
before the Windows had completley shut down, it should not ruin the motherboard.
Many times I have had the Electricity go out very suddenly and it has not ruined
the motherboard. As you have suggested to replace the motherboard is VERY
easy. The great challenge is to try to find out what the problem is with the
motherboard, first of all and then correct the problem, so that any future problem
like this one, I will possibly know what to correct.
Al

PS - Disregard this message as I was having trouble posting reply and tried the second
time and I see it posted twice. Al

This post has been edited by Allan Barrer: Oct 21 2005, 05:26 AM