65 replies to this topic

[Roaxis Stalomainis]

Here is a good distro of linux that you can install on a thumb drive very easily. It's called Slax.
http://www.slax.org/get_slax.php

[Aznpersuasion89]

Cool, thanks for all the help guys. I'm gonna stop by frys electronics tomorrow to see if I can get a combo as recomended for close to the same price. I'll let you guys know what happens

[Deathwalker]

No kidding. I wasn't asked to diagnose the motherboard, was trying to narrow it down to power or motherboard. Its easier to swap the power quick then it is to start plugging and unplugging components.

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 22 June 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

No... This is the wrong way to go about doing this. When you are troubleshooting a mobo you remove EVERYTHING and start with just the power supply, board, and CPU. Have the monitor plugged into the onboard video. Then gradually check to see if it detects everything such as the CPU, then check the memory by inserting 1 stick at a time and rotate slots, so if you have 4 sticks of ram you should get about 16 rotations of memory to check and see if both the ram and the ram slots are damaged or malfunctioning. If your system doesn't hang or start beeping like crazy at you then you know the ram is good and you can try hooking up the HDD, Follow that with the Optical Drive then your video card. Please keep in mind as you add something while doing this test you must be weary of ESD, it's a nightmare. The whole process will take a while, but this is what IT Professionals do when troubleshooting problems like this. If your computer just hangs around BIOS even without ram then the mobo is most likely shot.

I'll try to make a cheap PC build for you as well, I'm not too sure how good it will be atm, but I'll figure a min of quad, 4gb ram, 1tb hdd and an optical drive with a nice case.

Now with that said, yes to diagnose the motherboard do EXACTLY what Roaxis said. if it don't post with everything out but memory, CPU, video. then you got trouble. BTW, I Don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but pull the battery onboard and let the system sit without power for atleast and hour. For some reason I have been runnig into this problem lately and apparently the bios hangs and it takes an hour or so for residule power to disapate and clear the problem. then see if it posts.

Edited by Deathwalker, 23 June 2012 - 01:06 AM.

[Aznpersuasion89]

Another question. Current mobo is microatx 9.6x9.6 and looks like this

Will other smaller microatx boards fit into my case that looks like this?

Will smaller boards still line up with a few of those mounting holes?

[Vulpesveritas]

A micro ATX is micro ATX- it's a standard sizing. Unless you're thinking of mini ITX. Which should still mount, though I recommend going micro ATX still.
And that combo I recommended won't fit I see now.
Though both of these have integrated graphics which might be good for your situation and all.
Back to recommending this for AMD; http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157292
And this as an upgrade: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131758
CPU recommendatinos the same.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 23 June 2012 - 10:32 AM.

[Major Cuddles]

After tweaking with my memory setting in the bios i had a similar problem (fans light up no post blank screen). I ended up clearing the cmos with a jumper and was good to go. Does sound suspiciously like a memory problem though.

[Aznpersuasion89]

I'm going to go with the asrock 880gm-le board and the AMD phenom ii x4 965 black. I asked about the dimensions because the asrock is listed as 9.6x7.8 and not my 9.6x9.6. So as long as it fits its cool. For ram I was thinking 4gb of g skill ripjaw ddr3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231277

[Vulpesveritas]

Sounds good, although I highly recommend paying the extra $10-20 for 8gb, also I recommend the AMD RAM for double quality control and being American made.
But hope all goes well.

[Aznpersuasion89]

I am going to get atleast 8gb, that was just to show what ram I was looking at. But to the slightly different micro boards sizes it doesnt matter? As long as micro atx.

[Vulpesveritas]

Well, that asrock board only has two RAM slots so you're going to n
eed to use 4gb dimms .

Mobo wise, it should conform to the mounting holes, and will simply be smaller. If you're second guessing it you can always call AsRock and ask. Lol.

[Lakevren]

Vulpesveritas, on 23 June 2012 - 11:46 AM, said:

Sounds good, although I highly recommend paying the extra $10-20 for 8gb, also I recommend the AMD RAM for double quality control and being American made.
But hope all goes well.

You mean Patriot Memory. AMD memory is a rebranded Patriot.

[Vulpesveritas]

Correction: AMD memory is rebranded patriot which goes thrrough an extra set of qc.

[Aznpersuasion89]

Good point. On Newegg I added 8gb of ddr3 1333 AMD. It's labeled AMD or should I find labeled patriot

[Vulpesveritas]

The AMD is the same thing with the extra quality control. I suggest going with it.

[CALIBORS]

no one responded 'I'll form the head' to this... mechwarrior needs combiner mechs -j/k

& I probably need another 4GB of DDR2 Ram

would have assumed motherboard issue but everyones already given sound advice

[Odins Fist]

3 weeks ago I had a customer with a similar problem, the fans wanted to spin up for a spilt second, and sometimes the whole system powered but black screen, right off the bat I thought "memory", BUT after trying some old DDR 400Mhz RAM I had laying around that I knew worked, I decided to grab an old PSU form the huge box of old(20 pin) PSUs I have, and PRESTO, booted right up.
.
BUT, even though most times a black screen with everything else (powered) usually means bad RAM, there are a couple of things that can mimic bad memory, with a black screen and everything else acting like it wants to (go).. Also one dead give-away is this, you know the little power on indicator, (if you have one),... that will pulse or flicker when you have a bad PSU, the instance I was talkiing about had that as well, but I didn't notice it, until the 4rth try at powering the system up, that is what made me grab an old PSU.
.
Also I have had one that stumped me for 4 minutes, one man had a real similar situation where his CPU fan header would supply power the CPU fan header for a brief moment, then stop.. I tested his fan, on a seperate system (another old Dell), and the CPU fan worked fine, but I still swapped out a similar (brand new 60mm I think) CPU fan and got the same result, I thought.. hmm maybe PSU, then I got it to boot into BIOS, and changed CPU Temp, and FAN warning to off, then I reconnected his fan, but used a molex 3 pin adapter, and presto, for some reason the CPU fan header from the mobo was not delivering power constantly, so I pull the Mobo, but I couldn't any physical damage on the mobo anywhere to indicate why the header was puking out, this was 2 years ago I think, and I recommended he would only have about another year left on his XP era Dell.. He still runs it to this day, and although the CPU fan runs at 100%, and his dinosaur of a system is still working, he refuses to buy a new unit...
.
Lately at least 40% of my business is convincing people to let me build them a new system to replace, and i'm not kidding you 5 to 7 year old Dell Dimension system... I even had to use the old Dell case for customers a few times because they didn't want to change.. I'm serious, for some reason people get attached to those old Grey Dell cases, I don't know why.
.
Always try to reseat all power connections, and RAM as a first step, sometimes things get unplugged, or wiggle loose, and check that the CMOS battery is seated or still good, I have a bag full of those laying around too... LOL
I have seen some really weird things with computers..

[TimberJon]

I always tell people to reseat CONNECTORS, but not the CPU. Jiggle the gfx card, sound card, nic cards if applicable. I've had a problem a few times where the power connector or aux pwr connectors on the mobo were a little loose... some of the solder loose. You could barely detect it.. So be careful when unplugging and re-plugging connectors. Some of those release-clips can be a real pain in the arse.

@ my earlier comments. I meant no offense to anyone. It IS risky to disconnect everything when there is a chance you might jam some part into the mainboard or another peripheral. Too many times amateurs and even enthusiasts - myself included - have disabled a cap or tweaked a connector or sata port because of this, unnecessarily! So in the interest of not causing any undue expenses to the PC victim, I always try to provide advice that might limit user-inflicted damage.

[SNOWHOUND]

transistors gone bro?

test your psu and mobo power sockets by using a multimeter to make sure nothing has shorted out.
On the psu pwr connectors to the board (24pin and 8pin) go form ground to each pin (+5v +12 etc ) and measure the resistance if it shows resistance (in the range of Kohms i think) its okay, if its showing no resistance then its buggered and the pins have shorted out meaning something has blown along the line.

Do the same on the mobo.

If everything appears normal then it must be a more fine detail that is causing a problem.

[Tarl Cabot]

Stray Ion, on 23 June 2012 - 12:09 AM, said:

Yeah

http://pcsupport.abo...-multimeter.htm

Double check the 3.3v. Any of the rails could have gone but from my own personal experience all the PSU had that had died read either low or nothing on the 3.3v rail. The only rails I saw you mentioned were the 5v/12v ones.

[Aznpersuasion89]

I only checked the 24 pin psu connector which checked out all within limits. I think its safe to say my psu is good. But ill post the voltages if you guys like

Just checked the 24 pin connector on the board, two pairs of pins have no continuity

Edited by Aznpersuasion89, 23 June 2012 - 06:57 PM.