Expert opinion please... Is it my MoBo, my PSU, or my video card?

[guynexdoor]

Please refer to my previous post if needed...

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1732972&enterthread=y

So my computer won't start, and at the suggestion of the very wise ones here... I set up a barebones system. Just my motherboard, CPU, 1 stick of RAM, and video card, then attached it to the monitor. So here's what happened:

First off, when I flipped the power switch nothing would happen. Only after I hit the button on the Mobo to flash the BIOS, then when I tried to flip the power switch... it finally posted. (the fans on the PSU turned on, the fan on the video card turned on, the fan over the CPU turned on) and I could see the startup screens loading on my monitor.

Now here are some weird parts:
1. The little fan on the MoBo still won't spin at all.
2. The D-Bracket lights would indicate that the computer was "Initializing Floppy Drive Controller. This will initialize FLoppy Drive and controller." Which is strange b/c there is no floppy drive connected at all.
3. When the computer posts... and I subsequently turn off the power on the PSU and try to turn it back on.... nothing will happen.. nothing powers up at all. Only when I flash the BIOS again will the fans on the PSU and over the CPU turn on. BUT when I do that... nothing comes up on the monitor... the monitor goes to standby mode as if it wasn't receiving data.
Only if I unplug the computer from the outlet, and flash the BIOS, and then turn on the power switch on the PSU, will the system post and I can see the start up screen on my monitor. And the little fan on the MoBo never turns on at all through all this.

My guess is that I fried the MoBo when I was recently trying to add on RAM to my system last week. But the fact that the PSU and CPU fans turn on but there's no video (sometimes) makes me think it might be the video card also.

I ordered another MoBo and it should be arriving tomorrow or Tuesday. Let me know what you think before I open it and can't return it.

Thanks!

1. MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
2. eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
3. AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor
4. CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory
5. Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
6. SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s
7. NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3520A BK
8. Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W Power Supply
9. Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[Bozo Galora]

If "the little fan wont spin" then its either the mobo or fan, right?
so, you hok up another fan to the outlet (ANY FAN) even if you have to use an adapter cable, and see if it spins - you dont have to mount it.
Then you will know.
Some mobo wont post if CPU fan is notworking, maybe some are also hooked to chipset fan.
The fact you can post by "flashing" first indicates some mobo protection is stopping your boot because the flashed bios bypasses this.
You might NOW have set something wrong in bios config - like set to SPD on memory, or didnt redo CPU multi, etc. after flash.
You could also disable everything in bios not critical to boot, like USB- Sound- Lan-com ports-parallel
Could also try non fast bootup option in bios

 

[pkme2]

You can test the mobo externally with the barest minimum of hardware to see everything is OK. Video card to monitor, CPU with heatsink/fan, memory, hdd and cd player. You can cross the startup pins on motherboard to get mobo to bootup system. Make sure everything is seated perfectly. Connect keyboard and mouse.
CPU must have insertion notch lined up properly. Follow instructions on power pin hookups as per instruction book.