Computer won't POST/Display

[Reven]

Hey everyone,

Hoping you can help me with an odd problem. I had a great 5 year old build that lasted me throughout college with no issues. Post grad I had it in my uncle's garage, and now (~9 months later) I'm starting my first job and brought it to my new apartment.

I'm setting it up now but it refuses to display an image on a screen (I've tried 2). Typically it will boot for about 3 seconds, then restart and continue to go on. On the second time it just keeps going with no image displayed. The DRAM Mem OK led is on the entire time.

What are my next steps?

EDIT: Removing one of my RAM sticks fixed the problem. What do you think could have killed a single RAM? Does this mean the system is on it's last legs?

My system is now:
Core i5 -2500k @ 3.3ghz
4gb DDR3 - 1333
AMD 6950 2gb (I remember wanting to flash it to a 6970 but being too lazy)
Samsung 840 120gb

 

[UsandThem]

If it was kept in a garage, maybe some moisture/rust got onto the module contacts or in the slot itself. You can try cleaning it by wiping the contacts down with a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a cloth, or try another slot if you have one available (not sure of your motherboard model.

If you only have two slots on your motherboard, you can swap the working stick with the one you pulled out to see if it is the module or the slot that is the issue.

 

[Reven]

I tried the stick on the working RAM's slot and it didn't work, appears the stick is dead

Is there a way to do a stress test on the entire system? I'll be needing to buy a PCI wireless card since I don't have any ethernet ports in my room.

If the rest of the system is crashing in 6 months I'd rather just build a new one entirely.

 

[UsandThem]

I tried the stick on the working RAM's slot and it didn't work, appears the stick is dead

Is there a way to do a stress test on the entire system? I'll be needing to buy a PCI wireless card since I don't have any ethernet ports in my room.

If the rest of the system is crashing in 6 months I'd rather just build a new one entirely.

For stability/stress testing I use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. While not as demanding as some other utilities, it will safely stress your CPU/RAM to see if there are any issues. It also shows your temps so you can keep an eye on those. That's about the only utility I use anymore. Some people use Prime95, but I only used it a few times, and prefer the Intel one to it.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-

You could also use Valley benchmark that will stress your GPU/PSU as well, just keep an eye on your temps or leave your side panel off if you don't have good cooling:

https://unigine.com/products/benchmarks/valley/

 

[Reven]

Do you have any recommendations for a way to test SSD integrity?

 

[UsandThem]

Do you have any recommendations for a way to test SSD integrity?

This will let you know if there are any physical problems with a drive:

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Outside of that, you can use the SFC command within Windows to check files:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...l-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files

 

[Reven]

Thanks for all the help Usandthem.

I was able to run Prime95 for about 20 mins before I closed the program. Valley benchmark ran fine. Assuming the rest of my hardware looks solid then?

As for CrystalDisk - is there a test you're supposed to run? Or do you just look at the 'health' status?

One SSD got 100%, other got 99% which should be fine. My normal HDD got a 'caution' and 32% health mainly due to reaallocated sectors, uncorrectable sectors and current pending sectors.


Is there a way to fix this?

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks for all the help Usandthem.

I was able to run Prime95 for about 20 mins before I closed the program. Valley benchmark ran fine. Assuming the rest of my hardware looks solid then?

As for CrystalDisk - is there a test you're supposed to run? Or do you just look at the 'health' status?

One SSD got 100%, other got 99% which should be fine. My normal HDD got a 'caution' and 32% health mainly due to reaallocated sectors, uncorrectable sectors and current pending sectors.

Is there a way to fix this?

If your disks are showing 99% and 100%, it's likely not the issue. The one that is showing 32% should be replaced soon. If you have any data on it that you can't afford to lose, back it up now.

Outside of that, if you can run the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility or the Valley benchmark for say two hours without issues or crashes, the system should be in pretty good shape.

EDIT:

You can also let Windows scan and repair sectors on your HDD that is at 32%, and see what it reports after running it:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/guide-to-using-check-disk-in-windows-vista/

 

[Elixer]

Of course, the more you use the drive with the bad sectors means the more chance it will keep getting worse.

Prime95 for only 20 mins isn't really proving anything, it really needs to run for at least 6 hours minimum, or use OCCT, and let that run for a few hours minimum.
Once you know the RAM is fine (use memtest86+), overnight, make sure you have 0 errors, then the only sane way to test the disk system is to create a archive (7zip, winrar, whatever) of anything, you want it around 500MB of data, then, you copy that archive to the disk a few times, and then test each archive to make sure no corruption appears. It will tell you there is a CRC error when you test them.