My newly built system locking up, and my mom's gonna kill me!

[Fabio84]

I recently built a computer for my family, an Athlon 800 with an Abit Ka7-100 mobo, SB Live!, 128 MB ValueRAM, Trident 4MB PCI Vid card, 10x DVD, and 8x Cd-R. I installed Norton AntiVirus last week, and I don't know if it has anything to do with this, but my computer is hard locking whenever I turn it on! It doesn't boot to BIOS or Windows or anything. I hit the switch, and all the lights on the computer light up, HD access, power, the CD drives, floppy, etc. Nothing comes up on the monitor as well. It just sits there. I don't think I fried anything, and I haven't installed any hardware since building it. Hope there's a solution out there, my @$$ is toast if I can't get it fixed by Friday! Thanks in advance!

 

[Edmond]

It's not the AntiVirus program. I'd need a little more info to help out though...does your computer post (beep once when you start up?) Are you saying you can't even access the bios at startup? You could always reset the bios by using the mobo jumper reset pins.

 

[Fabio84]

It doesn't beep or anything... the fans and lights come on, and that's it, nothing on the monitor either. If only I could get it to boot, period.

 

[Doctorweir]

Did any modifications in the Bios? (overclock, ram timing, etc.)
'Cos I heard about the Abit not being able to gather the ram timings automatically.

Have you tried a Bios reset? (Pressing 'Insert' during power-up on the P3 boards. Perhaps you have to look up the manual if it's the same for your board)

If it doesn't beep, the components seem to work properly. (Does a Mobo beep if the CPU burned out?). Is the heatsink attached properly?

BTW, is the monitor cable plugged in? (No,no,just kiddin' )

Good luck while trying on...and tell your mother to calm down...computer=trouble, that's the way it is...

 

[Fabio84]

No mods in the BIOS that I'm aware of... the machine has been running fine for a couple of months now, so I'm sure it's not a processor/heatsink issue. It's just strange that it would just stop working altogether, I've never seen anything lock up like this before. I'll give the BIOS a nice reset tomorrow and see if that works, let's hope so! Any other suggestions?

 

[Techwhore]

Yeah, that's pretty weird. What power supply are you using? My friend had a similar problem way back in the days before AMD Recommended equipment. It would start, then not start again... few days later it might start again, strangest thing. I would also check that ram out. I built my g/f's comp with generic ram (on a ka7-100) and it didn't post either. But you've posted and booted before so i don't understand how that can be... good luck to you

 

[Bakwetu]

Is your cpu a classic athlon or a t-bird. If it is the latter you should replace it for a classic.

 

[Ladi]

Good way of tracking down hardware problems (and even though this just started, that doesn't mean something hasn't died between then and now) is pulling everything from your system but CPU, memory (and you may want to see if you can swap this out, have it tested, etc), and video card. Reseat what's left and try booting again. If it posts and you can get to BIOS, you know that those components are okay, so try adding more (hard drive, for instance) and go one by one until it doesn't post/boot again.

~Ladi

 

[Stembolt]

Reseat your processor and memory. You may have to slightly "rock" the processor in the slot to ensure a good connection. You may even have to do this a couple of times. I agree with tearing it down and adding one component at a time. Try using only 1 stick of memory and move it around if necessary. Of course, check to make sure the mobo isn't grounding to the case anywhere it shouldn't. Switch out (temporarily) any questionable vital component with a verified operational component from another machine if possible. That's all I can think of right now. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Brig]

Everythings coming on but the monitor ? Do you have a standby light on your monitor, along with a power light ? If so, watch your hard drive lights.....do they 'look' like their loading windows ? If they do, and the monitor power light is 'off' but the 'standby' light is still on, it could be your monitor (high voltage circuit). See if you can try it out on another machine to at least rule that out.

These same symptoms are too recently familiar to me.

 

[Fabio84]

Okay, here's the story - I tried all of the following, per all your excellent suggestions.

Reseated processor
Tried different RAM chips
Moved RAM around
Took out all expansion cards except video card
Unplugged all IDE devices
Plugged in some IDE devices
Tried a different monitor

... and all imaginable combinations of the above steps, but it's still not even booting to BIOS. Yeesh! Maybe a bad motherboard? I haven't ever encountered this before, and no one I've talked to has either. Maybe it's time to buy another machine and do a case swap!

 

[Changlinn]

It is highly likely it is the vid card or bios, try a different video card if no go, get a post card (they are hard to find but are cheap) which will use its own post and tell you what maybe wrong.
BTW if anyone has a post card I need one, I lost my old one.

 

[Doctorweir]

Did you do the Bios reset?

 

[Zaphs]

Okay, this is probably a stupid question but here goes...

Have you unplugged the power cord from the power supply?

I sometimes have a problem where I turn the computer on, the lights light up on the box, I hear the hard drives spin up and the CD lights come on but nothing appears on my monitor and the bios does not beep.

The way I fix it is to turn the computer off, disconnect the power cord from the back of the computer, wait about 30 seconds (I guess for the capacitors to discharge???) and then plug the cord back in, turn on and everything works fine again.

I hope this works for you, if not it does sound that it may be a POwer supply problem, supplying power incorreclty or something funky like that.

Hope this helps!