Need Help - Computer stopped working

Nickc19

Member
Jun 21, 2004
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So the other day I come home from work and my computer is all of a sudden not working. It's still powered up (fans running, all case LED's still on), but the keyboard and mouse are not lit up, and the monitor is in sleep mode (as if you turned it on without the computer being on). After rebooting the computer time and time again, the same thing happens - computer powers up, but the keyboard and mouse never light up, and nothing appears on the monitor and it goes straight into sleep mode. You hear a clicking noise everytime it's powered back on, but after opening the case up and listening, it seems to be coming from the CD-drive, and not the harddrive. First thought was the harddrive crashed but anytime i've seen this happen in the past the monitor still displays fine and you can still see the boot process attempt to take place, and the keyboard and mouse would still be powered normally - not the case here.

I looked and made sure nothing had come disconnected from the motherboard - everything looks to be connected fine. Anybody have any ideas on what the problem may be? I'm pretty lost here...
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
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Please list out your system specs including your power supply. I would start by swapping memory and reseating your video card.
 

Nickc19

Member
Jun 21, 2004
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Here's my system specs:

Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S V2
CPU: AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2400+ (35W)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 128mb
Memory: 512mb x 2 Kingston or Corsair (cant remember off the top of my head)
Harddrive: HITACHI Deskstar 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Case and Power Supply: Antec SONATA Steel ATX Mid Tower Case w/ TruePower 380Watt ATX12V Power Supply


I tried reseating the video card (havent been able to try swapping ram yet), which didnt fix it, but as I was I noticed that the heatsink/fan had come partially detached from it (about half of it was hanging off). I re-mounted it on but i'm wondering if this messed something up...? Thoughts?
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
33,944
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I'd remove one stick of memory, disconnect the hard /optical/floppy drives, and try a different video card.
 

Insomnibyte

Senior member
Feb 8, 2004
304
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start with your memory first, try removing one stick at a time and booting up like that. Memory has a higher volitile rate, most ram fails up to and a little after 3 months of usage. So go with your ram first.
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
Originally posted by: Nickc19
Here's my system specs:

Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S V2
CPU: AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2400+ (35W)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 128mb
Memory: 512mb x 2 Kingston or Corsair (cant remember off the top of my head)
Harddrive: HITACHI Deskstar 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Case and Power Supply: Antec SONATA Steel ATX Mid Tower Case w/ TruePower 380Watt ATX12V Power Supply


I tried reseating the video card (havent been able to try swapping ram yet), which didnt fix it, but as I was I noticed that the heatsink/fan had come partially detached from it (about half of it was hanging off). I re-mounted it on but i'm wondering if this messed something up...? Thoughts?


The gfx HS+fan?

If so, try another gfx card. May be the GPU is toast.

Fern
 

Nickc19

Member
Jun 21, 2004
130
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Originally posted by: Fern
The gfx HS+fan?

If so, try another gfx card. May be the GPU is toast.

Fern

Yeah, the one on there. I guess that'll be my next plan of action cause I tried everything else said so far (taking out each memory stick one by one, disconnecting all drives) and no luck...now i just need to find a video card to test out with, cause I hate buying a new expensive one without knowing if thats the problem. Anyone have an old/cheap one they'd let me buy/borrow to use to try out (k didnt think so)

Would a fried gpu effect the keyboard and mouse from powering up though? Thats the part thats confusing me. Is there any way to know if the CPU is fried? I would think it isnt cause it automatically shuts down when it gets to a certain temperature, but I dunno...
 

daniel49

Diamond Member
Jan 8, 2005
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Memory: 512mb x 2 Kingston or Corsair (cant remember off the top of my head)

sounds like you need an upgrade;)


Anyone have an old/cheap one they'd let me buy/borrow to use to try out (k didnt think so)

sure if you leave in a thirty mile radius from me (k didn't think so)
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
Originally posted by: Nickc19
Originally posted by: Fern
The gfx HS+fan?

If so, try another gfx card. May be the GPU is toast.

Fern

Yeah, the one on there. I guess that'll be my next plan of action cause I tried everything else said so far (taking out each memory stick one by one, disconnecting all drives) and no luck...now i just need to find a video card to test out with, cause I hate buying a new expensive one without knowing if thats the problem. Anyone have an old/cheap one they'd let me buy/borrow to use to try out (k didnt think so)

Would a fried gpu effect the keyboard and mouse from powering up though? Thats the part thats confusing me. Is there any way to know if the CPU is fried? I would think it isnt cause it automatically shuts down when it gets to a certain temperature, but I dunno...

Can you put your gfx card in another machine?

I can only guess, proly wrong, that the BIOS maybe hanging up on ititalizing the agp slot/gfx before it can get to the KB & mouse.

Fern
 

Nickc19

Member
Jun 21, 2004
130
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No I unfortunately I dont have another machine to put it in to test it out. My buddy is gonna let me borrow his video card tomorrow though so I guess I'll find out then if this is the problem or not...