[jonnyb]

Hello,
I need a little help with this one.

I'm working on a co-workers computer and I've reach the end of my tech abilities.

Hp pavilion a705w
Celeron 340 2.93 - 478 pin
MSI motherboard - ms-6577 v3

The tower will power up but I get a blank screen (stays in standby). The fans run and the hard drive light blinks once. The motherboard does not give any error beeps.

This is what I've done so far:
-the power supply is good and tested with another power supply (which I know is good)
-pulled everthing from the board except for the cpu, memory, and hard drive
-pulled the button battery for 10 minutes with power cord unplugged and then cleared cmos with jumper
-removed the heatsink and reseated the cpu
-removed the heatsink and tried to power up pc (a few seconds) and the cpu got hot (don't know if this means it's good)


This has happened to me once on my first build and the cpu was the blame but I don't want to spend my co-workers money on parts that could be a problem.

My guess is the cpu but I just want to know if there is anything else I could try.

I do not own any Celeron cpu's (I'm a AMD fan ) nor another motherboard to test the cpu on and the warranty on the pc is long gone.

Thanks for you time as always

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Testing a computer without the heatsink on top of the cpu can damage the cpu in a matter of seconds.

Try to pull the memory module out and boot the computer. are there any beep sounds? Clean the module's contacts and the slot and reseat the module. Any difference? If you have more then one module try to take them out one at a time and swap slots. It might be that one is damaged causing a total collapse of the system. Even better, if you have a replacement module known to be good try to install it for test purpooses.

Is the video card an on-board or add-on one? If you have two video connectors at the back of the computer try to connect the monitor to the second one. If you have only one and it's an on-board try to insert an add-on video card. If you have only one and it's the add-on try to replace it.

If all these tests didn't make the computer working then you probably have a motherboard/cpu problem. In most cases it's the motherboard that fails but you can't be sure until you move the cpu to another board.

All this is based on the assumption that the psu was testsed and found to be ok. Just make sure that the large connector to the cpu is sitting properly. Disconnect and reconnect.

[The Skeptic]

Testing a computer without the heatsink on top of the cpu can damage the cpu in a matter of seconds.

Try to pull the memory module out and boot the computer. are there any beep sounds? Clean the module's contacts and the slot and reseat the module. Any difference? If you have more then one module try to take them out one at a time and swap slots. It might be that one is damaged causing a total collapse of the system. Even better, if you have a replacement module known to be good try to install it for test purpooses.

Is the video card an on-board or add-on one? If you have two video connectors at the back of the computer try to connect the monitor to the second one. If you have only one and it's an on-board try to insert an add-on video card. If you have only one and it's the add-on try to replace it.

If all these tests didn't make the computer working then you probably have a motherboard/cpu problem. In most cases it's the motherboard that fails but you can't be sure until you move the cpu to another board.

All this is based on the assumption that the psu was testsed and found to be ok. Just make sure that the large connector to the cpu is sitting properly. Disconnect and reconnect.

[jonnyb]

Thanks for the quick reply

I only had the pc running till I felt the chip get warm then shut it off.

There is only one memory module and I pulled that one out check the contacts then put it into the other available bank (only 2 on this board). I don't have any of this particular memory modules on hand.
The motherboard does not give off any error codes (beeps)

This board only has 1 video output (VGA) and its on-board. I do own a pci video card and tried it as well and nothing happened.

What puzzles me is the fact I'm getting any error codes.

The psu is in good working order.

Would the board give a error code if the cpu is bad??

Edited by jonnyb, 13 May 2007 - 11:44 AM.

[The Skeptic]

Depending on the problem you may, or may not hear a sound code. If the cpu or the motherboard are finished then there is a very good chance that you will not hear anything. If, when the memory module is out you don't hear anything (assuming the internal speaker is connected and work) then can you expect problems with the motherboard or cpu.

[jonnyb]

Oh well,
I guess I have to give my co-worker the bad news. I just checked the web for the same board and nothing but ebay has 3 of them and one of them are already up to @ 70 + 14 shippingand the auction is far from ending.

Thank you for time

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