my Computer refuse to respond!!!

[lavoieduchrist]

Hi, this is my first post here, happy to speak to you,

I have a old P3 500, asus P3b-F mobo, which i have been using for 5 years. Recently after i've reinstalled Win 98se,..i was browsing on my desktop, i was placing some icon...and then every thing got frozen...i have turn off my computer ans that was the last time i ve seen it alive.

When i push the start button, fans start, i can hear my hard drive scratching a little bit and this is it.,..the monitor never turns on and nothing's booting. i can see nothing.

here is what i have done/tested

Fisrt power supply: with a tester i've checked the voltage and it was fine
Hard drive, processor, graphic card, i ve tried with another one and it has changed nothing.
I have reset my bios with the jumper, unpluged the connector, took off the battery let it sit for hours....nothing...fans noise and black screen ( i mean no power between the screen and the computer)

is this a sign that my motherboard burned...but why after 5 years. is this can by only my battery? usually there would be at least a message which tell my something about bad battery....Do you agree with my conclusion...i have to change my mainboard...i else should i try?

thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums If you have another power supply available (in another computer, maybe?), try it next.

 

[lavoieduchrist]

I 've checked it already and it produce some juice...i got all the voltage necessary........

??

 

[mechBgon]

Yes, but if you have another one, try it anyway.

 

[lavoieduchrist]

I dont have a second PSU in my hand to check with.. but i am really confident that it works.

Do you think it could be my motherboard? Is it possible for a motherboard to just go away after 5 years of exellent work?

I have never overclocked it...



Thanks for your answers

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well.. as far as computer components with finite lifetimes.. I'd have to rate mobos close to the top, under HDs and mice/keyboards (and cheap PSUs), they often do fail somewhere in that timeframe, although generally they fail gradually, as the capacitor eletrolytes dry out, and other components degrade with time. Although, board flex/connector-failure is a semi-common cause of death of well-used boards too.

I killed my BX6-r2 due to an "accident", but then the BH6 I was using for some time afterwards, running a PIII 1Ghz Coppermine, finally gave up the ghost after slowly, occasionally, flaking out. The VRMs on the BH6 were pretty severely taxed by the PIII 1Ghz chip though. No matter how much higher I boosted the volts in the BIOS, I couldn't get much above 1.65-1.7v, which is the minimum it needed to be stable.

The fact that your system failed suddenly and catastrophically, and didn't boot again, sounds like some component simply finally gave up the ghost, although it's not obvious whether it was the PSU, the mobo, or something else, although the mobo is probably highly suspect at that age. (Unless the PSU is of similar age - PSUs usually fail before mobos do, due to the higher heat that the components are exposed to.)

 

[lavoieduchrist]

When a PSU fail...Does it still produce voltage? Cause i ve checked it with a tester, and i could read all of them ( 5v,12v,3v... on every cables)

 

[montag451]

Trouble with a tester is that it tests averages - no way you could read a voltage every 10 milliseconds.

If the power is dropping for just 20 milliseconds, you will have probs [1/50 second]. Maybe even less tolerance than that.
I personally would DISCONNECT EVERYTHING from mobo except psu/cpu+fan/case spkr/pwr switch header.
Switch on and see what happens.
If same, then you know it is either mobo/cpu/psu. - You will have to swap parts to see what is happening, unless you have a pci post card diagnostic tool to hand.- highly recommended.
If you hear beeps, then add RAM.
carry on till nothing responds.

 

[Slikkster]

Do you have a spare video card to try? At least do this:

Reseat all your cards and cables. I would pull them out and put them back in, to be sure.

I'm thinking a video issue, given what you've described. Does the video card have a fan built in? Is the fan working?

 

[lavoieduchrist]

the only thing i have'nt tried swaping is my mobo and psu. I have swaped with another brandnew harddrive, videocard and even another P3 500... always end up with no signals...but agp video fan is working, harddrive scratchs, psu fan working light on my motherboard is on...there is only one green led on it which i could'nt find what it means. There is no beep...nothing strange...just no signal.

(it's not my monitor, cause i have it working right now on my other system...which everything is almost incompatible with my old one)

So after all you've said, my best guess would be to try with another PSU and then if not working again, i'll change my motherboard... since i have already tried to disconnect everything as montag451 mentionned.

I am looking with my neibour shop to get a PSU i'll let you know if something will bring back this thing alive....then if someone get another good idea to help

thanks folks

 

[Slikkster]

Take a look at your capacitors on the motherboard. There was a period of time a few years ago when almost the entire MB industry was plagued by bad capacitors. You can often times see bad ones by the fact that they look like they have exploded internally, so instead of having a smooth cylindrical shape with flat tops, they might instead of tops that are elevated and rounded, like a hill. Or, they might show leakage at the bottom or anywhere else.

Use a magnifying glass to take a good look at them.

http://www.badcaps.net has some pics of examples of this problem.