my comp is a goner

[mrweirdo]

Hello My main computer system that I used all the time has just given up the ghost it would seem. The problem is it doesnt seem to want to boot anymore or if i can get it to boot it sits there with no post, beeps, etc for about 10-20 seconds and finaly it does post then it goes through its normal process of starting to load windows and then within that time at a random moment it just resets and i lose video and once again have no post. I've tryed removing and replacing just about every part including psu and gfx cards both agp and pci with spares and still no luck even with just motherboard, cpu, ram, psu, and some video card. I also tried reseting my cmos and that didnt seem to help eather. I am wondering what it could be that has gone bad. In the past 2 weeks or so i have had problems geting it to boot but I have been able to work my way out of it by disconecting ide cables from my drive and atempting to boot the system multiple times to get it to most. Also I have been making a lot of coasters with my liteon 411s burner and ritek G04. I wonder if the ide controler on the motherboard may have gone bad?

my parts :
sparkle 300watt psu
ECS KS75A
AMD XP Palomino 2100+ retail
ATI Rage Fury pro 32MB AGP
2 maxtor 7200rpm 30GB IDE hard drives
Liteon 411s dvd+-rw burner
Creative Sblive 5.1 xgamer PCI sound card
US Robotics 56k PCI winmodem
2 90mm case fans and Enlight Endura EN-7237ATX case

forgot to mention my ram wich is kingston value ram 256MB PC 2100 with heatspreader on it.

 

[krazydave]

Have you tried to see if it is slow without the hard drives plugged in?
Also, is it possible that your CPU may be overheating? Heatsink fan running slow? or heatsink crooked or backwards?

Try reseating the RAM and processor also, that alone has fixed many problems like this in my experience...

 

[mrweirdo]

I havent tryed the CPU yet. The reason being didnt want to mess with reaplying my artic silver thermal paste. But that is next on my list. I also have an older 1700+ CPU i could try out if the need be. As for the heatsink it seems to be in good working order right now and its attached properly.

I also found my PCI Post Code reader card and get the number 76 when its hanging. Hopefully I can find that in the AMI post codes via google

 

[nageov3t]

doesn't seem like a hard drive problem.

I'd vote for dying ram, a messed up CPU, or a busted capacitor (in that order).

 

[krazydave]

I've had a computer do exactly what he states above because of a faulty hard drive. So I wouldn't throw it completely out the window...

Although, you are right, it is far more likely to be RAM\CPU related.

 

[Operandi]

Could be overheating I'd check that first, if that?s not it check the PSU. I suppose something could have gone bad on the motherboard perhaps a blown cap like Loki suggested. I doubt it?s the CPU or RAM however, they rarely fail unless they are handled improperly.

 

[mrweirdo]

next on my list is to try reseating the cpu and heatsink. Didnt want to do it up untill the last thing I try because I would have to reaply my artic silver thermal paste. As for the heatsink it seems to operating fine fan speed looks good and it is attached corectly.

After a quick search on post code 76 I found that is hard disk setup ready to start. What is strange I dont even have any drives hooked up to the motherboard atm and it still gave me that code. It allways hangs with that code and doesn give me a post screen.

Now that I look at I have a suspicion something might be wrong with the capacitors right next to the cpu as they are bulged out a little at the top but not enough to be leaking yet.


Picture here although probably a bit hard to see.

 

[nageov3t]

ack. stock heatsink? your cpu is a goner

 

[mrweirdo]

Ya I was always gona get a beter heatsink but never got around to buying one. At least I removed the thermal pad that came with it and put some artic silver on awhile back.
oh btw pardon the dust I havent cleaned in a few months

 

[mrweirdo]

well I tryed reinstalling the cpu and tryed installing a spare 1700+ cpu I had lying around and I got the same result so by the process of elimation I have figured that my ECS mobo has finaly given up the ghost. So now I need to find a replacement motherboard.. with all the problems I have had with this board I will not even consider purchasing anything from ECS again. I'm going to give gigabyte and Asus a good look. Always had good luck with gigabyte in other systems I built now and in the past. I looking to spend anyware from $50 - $70. I have no idea what chipset is best for the socket A platform though.