HELP Two different PC's, neither will POST

[Coherence]

My friend has had this problem trying to build two AMD systems, different motherboards, different DIMMs, different CPUs, different case/PSU... the only recycled parts have been the drives and video card.

Neither system will POST. He doesn't even get a beep from the case speaker when turning on the power (yes, the speaker is connected). The drives all power up, the CPU fan starts running, everything seems fine, but no video appears at all, and the system just sits there.

He has tried resetting CMOS, disconnecting parts, etc. No POST beeps from speaker to indicate what is wrong (no initial beep, no encoded error beep).

Any ideas?

Current config:
AthlonXP 2000+
Gforce4MX
512MB DDR
ECS K7S5A Pro mobo (SiS735 chipset)

 

[godmare]

Courtesy of eBay, I got a cpu/mobo combo that did the same thing. The processor in mine was dead.

 

[Looney]

Two completely different systems doing the exact same thing? Has he tried testing them out of the case? The board could be shorting out if it was installed improperly.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic
Two completely different systems doing the exact same thing? Has he tried testing them out of the case? The board could be shorting out if it was installed improperly.

Could be. I was thinking more along the lines of his friend cracked two cores mounting heatsinks...

 

[Coherence]

Someone else has posted the exact same problem here.

In the mean time, I'll ask my friend to try the CPU in another system, if he can.

 

[mechBgon]

He may also be installing the CPU heatsink backwards. If so, his CPUs may now be dead. The stepped end of the heatsink must be matched to the raised solid-plastic end of the CPU socket to provide clearance. If the heatsink is installed the opposite way, the heatsink cannot make flat contact with the CPU core, causing near-instant overheating --> CPU dead on older boards without emergency-shutdown circuitry. Core-cracking is more likely in this situation too, since the heatsink focuses its pressure on one edge of the core.

 

[Coherence]

I might agree with you, except that my friend has built lots of systems, and knows how to seat a heatsink. And, in the other thread I linked to, the person having the problem says the same CPU works fine in other known working systems. That being the case, I tend to doubt my friend cracked his cores. I think my friend and the other person are having the same problem, we just can't figure out what it is, hehe.