Need help troubleshooting my system

[CoreZman]

A few weeks ago, I had one of my pc's powered w/o a surge protector, and sure enough got a power surge. Since then I've got no video, and no motherboard beeps (signifying dead motherboard). I get power through the motherboard as all the fans and the hard drives spin. System specs:

Abit KT7A-Raid rev1.1
AMD TBred 2400+ w/ Alpha Pal 8045
Crucial PC133 SDRAM 512
GF4 Ti4600
300W PSU
80GB + 30GB HD's
Creative SBLive! sound
pci ethernet
19" Viewsonic CRT

Ok so I've done a bunch of troubleshooting and can't find the problem. Here's what I've done:

1) verified video card operation in different box
2) verified monitor operation on different box
3) verified cpu operation in different box
4) verified hard drive operation (both) in different box
5) replaced motherboard with exact same make/model/rev/bios
6) replaced power supply with the one in my new rig (Antec true480blue)

I still get no video and no beeps, even with the new replacement motherboard. So I'm stumped. Any ideas?

 

[kylef]

Have you checked the RAM in a different system? It looks like the only untouched component, according to your steps.

 

[CoreZman]

Originally posted by: kylef
Have you checked the RAM in a different system? It looks like the only untouched component, according to your steps.

no i haven't. is it possible for ram to cause this sort of problem? i would thik i would get a beep code.

 

[kylef]

Technically yes, you should get a beep code. But under some conditions, the motherboard may shut itself down if it detects a power spike (such as a short circuit) in the system RAM before beep codes are sent.

Have you taken literally everything out of the motherboard except the 1) cpu, 2) ram, and 3) video card?

If you still can't POST with those 3 components, something is bad. You said you've already replaced your motherboard to no avail, so I'm not sure what to say.

I had an ASUS A7n8x-e give do a black screen freeze before POST (no beep codes for me either), and that ended up being a incompatibility between that motherboard and my off-brand Powercolor Radeon 9800 Pro. I replaced it twice, same effect: but when I went with the ATI model Radeon 9800 Pro, everything worked great.

Basically, even though you've verified your video card working in another system, it doesn't mean that it hasn't just been compromized in THAT system.

And RAM could theoretically cause weird behavior too, especially if it's a short circuit we're talking about.

 

[CoreZman]

Still frustrated. I took everything out again, except the cpu, and video card. As expected i got a steady beep, (no memory beep). So I put one stick of the memory back in and got nothing. I tired all three sticks individually in all three dimm slots and still got nothing.

At this point I've either tested or replaced every component and still can't find the problem.

edit: i started testing everything all over, starting with the video card (which checked out ok previously in another box). this time with the card in another box, i got nothing, a third box, same thing. put a new card in the problem box, posts and boots fine. so the problem is my video card, but its wierd that it worked on my previous test. :shrug:

time to hit the trading post.