[toarlach]

Just recently, my desktop has not been able to post. I have not been able to get any output the screen, no hard drive activity, nor the beep that usually happens on post.

I'm pretty sure the power supply is fine, because the front lights appear, and I can open and close the cdrom drive.

I'm afraid that it's a problem with the motherboard, because that's what all of my hardware is on. I don't have a video card or network card (I use both the onboard video and NIC).

I tried taking out the RAM and reseating it, and switching the RAM places--still nothing. If it was a problem with the RAM, it would beep at me continuously, but not in this instance.

Anyone have any good remedies for this? If you need it, my PC specs are below.

Asus K8s-MV/V Motherboard
Sempron 2600+ Processor
DDR333 RAM

[Adam951]

Its a possibilty your windows has some corruption, get a windows cd and try repairing windows. But of course, it would be better to reformat your hard drive if you don't care about the loss of data.

Try Hdd in another pc, see if other pc boots off that Hdd First to see if it is indeed a hardware fault.

[link590o]

he doesn't even get through to the bios though. he doesn't get any output at all. windows hasn't even entered the picture yet.

the motherboard or your processor are the problems here, i suspect. more than likely it's the motherboard.

that's not to say you shouldn't test your hard-drive though. since the motherboard may have died, it might have killed something in the process. take your hard-drive out and try booting windows on another machine if at all possible. that will at least tell you if your hard-drive is functional and intact. that's always a good thing to be sure of. test the memory on another machine as well. might as well take stock of what works and what doesn't.

but one of the reasons i vote death of the motherboard as being the cause is how old the machine is. 333mhz RAM tells me that the poor thing is at least 7 or 8 years old by now.

that is going to be next to impossible to replace. or if it is possible, it will be damn expensive because it's likely those boards aren't being made anymore and therefore prices will be jacked through the roof.

for the price you'll pay to replace even one of the parts in that machine, you might as well just put whatever cash you have towards a new PC.

[Blackmirror]

check the HS FAN, most mobo's will not power up, if they detect a malfunctioning HS FAN

[Rik]

Also, try clearing your cmos. Your mobo manual will tell you how to do it.

Its a long shot, but worth a try.

[alan2273]

The PSU could also be at fault, just because the lights come on and the Cd draw opens does not mean the PSU is working correctly, as this does not use the 12V rail.

[Rik]

Um, have you ever opened up a cd player alan2273? The draw driver motor is a 12volt motor!

[alan2273]

Originally Posted by Rik

Um, have you ever opened up a cd player alan2273? The draw driver motor is a 12volt motor!

I stand corrected, I thought they ran of 5 volts.

[Daveskater]

Normally no beeps from the system speaker means that there is a motherboard fault.

[toarlach]

Thanks for your insights guys--yeah, I'm guessing it's a motherboard problem. It's sad, because I got the PC about 3 years ago.

I haven't found the motherboard (Asus K8S-MV/V) on Newegg anywhere, so yeah, I'm possibly thinking a new PC would be the way to go instead of trying to find a needle in a haystack of the motherboard.

Thanks for your input all! Oh and yeah, the 333MHz is the speed on the front-side bus.

[toarlach]

Ok. So I've found out I can replace the motherboard and not have it be the exact same thing (Asus k8s-mv/v). I have found this motherboard below, and does anyone know anything about ECS?

Would this be a good replacement for the motherboard I currently have (specs provided in first post)

Newegg.com - ECS GOAL3+ATHLON64 3200+ AMD Athlon64 3200+ 754 SiS 761 GX Micro ATX Motherboard/CPU/CPU Fan/Memory Combo - Motherboard / CPU / VGA Combo

Your feedback is welcomed

[link590o]

It certainly seems like a suitable replacement. It will fit your old RAM and hard drive at least, so you've saved yourself some extra money. I don't know about ECS at all though. I've never heard of them. I typically resort to the customer reviews of the product, but since there aren't any, I'd be going with it purely out of faith alone.

I'm not saying don't go for it. A replacement is a replacement, and if worse comes to worse, you can RMA the thing. I'm solely hesitant because I know nothing about ECS and their quality control.

Y'know what, I'll just make it concise. Just consider my vote a yes. Do it.

[Albert Lionheart]

Something like this is usually down to either the PSU or the motherboard and if you want to save money the first thing to do is make sure the PSU is OK. Disconnect everything from the PSU output (all the drives etc) except the power feed(s) to the motherboard - reboot: any POST? Sometimes a bad drive can be a cause. If no boot after this test if no POST then it does look like a motherboard failure.
Can you borrow a PSU to test one last thing? - connect a new or known good PSU to just the motherboard and test - if it works you know your PSU has died, if not it is the motherboard.

[Klunk]

Eliminate any issues that may be with other components
Disconnect the power from all internal drives, floppy, CD/DVD, including your HDDs.
Leave only power to the essential devices, motherboard, the extra 4pin 12v power connector too, CPU, fans, GFX card (if needed)

Now try a boot, does it POST? any beeps now?
If it doesnt POST and there are NO beeps its either the board or the CPU
If it POSTS with beeps, what are the beeps?

If it POSTS without any warning beeps and just the single "all is OK" beep then connect your HDD and boot again.
Keep reconnecting one device at a time until it fails to POST.
Let us know the results.

Have you tested the PSU, CPU, motherboard independently?

[jtdoom]

Hi,

maybe you haven't yet gotten out and managed/tried to find a mobo replacement.
Can you first try a cheap replacement like a new cell coin battery?
A new CR2032 battery may get the mobo alive again.
If that mobo still doesn't POST after you put a new one in, then you ruled out it wasn't that, and there is a fairly high likelyhood that it is simply that.
A dead battery will stop dead a mobo.

[toarlach]

I know it has been a while since I have touched this post; however, I re-seated the CMOS battery yesterday and all works fine!

Thank you all for your help!

[Blackmirror]

Originally Posted by jtdoom

Hi,

maybe you haven't yet gotten out and managed/tried to find a mobo replacement.
Can you first try a cheap replacement like a new cell coin battery?
A new CR2032 battery may get the mobo alive again.
If that mobo still doesn't POST after you put a new one in, then you ruled out it wasn't that, and there is a fairly high likelyhood that it is simply that.
A dead battery will stop dead a mobo.

get your bum back in here Mr

[toarlach]

Me? Or jtdoom?

My PC posts and is back to working order now. Schweet!!!

Thanks everyone for your help.

[Blackmirror]

LOL i quoted him

[jtdoom]

Hi, Toarlach.

This is indeed a Happy New Year message about a DuD you revived.

The Staff here, and I too, really appreciate feedback about solutions, and Happy ends are new beginnings.

Donna, where did you want my erse?

Kind regards, and happy computing in 2010.. Jaak