Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

PC won't boot


  • Please log in to reply

#1
JCas

JCas

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 26 posts
Hi guys; you've been of great help in the past and I hope you can help me with this one.

I put together this computer about 3 months ago, installed Windows 7 and run without problems until the other day when I started it up and all I got was 3 consecutive beeps all the time, no boot screen, no BIOS screen, nothing, the dvd drives seem to work as well as the fans but thats about it so I searched the web on my laptop for this symptoms and found that I had to reset the RAM which I did, shut it off, unplug the RAM, put it back in, disconnect power cable and push star button on computer, connect power cable again and turn on computer, now, at this point there is no more beeps but still nothing!! :)

The computer turns on, fans, dvd drives, hard drive, but still a black screen, in fact, my screen shows the no signal sign and goes on energy saving mode, which means there is no signal going from the board to the screen, no boot, no BIOS screen, nothing? Do I have a faulty mother board? is there any test I can run to diagnose the problem? Any advice will be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Here are the specs of the pc;

- ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS Socket AM2+
- AMD Phenom X3 8450e 2.1Ghz
- Patriot 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM
- Seagate 320GB Serial ATA HD. 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
- LG 24X DVDRW SATA
- Windows 7 SP1
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
phillpower2

phillpower2

    Mechanised Mod

  • Global Moderator
  • 24,716 posts
Hi JCas
Your specs say you have 2GB of Ram, is that 2 X 1GB sticks or 1 X 2GB stick?
  • 0

#3
JCas

JCas

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 26 posts
1 X 2Gb stick, I believe this mobo can only take up to 4Gb. :)

On another note I'm runing X64 version of Windows 7.
  • 0

#4
phillpower2

phillpower2

    Mechanised Mod

  • Global Moderator
  • 24,716 posts

1 X 2Gb stick

Thats too bad as I believe that it is your memory that is bad.
Have you tried the Ram in the other slot? If not do so but be sure to blow out any dust bunnies that may be in there.
If you still have no luck then loaning another stick of compatible Ram to try in your machine or trying your Ram in another PC are the next suggested steps.
Please provide your PSU details, brand and model name or number also are you using the onboard video chip or an add on GFX card?
  • 0

#5
JCas

JCas

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 26 posts
ok so the RAM is good, I tried it on another computer and it runs just fine, also I took the RAM from the other pc and put it on mine and nothing, I also tried the RAM on the other slot with the same luck, as for the PSU it is a Allied ATX 300W model # SL-8320BTX and yes, I'm using the onboard video chip, no GFX card.
  • 0

#6
phillpower2

phillpower2

    Mechanised Mod

  • Global Moderator
  • 24,716 posts
Ok so the Ram appears to be good but the slots on the MB may not be, can you remove the Ram
and power up to see if you get any error beeps, let us know what happens.
Trying a known good PSU is the next step, because the PSU puts out various voltages +3.3V, +5V and +12v etc any one of these can be bad and cause issues such as this, read Digeratis canned text @ http://www.geekstogo...-a-psu-problem/ which explains things in more detail, if the PSU is ruled out then you are looking at a MB issue and possibly the onboard video chip.
  • 0

#7
Jacee

Jacee

    Malware Expert

  • Expert
  • 994 posts
  • MVP
Some more trouble shooting ideas: http://www.wikihow.c...hich-Won't-Boot
  • 0

#8
JCas

JCas

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 26 posts
ok so everything is up and running now, this is what happened; I bought this computer as a bare bone kit at a local store, everything comes in their boxes not installed and they charge extra to have it all installed, I have a some knowledge in computers, off course not an expert and when I put this pc together I made a big noob mistake, there is some spacers that you put between the board and the case, well, when I put everything together I forgot to put those and I was running this pc like that for the last 3 months, today when I went to store where I bought it to ask what was wrong with the board the first thing the tech noticed was this spacers not being in and immediately he told me that I shorted the board so he only offered me service to check if in fact was just the mobo or something else at a rate of CAD $175, just to check it out and discard other components being damaged so I thank him and proceeded to buy another mobo, exactly the same I had for CAD $65 tax in, then came home and put it all back together, bingo! Everything started like there was never nothing wrong!

Shame on me for making this mistake but for educational purposes I'm telling my story. Thanks for all the help anyway.

Mods feel free to close this thread.
  • 0

#9
phillpower2

phillpower2

    Mechanised Mod

  • Global Moderator
  • 24,716 posts
Thanks for the update and also for posting the solution so that it may help others :)
Now that you have filled us in on all of the details I am surprised that the system has worked at all.
It is irrelevent now but had we of known that this was a recent new build the advice offered would have
been different, please see my canned text below which I would have suggested earlier but have now added
for the use of others;

Best couple of suggestions I can make would be first remove the MB and do a barebones set-up on a piece of cardboard (make sure it is larger than the MB) only connect the PSU, the GFX card, 1 stick of Ram and the keyboard.
You will then need to short out the 2 power on pins on the MB header to get the PSU to activate, you can use a small flat bladed screwdriver or a paper clip bent into a U shape, this is perfectly safe if you do not touch anything else, the idea is to see if we can get a BIOS screen if you do you can then add one component at a time until you find the problem component, you must power down and remove the power cord from the wall before adding a component, second suggestion try a known working PSU, it is not unknown for new components to be bad, third suggestion try and loan an ordinary PCI graphics card (not pci-e) again to try and get a BIOS screen.
Other things worth checking include, if you used stand offs beneath the MB are they in the correct locations (only where there is a screw hole in the MB) otherwise the MB will short out, check for stray screws or bared wires for the same reason, make sure the jumper cap that can be used for clearing the CMOS is not missing or on the wrong pins and finally try a new or replacement battery.

Anyhow glad you got it sorted but sorry that it was a costly mistake.
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP