Dead Mobo?

[Cowsanova]

Ok I have been making my own PC's for about the past 6 years. I'm not super savy but know enough to fix most problems I come across. In this time I have had maybe 1 PS and 1 memory stick go bad on me. Well today something happened but I'm not sure exactly what the problem is.

I was computing normally when the screen suddenly frozeup, no blue screen or error just basically instant wallpaper on the screen. No other choice but to shut down and reboot. Well since then the computer won't put anything on the monitor. Power supply is working, power light on Mobo is on, all fans are spinning, HD and CD light up like a normal boot procedure, light on the Lan card is on.

Odd things noted are - Monitor stays black and if I unplug it then it says no signal ... - No power is going to the USB ports and power to the PS mouse and keyboard ports is sporatic and inconsistant (mouse lights up maybe 1/10 reboot attempts) ... sound card doesn't have a visible light so I can't test that.

I have tried unplugging everything but PS mobo and cpu ... ram 1/0 0/1 0/0 configuration (2 sticks) ... switched out video card with an identical one and no changes at all. Would try to boot from a floppy but I think boot from floppy was turned off in bios.

Anyway my question is if this is the sign of a dead mobo? Maybe the crash burned out some part of it?

If yes I don't mind replacing the mobo ram and cpu because the rest should work just fine with an upgrade.

mobo- Asus A7v333
756 ram
40 gig hd
winxp sp2
Nvidia Ge4(dont remember model off hand)
system has been working for about 2 years now.

Also if anyone can steer me to a mobo/cpu upgrade to cut my research time down I would appreciate it. Been using AMD for >6 years now so I like that brand.
thx for any help.

 

[KGB]

Cow,

Welcome to the Forums! :beer:

The first thing to try is to reset the BIOS (clear CMOS).

 

[Cowsanova]

I did that- popped out the battery and ran a screwdriver over both pins to short it then put it back and no changes so far. Also when I turn it on it doesn't make a beep anymore like it use to on startup.

 

[tungtung]

Two possibility:
1. Bad motherboard because of bad caps. I honestly don't know why this problem seems to be so common lately. Check the capacitors on your boards make sure none are bulging and/or leaking. The symptom are quite similar to the symptoms of a motherboard with bad cap (running fans, hard drives and all but no POST).

2. Bad CPU. I've seen this happen with one of my old machine (a P3 1GHz). The CPU was apparently burned when the CPU fan died. Also very similar situation and symptom, my brother was playing Warcraft 3 when the screen froze and gave him BSOD. After restart, no POST at all, but again all fans are spinning, and hard drives seem to work fine.

So ... if possible try your CPU on another board, I honestly won't try another CPU on that board ... I've had one board in the past that somehow went bad and ended up damaging two CPU's (the one that was there and another that I try for testing the board)

In most cases seems to me that the motherboard will need to be replaced. By the way if it is bad cap, you can try to replace the bad caps with new ones, however given the age of your CPU/MB this may not be very cost effective.

 

[krcat1]

This sound like a problem I had with my MB.

If the choice is between a bad CPU or a bad MB, you should consider the MB. Unless you have good evidence of the CPU frying.

 

[KGB]

Are you sure you followed the procedure correctly for clearing the CMOS?
Consult your MB manual.

Also, have you tried a different PSU?