[Product]

Hello Everyone -

I am having an issue with my PC. I have replaced the motherboard and also the video card thinking it will restore my PC back to tip top shape. This all happend when my USB when I moved my webcam with a short. Since then I returned my motherboard for a new one and also bought a new video card since I was getting a no signal being recieved from my monitor. I was wondering if anyone could provide what would be the next step in getting this PC running again? New Ram?

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Welcome to G2G, Product

Could you tell us your system specs please, including the motherboard make/model, cpu, type of ram, video card & power supply?

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G, Product

Could you tell us your system specs please, including the motherboard make/model, cpu, type of ram, video card & power supply?

[Product]

Thanks! Here are my specs.


Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory Model #: VS2GBKIT400C3
NVidia G-Gorce2MX Video Card
Rosewill ATX12V 400W with P4 support (Came with the Chasis)

HELP!

[Samm]

OK. thanks for the specs.

The first thing I want to check is the cpu. The cpu came was originally in the old motherboard, right? When you installed it into the new board, did you remove the old thermal compound from the cpu & heatsink, and then apply fresh compound?

[Product]

OK. thanks for the specs.

The first thing I want to check is the cpu. The cpu came was originally in the old motherboard, right? When you installed it into the new board, did you remove the old thermal compound from the cpu & heatsink, and then apply fresh compound?

Yea I am using the same CPU.

Yes i did. I removed the old coat and added a new coat.

Edited by Product, 18 January 2006 - 07:49 PM.

[Samm]

Thats good.
Wear any anti-static band or at least discharge your static by touching a metal surface before touching any components. Please follow these instructions in this order :

1) Disconnect the mains power lead, then disconnect the main ATX power cable from the motherboard.

2) Check that you have not installed any metal spacers (stand-offs) in places that do not line up with a screw hole in the motherboard. Also check for any other loose or bent bits of metal behind the board. I realise this means removing the board to check but unless you are certain that everything's ok, I advise you do it.

3) Remove everything from the board EXCEPT for the CPU+heatsink/fan, front panel connectors (including the case speaker), video card & ram. You should have no drive cabling, internal USB fly leads etc or pci cards in the motherboard.

4) Remove the video card & then re-insert. Make sure you push it firmly & evenly into the agp slot, but don't force it.

5) Make sure the ram is installed in slots 1 & 2 (i.e the two nearest the cpu)

6) Place the plastic jumper cap over the two pins of the CLR_CMOS jumper header, leave in place for about 30 seconds, then remove.

7) Reconnect the main ATX power cable to the motherboard & the 4 pin power cable for the cpu (ATX 12V).

8) Make sure you have only the monitor & keyboard/mouse (preferably PS/2, not USB) connected externally, then try to power the system on.

Let me know exactly what happens. i.e if you don't get anything coming up on the monitor, then let me know :
- is there any power to the system at all (i.e fans spinning etc)
- whether the keyboard lights flash just after powering on
- do you hear any beeps

[Product]

6) Place the plastic jumper cap over the two pins of the CLR_CMOS jumper header, leave in place for about 30 seconds, then remove.

Where do I find the plastic jumper cap?

[Product]

Ok. I did some figureing on the jumper cap and did what you asked. The cooling fan and heatsink both turn on but no display on the screen. Also No lights on a standard keyboard. No beeps.

Edited by Product, 18 January 2006 - 08:49 PM.

[Samm]

Ok, there are a couple more things I would like you to try because I don't give up on hardware easily! However, I'll tell you now what I suspect the problem is....
Unless you have been unlucky enough to have bought a dead motherboard, I suspect the problem is either going to be the cpu or the PSU.

But as I said, there are a couple more things to try yet. These steps, (if they don't fix the problem), then at least will help to determine which component is faulty. Please perform these steps in this order :

1. Remove all the RAM modules & the video card. It is crucial for this test that the case speaker is connected to the motherboard correctly, so please double check with the motherboard manual. NB, your manual refers to the 2 speaker wires as 'power' & 'data'. Data is the black wire, power is red. (BTW, I don't mean to sound patronizing but I do need to ensure that everything I ask you to do is very clear!).

2. Connect your optical drive(s) up to the PSU. No data cable though.

3. Reconnect the power to the motherboard & PSU & try to boot up again. Don't worry about checking the keyboard LEDs this time. All you are checking for now are beeps. You should hear several.

If you do get beeps, let me know & don't carry out the rest of these instructions. If there are no beeps, then carry on...

4. Remove the CPU from the board & check for bent pins. If there are any, let me know otherwise replace the cpu+heatsink/fan assembly.

Let me know what happens

[Product]

Ok this is what I did. I did all the above and I took out the PSU. No damage is visible. I reinstalled booted up the machine I got no beeps. Prior to this I was getting a constant slow beep. This is no longer happening.

[Samm]

Let me get this right then...
You removed & checked the PSU or the CPU for damage?
At what stage were you hearing the constant slow beep? Was it beeping like this right up until you performed my last lot of instructions?

[Product]

I failed yesterday to keep the speaker installed which would let me hear the beeps. Sorry for the newbie mistake. As soon as I got home about 20 minutes ago I connected the speaker. This is when I was hearing the long constants beeps. My mistake I removed the CPU Chip to check for damages. When I placed the chip back in I no longer heard any beeps.

Edited by Product, 19 January 2006 - 06:37 PM.

[Samm]

If you remove all the ram modules & the video card now & power the laptop back on, do you hear any beeps then?

[Product]

No beeps. Its a desktop by the way.

Edited by Product, 19 January 2006 - 07:00 PM.

[Samm]

No beeps. Its a desktop by the way.

Don't panic - I know it's a desktop, I had just been replying to a post about a laptop 30 seconds before I replied to you so must have got confused, lol.

OK, no beeps at all, [bleep].
Disconnect the power completely & recheck the cpu. Make sure you have installed it correctly & that the heatsink is correctly fitted & the fan connected to the CPU FAN header on the motherboard. I can't stress enough how important this is.
Next, clear the bios again using the CLR_CMOS jumper, as I described earlier.
Install the ram modules back into slots 1 & 2 but leave the video card out.
Reconnect the power to the motherboard & check that you also have the square 4 pin power connector plugged it, next to the cpu.

Power it again & let me know if it beeps at all this time.