Dead Mobo?

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Sat Nov 29, 2003 11:03 am

My machine is six months old and I have not recently installed any new hardware or software. Last night it suddenly hung on me, I could not even use ctrl/alt/del to power down so had no option but to cold restart - only it didn't restart

I had no advance warning of any possible imminent problems.

I have power to the unit, all the fans are working and the CD and DVD drawers will open, so mechanically it seems ok. My monitor reports no signal. I tried unplugging the mouse and keyboard looking for mobo warning signals, but got nothing. I don't even get the vocal "Computer completed power up self test, now booting from operating system" I get nothing but fans and lights. I don't get anything so far as maybe allowing me to boot from a recovery disk *sigh* Is the BIOS gone do you think?

Thankfully it is still under warranty, but tech support are not open until Monday.

pc spec:

SMBIOS: Asus A7N8X deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1002 Beta 006
Mobo: Asus A7N8X
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2700+ socket A (clock speed 2161 Mhz)
RAM: 512Mb DDR 2700
Graphics: Radeon 9700 Pro
OS: Windows XP Pro

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 2:53 pm

I'd suspect it is one of two things, it's either your RAM or your Graphics card. Graphics cards usually give a few beeps if they are malfunctioning, I'd try taking the card out (assuming it doesn't void your warranty) and reseating it. If that doesn't work then it's most likely the ram and if you've got two sticks in there then try it with just one and see if that works. Quite often they will have a sticker on the back that will say Void If Warranty Removed, I wouldn't fiddle if it does have such a sticker.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 3:00 pm

Thanks for the response, Sleepy

I am getting no beeps at all when having removed the mouse and keyboard, so presumably it is not the graphics chip? I do have two memory sticks, when I checked yesterday, everything seemed seated securely. I will need to check the warranty issue though, I can't be doing with affecting that...

The thing is, the machine is not even getting to the message over the speakers which announces that the computer has completed the power up self test...at that point, if there was a problem with the memory, the XP Pro manual states it should report "System failed memory test"...

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 4:56 pm

RAM errors on boot usually give off "beeps" also as far as I've read.

It does seem strange if your motherboard suddenly decides to go on strike, but I've had (still have, last time I tried) the same problem with another (older) motherboard of mine, wich I couldn't solve.

It seems likely that it is either the BIOS or the motherboard that have gotten defect (when the POST doesn't happen) and I would advice you to contact the store where you bought it.

When POST doesn't happen there is little reason to try and unplug various devices as I see it.

(of course - I'm no hardware geek, my speciality lies elsewhere)

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 9:47 pm

If you're not getting any response when powering on the system, especially with components like the display card or memory out of the system, then the problem is almost certainly a dead BIOS. Asustek components usually carry a 3 year warranty, so I'd take it back to where you bought it.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 4:07 am

It sounds to me like you're looking at either a dead video card or dead AGP slot.

Move the video card to another machine and see if you get anything. If not, I'd say the card is dead. If you have a known good video card, put it in your machine and see if it boots up.

A friend of mine had similar symptoms; the power came on, but there was no POST, no video. I moved the video card and into another machine and had no problems. I swapped my video card into her machine and no POST, no video. The board cost me $40 to replace, but since your machine is almost brand new, you should be able to get back in business at no cost other than lost "productivity" (KOTOR is productive, right?).

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 1:30 pm

Originally posted by Xandax
RAM errors on boot usually give off "beeps" also as far as I've read.

Not always, motherboards can be strange things, they sometimes decide to beep and sometimes don't. Plus, if the people who put the machine together are charlatans they might not have connected the internal speaker wire

Oh and I have HLD backing me up Xan so neeeerrrrrr!!!!

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:44 am

Thank you for your suggestions, guys

I called Mesh Tech support last night (I got to speak to someone within 7 minutes!!

)

He had me unplug everything but the power cord and monitor lead and power up. No beeps, nothing. His assumption is a dead mobo (but HLD might also be right) since he said that rather than have an engineer come to site to find it is not the mobo, they are footing the cost of collecting and returning as well as the repair. I will keep you updated

Unfortunately I cannot check HLD's suggestion, since I don't have access to a second machine (except a lap top) or have any spare cards lying around lol! I did have a similar problem when I put a new graphics card into my old machine and had not pushed it in far enough, but I guessed my error since it went wrong directly after the installation. With this machine, it has been running for six months with no glitches, it is not standing anywhere it can be jolted, and I had not been inside the case - yet

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:27 pm

Sometimes these things go for no obvious reason, it happens all too often.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 3:45 pm

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
Sometimes these things go for no obvious reason, it happens all too often.

Too true

Mesh picked up the pc on Monday this week, and I received it back this morning (Friday) Not a bad turn around this close to Christmas!

Problem solved, my processor had died, and has been replaced under warranty - wait for it! by a faster one!

Now there is customer relations for you!

Ok, so it isn't all that much faster - I had an Athlon XP2700, and they replaced it with an XP2800, but it was an upgrade for free! Now you don't often get that, right?

I may well have paid a little bit over the odds for this setup originally, rather than have gone the cheap self build route, but the way I feel at the moment, I would do it again - with Mesh that is!

One happy customer!

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 1:32 am

Good for you that your computer is working again, didn't think of a fried CPU

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 8:19 am

Originally posted by Yshania
<SNIP>
Problem solved, my processor had died, and has been replaced under warranty - wait for it! by a faster one! Now there is customer relations for you!
>SNIP>

Your PC got a burned processor ? that's a real rare case unless on the overclocked system.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 10:40 am

Thanks, Xan

Kid, it was not overclocked

It might've been faulty from the start, it was only six months old. I have noticed a vast improvement in speed, and I don't think this would be only the difference between a 2700+ and a 2800+ - maybe it was not running efficiently from the beginning?

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:07 am

It's hard to tell if they (Mesh tech) not set the things properly - but their QC should notice it though. Perhaps the faulty processor cause it too. This is a really rare case ATMOF I never encounter this prob

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:02 am

EDIT: Bah - mispost