Frozen Screen then Blank Black Screen HELPP

[specificdynamix]

About a year ago my pc was up and running fine, then one morning i woke up and my screen was frozen on the desktop. i turned of the computer from the power button on the tower, waited a few minutes and turned it back on. the computer made the normal sounds of it starting (fans spinning on the video card and cpu HSF, HD spinning), but i didnt hear any beeps and it didnt start booting up. the monitor was staying black with the orange led on the monitor lit up instead of the green. (when it stays green its booting up normally).

this had happened to me once before when i had my old geforce 5950ultra -> replaced with radeon 9600pro, so i figured it was the same problem, the video card was dead and so i bought a new video card in may from newegg radeon x1550 and figured my computer would work again. i put the video card in and the same BS happened, Blank screen, fans spinning, i can hear the hd spinning, keyboard lights flash, the led on the outside of the tower flashes reeally quick gren(normally i think it was just staying lit up green flashing every now and then).

so i figured i just got a DOA from newegg cause it happens all the time and RMA'd it about a week or two ago and got a refund since they deactivated the vid card. i just ordered a Radeon HD3650 3 days ago, got it today, just went to put it in and the same thing happend. im getting sick of this problem and if anybody can help me out i would greatly appreciate it.

i dont really want to have to spend the money to upgrade to pci express yet if i dont have to. and i recently got a new power supply in december 06 after the previous one i had started smoking. its 500w with 2 +12v rails

AGP system
Gigabyte 7vt600-1394
athlon xp 2200
crucial 512 mb pc3200
onboard sound
lite on cdrom drive
lite on cdr/dvdrom drive
60g ide hd, 200gb WDcaviar sata
CoolMax CP-500T 500w EPS12V Active PFC PSU
2 ( +12v rails). Input Frequency Range(50/60 Hz). Input Current (12A@115V,6A@230V)
and now a radeon hd 3650 agp

 

[Harvey]

Then, it's probably not the vid card. It could be any number of things on your motherboard:

Check the capacitors. If any of them are bulging at the top, it's time for a new motherboard.

Have you tested your RAM? Try Memtest86+. There are several versions for use from floppy disk, CD, etc.

Have you checked your temps? Once your machine is warmed up, reboot, and look in the CMOS under PC Health or whatever it's called on your system.

Have you tried simply re-seating every plug in item, including your RAM?

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[specificdynamix]

yea i checked over all the capacitors none of them seem to be bulging out. idk if this would help but next to the ram slots there is a yellow/orange led on when i turn on the computer.

idk how to check the temps when the pc isnt booting into bios or windows. it just stays blank black monitor screen wit the orange led on.

i tried unplugging all the power connectors for the 2 cd drives, the floppy, the ide hd, and the sata hd. and the ide cables from all the drives before i even put the video card in because i was just reading up on people troubleshooting the same problem so i figured why not try it before hand but it still didnt work. after that i tried unplugging the main Power connector to the mb and took out the ram and put them both back in but still nothing.

tomorrow morning im going to take out the video card, take out the ram, disconnect all the power cables and ide and sata cables and then put it back together. should i reseat the cpu too? should i try taking out the battery on the mobo and putting it back in? idk what to do anymore lol.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: specificdynamix

should i try taking out the battery on the mobo and putting it back in? idk what to do anymore lol.

Sorry. I missed the part that it wasn't even getting a first screen.

Reseating the CPU may help, but it's one of the last things to try, only because you have to go through all the hassle with the HS/Fan and thermal compound. If disconnecting and reconnecting everything doesn't help, my first guess would be the motherboard or the PSU.

If you have or can borrow another PSU, you can test what you have, and that will eliminate another variable.

 

[fishfrog]

It does sound like a video card problem...or possibly a monitor problem. The "K.I.S.S." theory is that the monitor cable is loose on one of the sides.

Getting more complicated, it's possible that your bios is jacked, so check for a reset button next to the cmos battery.

Also, as odd as it may sound, unplug every USB device and give it a shot.

It sounds to me, though, as if your computer is coming on and doing its thing... You're getting hard drive activity, fans, lights, everything except a signal to your monitor...

 

[specificdynamix]

--yea the last thing i want to do is have to take the mobo out of the case and reseat the cpu. i have 2 other computers in the house but i doubt that they have the power in the psu to handle my computer. theyre prolly 300-400w max. what if i try to plug my power supply into one of the other computers?

--what's the kiss theory? keep it simple sihthead lmao. i have no usb devices connected at all. the computer sounds like its starting up but it doesnt beep. any idea why?

--im thinking about taking out the cmos battery and then waiting for a couple minutes and putting it back in. should i unplug the power supply before i do this or what? how long should i wait to put it back in? will this do any damage to the hard drives? im pretty sure i had my bios settings at default as ive never tried to overclock it.

--im gonna try and plug my monitor into one of the other computers i have and see what happens, also going to plug my computer into another monitor i have and see what happens before i start reseating everything.

--in what order should i plug everything back in, in case it comes down to reseating everything?
i only have one mem stick, the video card, 2hd (1 ide primary, 1 sata slave), the 2 rom drives (one cdrw/rom, one dvd rom), and the good ol' floppy.

--what would be the minimum stuff to have plugged in to see if it will boot up?
mem, vid card, the main ide hd and the cdrom?

--how does the memtest that u suggested earlier work? if it doesnt boot up at all just blank black screen?

anybody else have any ideas? everybodys input and help is greatly appreciated. ill be checking back every 15 mins. thanks also updated system specs in the first post of the problem.

 

[specificdynamix]

anybody??

 

[specificdynamix]

ok so i took out my cmos battery, waited 10 mins and put it back in. before i took it out i disconnected the psu power cable from the mobo and the psu unit. then i took out the video card, the ram stick, unplugged the sata cable and ide cable, disconnected all the power cables. basically nothing was hooked up to the mobo. i put everything back in and still get nothing.

also the cd drives lights dont blink and they open and close normally but still no beeping.

how can i check to see if the ram is still good?
i read somewhere that u can check to see if the power supply is good with a paper clip? anybody know if this actually works?

can anybody give me some advice on what to do next? what to test? im going to double check the monitor works tomorrow by plugging it into another computer i have. i only have 3 more weeks that i can refund the hd3650 i just bought and will have to upgrade to pci-e.

 

[specificdynamix]

can somebody help me out?