Computer wont power up.

[Gilletter]

Hi all... I have a loaded question. My father recently sent me his computer, he said it was having issues but if I could fix it I could have it. His issue was that it was just running slowly and random BSOD. I have figured out that the PSU is bad... that was the obvious issue (opened it up and has a burned capacitor)... Now for the hard part. I have the motherboad hooked up with just the bare essentials to get it to post, and it does nothing. If I remove the cpu from the mobo, it will start up and beep like crazy (post code). I have a 2nd mobo and cpu laying around. Will do the SAME thing. Will intially power up for a second of two, fans start, then it all powers off, and if I remove that cpu it will start up and beep like crazy.Can ANYONE tell me what is going on... I don't get what's wrong since it's 2 different setups doing the exact same thing???

 

[Kursah]

First off...you have some okay descriptions of what's going on, but we need to know more about the components you're working with here, PSU's, Vid Cards, Power Supplies, RAM, HDD's, anything you can list, please do so. Unless it's the rig in your System Specs..

Your PC will beep like crazy when you power up w/o a CPU or a solid beep w/o vid or memory iirc...

 

[Gilletter]

Well it's happening with 2 different mobo's and cpu combos, same exact thing with 2 different boards and cpu's. The first one (the one that was in the case) is an ASUS A7VBX-MX and I believe the chip is an AMD +2400, memory in that one is OCZ pc3000 512 DDR, and the video card says r92le on it (ATI) 128mb, The second one is an Albatron Board kx400-8xv and an AMD +2400, 2 kingston pc333 256 DDR, video card is an ATI 128mb. same hard drive for both not sure what kind it is (don't want to remove it to see... being lazy, lol) the computer was built by my father, it's about 3 years old and he put some money into when he first bought it. I'm just trying to get it running for my wife cause her laptop crapped out. If you need any more info let me know... I can usually figure this stuff out, but this is getting frustrating... the power supply is out of the one in my specs (cause I know that one works) and I know the post will beep like that without the cpu... my issue is why it wont start and get to post unless I remove the CPU from EITHER of the mobo's...

 

[Kursah]

Have you cleared CMOS? (most likely)

Have you tried different RAM? Swapped vid? I would take all parts and instead of swapping between rigs, focus on one rig to see if you can get one bootable atm. If he was getting a log of BSOD's and had a bad cap in the PSU, it could've damaged the MB, CPU, Memory, etc...why the other board won't POST is interesting also...

You said you're trying this "bare-bones" which is the way to go man, give you props for that, you seem to have a good idea of what's going on, I'm not really familiar with those AMD/AMD supported products, but I will do some brainstorming and see if I can come up with any solutions for ya...got a different vid card to try? Memory? Something not in either rig?

What does the rig do when it won't post? Do the fans spin? Does anything light up? Does the vid card fan spin (if it has a fan, could be just a heatsink on a card like that too I suppose)? Have you tried with one stick of RAM (assuming it's a 2 stick kit for the memory)? Are there any bent pins on either CPU? Are there any damaged caps on either MB? You are using the PSU from your good rig, so that can be narrowed out of the equation...

 

[Gilletter]

When I first plug it in, or turn on the power switch in the back... It (both) starts up for a second, power supply fan, cpu fan, onboard fans all spin for roughly a second, then it all powers down. The only way it will stay running is if I remove the CPU from the mobo. I've tried to get it to start with just the mobo and cpu, mobo cpu and mem, mobo cpu mem and hd. The ONLY time it will even remotely do anything is with the cpu removed, doesn't matter what else is attached... I'm leaning towards a bad mobo, or bad cpu, but it's hard to believe that 2 would do the SAME thing. The one that was shipped I can see having issues, but the other one is my old mobo cpu from a previous build, that was sitting in a static bag and inside the new mobo box...

no bent pins, no damage visible on either board. and both have onboard led to show power that stays on when powered on, and off a few seconds after off (after power drain off)

and no spare parts, just what's on the two boards.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Looks and sounds like a dead cpu. One other thing to try, posting with no ram installed. If you get beeps, good (but not good) it is the cpu in BOTH.

 

[Kursah]

Both mobo's do the same thing? When you attatch the cord to the PSU or flip the power switch? That is interesting...I would lean towards a bad mobo on the shipped one, but the CPU and other related components could have shorted also...but that should mean they're dead and shouldn't generally hurt anything else if they no longer respond...I've had PSU's die on me, leak from the capacitors and have no issues after replacing the PSU...so th is is definately weird. But it is sounding like there could very well be a dead CPU here too...

I would say clear cmos, remove CMOS battery for 5-10 minutes, connect usual, CPU, HDD or DVD (just something to detect to boot to...shouldn't matter tho), RAM, and VID...see if anything changes...

I don't think your old mobo should be dead, especially if it was stored as you described...really shouldn't be any reason...but it is possible. Are those chips 754 or 939? I don't know much about AMD stuff...but I built a rig for a buddy on AMD stuff, started with a bad board that was working when put away and stored in a similar fashion as yours, which sucked, it was supposed to be a great board with good OC-ability.

Try without connecting any fans, see if anything changes...that probably won't do anything, but when I'm in a situation like yours, I try everything I can possibly think of...when I went through my run of P5B Deluxes on the Intel side...those were moody MB's to say the least, I actually had the issue you're dealing with, a couple different times on a couple different MB's, both ended up getting RMA'd but one came out of it after me messing around enough to get to BIOS. No other CPU's, RAM or Vid to stick in either board but what you listed correct?

 

[Gilletter]

I'll have to try that and check it in the morning... cause I've pulled the psu off this computer 4 times already. Kinda hard to believe that the CPU would be fried in both units...

 

[JrRacinFan]

Looks and sounds like a dead cpu. One other thing to try, posting with no ram installed. If you get beeps, good (but not good) it is the cpu in BOTH.

Actually I take that back, I meant the opposite. If you don't get any beeps it is the cpu.

 

[Gilletter]

Actually I take that back, I meant the opposite. If you don't get any beeps it is the cpu.

problem is it wont even post with the cpu in, it just starts for a second, then shuts back down. With the CPU out it will post (sound at least ... beeps) cause I haven't hooked it up to a monitor without the cpu installed

 

[Gilletter]

No other CPU's, RAM or Vid to stick in either board but what you listed correct?

nothing other than the two mobo, cpu, ram, and vid cards from both of them... I'm just hoping it's something stupid... Could a dip switch or jumper that came off during shipping be causing the issue???

 

[Kursah]

nothing other than the two mobo, cpu, ram, and vid cards from both of them... I'm just hoping it's something stupid... Could a dip switch or jumper came off and be causing the issue???

Could be...I hope it's something stupid too..I don't blame ya for calling it a night if ya do.

Jr has some good tips for ya, and he's got some more experience on that side of things than I do...if you had Intel CPU and chipset stuff, most of the junk is very similar, but AMD and Intel throw fits in slightly different ways lol.

I'd say remove the CMOS battery and set the CMOS jumpers to clear for now, no power connected, and see what happens after a little bit (maybe you already have?)...also try the POST w/o RAM and see what happens too.

 

[JrRacinFan]

No offense gilletter, but ....

If it looks like an orange, smells like an orange, and tastes like an orange, it can't be an apple but an orange.

It's a cpu problem.

Also, just double checking that you tested these with a known good psu and ram . . . "??"

EDIT: Could you post a pic of each core for me, just want to take a peak at the corners of each die.

 

[Gilletter]

No offense gilletter, but ....

If it looks like an orange, smells like an orange, and tastes like an orange, it can't be an apple but an orange.

It's a cpu problem.

Also, just double checking that you tested these with a known good psu and ram . . . "??"

none taken. just hard to swallow that 2 would be bad. especially the one I had sitting in my computer room here. PSU is known good (it's out of the computer I'm using right now to type) and the ram... questionable... one was shipped with the computer, the other was sitting here in my computer room in static bags... So hard to say that the ram is good or bad... My big thing is that it will start with the CPU out, but with it in on both boards it wont start at all... I mean I was leaning towards a mobo or cpu issue to begin with, just trying to see if I'm not missing something simple...

Do you want pics of top, bottom, anything specific???

 

[JrRacinFan]

I mean I was leaning towards a mobo or cpu issue to begin with, just trying to see if I'm not missing something simple...

Alot of times with Socket A based, 95% of the time that would cause a no power-up is cpu and/or power supply. No post is usually motherboard related or with a bad combination of motherboard & cpu.

Do you want pics of top, bottom, anything specific???

Mainly pics of the top and as non-blurry (hi-res) as you could get.

 

[Gilletter]

are you on AIM? I'll send the pics through there...

 

[Mussels]

www.techpowerup.org - upload pics here

To be honest it sounds like it could be an overheating issue - you've taken the CPU in and out, does it have grease between the CPU and heatsink?

i take it BOTH systems have NEW PSU's? you arent running that dodgy burned one are you?

 

[Gilletter]

shouldn't be overheating within seconds. The computer wont even power up for more than a second with the cpu installed. The PSU, is good, on my main computer, the one I'm using to type with.

couldn't upload on there...

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/gilletter1/DSC01334.jpg this one is the one that was shipped... wipped the grease off to look at it
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/gilletter1/DSC01335.jpg this one is the one that was sitting in my computer room in a static bag

 

[Mussels]

shouldn't be overheating within seconds.

If its got next to no contact at all, YES it can overheat in seconds.

 

[Gilletter]

ok finally got it stay running but still nothing... the shipped CPU constantly runs up and down like it's shutting off and on, the one I had runs but nothing happens... wont post. The one that runs steady, will do so without a problem until I shut it down. I'mn not sure if the on board sound is working so I'm not sure if it is posting and I don't hear it or what.... any other ideas?

 

[JoshBrunelle]

If its got next to no contact at all, YES it can overheat in seconds.

I can attest to that, I had an old socket A, and the computer would not start for an unknown reason. Turns out there was terrible contact between hs/cpu. After a few hours of trying to power up without success, I had thoroughly burned the CPU to a dead, useless crisp. It was a learning experience for sure (i was about 12 when I did this). The system would power up for about 1 second, and this sounds eerily similar to you problems.

 

[Gilletter]

well I can see the first chip overheating, being as it was very dry when I got it, the other one though, still has thermal grease on both the chip AND the heatsink... my issue now is getting the running one to post...

 

[Mussels]

well I can see the first chip overheating, being as it was very dry when I got it, the other one though, still has thermal grease on both the chip AND the heatsink... my issue now is getting the running one to post...

there MUST be grease on both, and they MUST contact each other. just having grease means nothing if they dont have a snug fit.

 

[Kursah]

there MUST be grease on both, and they MUST contact each other. just having grease means nothing if they dont have a snug fit.

That is true, but funny story, my second or third AMD rig, was one of the first socket A thunderbird Athlons, it was a 1.4GHz single core...I had removed the heatsink once, took a while due to the OE compound, I never once put anymore on, it was metal to metal and it ran for years w/o too many issues, I still have that stuff too...may have to fire it up one day lol! But yeah...no compount is bad mmm-kay?

 

[Gilletter]

Well like I said, the shipped cpu... almost certain it's dead, but the one I've had sitting around... should still be working... I just hate that I can't get the damn thing to even post... If I can post I'd be able to know what's going on. Anyone got a spare CPU laying around...???