Help! Computer won't boot.

[gaximodo]

Hello everyone. I've been using TPU as a hardware news angency for a couple of month's.
Never registered before but i browses tpu's forums everyday. Learnt a lot of stuff here, thanks!

At the moment, my computer won't boot at all
after switching power on, monitor keeps blank and never shows a thing. debug light jumpped twice and always stops at "54". After a few seconds, my cpu cooler will become a lot louder.

I've been tweaking here and there for more than 2 hours yesterday. I'll list everything i did last 2 days below.

Here is the story:
I recently changed my Q9450's stock cooler to a Zalman 9700NT.
with this new cooler i were able to push the vcore a little bit higher from 1.25 to 1.45, and it were stable @ 3.5ghz.

I wasn't happy with the results coz @1.25 it would give me a stable 3.4ghz already, so i did a little bit reserch on google and here.

After seen WileE's posts talking about 45nm chips degrades pass 1.4v, i was terrified. changed every voltage back to stock for around 2 hours. then started tweak again.

Voltages were set to:
Vcore 1.4250 (CPUZ showing 1.37~1.38 load 1.35)
FSB 1.3 SPP 1.4~1.45 MCP 1.525 HT link 1.30~1.35
rest were all at auto or stock setting.

I couldn't make anything above 3.5 stable. Then i did a little bit reserch on google, heard about changing GTL reference would give you a OC boost. then i tried it. changed everyGTL lane to 55mvolt, i was able to boot to OS @ 3.6ghz!!

no matter what voltage i put in from 1.4~1.45 (Cpuz 1.35~1.4) i could never make prime95 stable more than 20 mins. at this stage, everytime i press the reset button, It won't boot, I'll have to power off my computer then power back on in order to make it work. It even freezed once in BIOS- -..

then after a couple of tries it no longer boots even i powered off. It was 1a.m. in the morning. So i decied go to bed first then see my luck tomorrow. and i wake up today...
T__T no luck at all.

things i've tried: remove the ram's and the video cards into different slots, take the battery on MB off then put it back in, and pressed the clear cmos button when its powered on.
won't give me any changes.

my HT link were setted at 300x5 and it was 250x5 before i changed the cooler.
I also removed the fan on northbridge an putted an antec spotcool there coz it was way too loud.

Sorry about my bad english and this super long "asking help" post, thanks for reading this

and..thanks in advance!

edit: just found in my MB's manul , debug light number 54 is reserved and number 55 is etect CPU speed and display CPU vendor specific
version string and turn on all necessary CPU features. I'm really scared now seeing this.. T____T my cpu might dead

 

[Bundy]

Try taking your battery out for a longer time and reseting your CMOS when powered off.

You didnt say how hot your CPU got. A quad at >1.4V is a lot of work for an air cooling set up.

 

[gaximodo]

will try that tomorrow, thanks for the reply!
the temp was around 37C idle 45 load, 50~ish in prime95 heat test when set voltage to 1.38

 

[Bundy]

Your CPU is probably ok. Saying that, if you still can not get your rig to boot, try another cpu and if that works, reset CMOS again and try the first processor again.

 

[gaximodo]

take out battery for longer time didn't work : (
I don't have another CPU to try
If it's not the CPU, would it be my PSU? if PSU having problem, will it be like my this?
(no display at all always blank)

 

[Bundy]

I am running out of ideas.

Try any/all of the following

1. Check all your power cables, make sure they are securely plugged in.
2. Try booting with only 1 RAM
3. try booting with only 1 Vid card
4. unplug all uneccessary USB devices

If we cant get the rig to start, at some stage you will have to find someone near you and try swapping CPU's to determine if you have a bad CPU, BIOS, Mobo or whatever. Unfortunately it's hard to say what the problem is yet.

Regarding removal of the northbridge fan - I have a different board but used to have an Antec spot fan blowing on it. When I swapped this for a 40mm fan connected to the NB heatsink, my temps dropped 8C. If we get your rig going again, you should check that the fan swap has not made the northbridge hotter.

 

[Black Panther]

Do you have a spare video card which you know for sure works? Try and check if it boots up with it. I had a pc recently which didn't want to boot unless I changed video card, same symptoms, no boot, no beeps (old MX400 card!).

Did you lock the pci-e frequency to 100 in the bios before you overclocked?
You can damage the graphics cards themselves (or is it the motherboard slot?)... if you didn't lock it...

 

[gaximodo]

My pci E slots are 2.0 version. won't let me to adjust frequency.tried with different cards no luck : (
thanks black panther and bundyrum&coke for the ideas.

 

[Bundy]

I have run out of ideas besides

1. try reseating the CPU
2. try resetting the CMOS again but hold the button on for at least 30 seconds
3. put your location in your TPU profile, maybe there is a TPU member nearby who has a CPU you can try?

I still do not think you did enough "bad" things to kill your CPU, thus making me think the CMOS has not properly reset or the NB has gotten too hot.

Lots of people have viewed this thread, I'm surprised nobody has solved this prob yet. We will - TPU will not be defeated

 

[gaximodo]

I sent my rig to fix. and the tech there told me the BIOS was corrupt. Simply remove the battery or clear cmos won't help.He used a special techniq fixed it, but he won't tell me what he did. (I doubt what he said tho.)

Anyway thanks for the help!

@bundyrum&coke
my SPP temp with original fan was around 25~30C
After I switched to spotcool the sensor no longer working even i put the oringinal fan back on(always shows 124c~127c/255F and sometimes shows ---/--- in BIOS which is impossible imo)

but with spotcool i can hardly feel any heat on the SPP heat sink. with oringinal fan on 100% the heat sink is more than warm.

 

[speedkills]

Concerning the NB cooling, I had a NB fan die on my Asus A8N-SLI motherboard and at first I tried the Antec Spotcool, but it was difficult to keep cool and variations in the case temps raised the NB. I found a 40MM Cooler Master Blue Ice fan and heat sink at a local computer show (for $7) that dropped the NB temps by 10-15C.