Mobo Dead?

[BigRig]

Alright heres the story.

My friends laptop died a while ago and I told her we could still get all the info off it without having to send it in. Later when she got a new computer we got a 2.5 to 3.5 ide converter and I hooked it up, copied the stuff and it was fine. Booted up, ran fine, not a problem.

Then just the other day she calls me up and tells me its not working. When she tried to boot it up it gave her something along the lines of "bad bios-searching for bootable floppy". I said ok, I probably left off a jumper(which I did). I came over tried that but no go. This time the montiors wouldn't turn on, but the bios would post. So I tried another vid card, that booted up with the monitors but then it gave the bad bios thing and then next boot the monitors didn't turn on but the vid card was fine(put it back in another computer). So then I tried a pci card and nothing happened. It didn't boot with the display at all. Without another computer there to test that vid card(8x) I came to the conclusion that maybe the mobo fried somehow.

What do you think? Is it the mobo? why would it happen after it booted up just fine?

 

[CheesePoofs]

Try clearing the CMOS. It sounds like more of an issue with the bios than the actual board, like the bios comehow got corrupted.

 

[BigRig]

But does that explain the displays not showing up?

 

[rocketPack]

Yes, it can. But to be sure, why not try it? There is no harm.

Just unplug the PSU, pull the CMOS battery out, and let it sit for a minute (sometimes cycling the power button once or twice helps), let it sit for about a minute and hook it all back up. Go to BIOS and select "Load Optimized Defaults" and then run through and re-set the ones you need to. Save and exit, should be good to go.

Also, how long are you waiting for the screen to come on? I've had abit mobos that would take up to 30 seconds to kick the video card on... stupid boards.

Good luck,

-Scott

 

[BigRig]

ok update.

The battery did the trick, but only to get it back up to the original error. Then after a restart it doesn't show the display anymore. I'm guessing the battery needs to be replaced.

Any other ideas before I head back out there tomorrow?

 

[BigRig]

Bump

Just want to see if there are any other ideas before I got back.

 

[BigRig]

edit: oops

Ok, well the battery isn't the problem. Replacing the battery, or more specifically clearing the cmos and cleaning up some cables got me to the windows loading screen. Then it would restart after that. And like the first time, it would not display or post after that.

What could be the problem? Bad hd sectors?

I noticed that something starts to almost make a whinning sound when it gets to the point of rebooting. Around the vid card and cpu, but that could just be there the sound travels too.

Any more ideas?

Thanks

 

[montag451]

Try a new battery

 

[BigRig]

I did try a new battery. Same thing. Even the old battery got to loading after I cleaned up the cabling. So it might not be the battery.