Newly assembled PC got shutdown, not booting, no beep, no video

[villagepeople]

It all happened last Friday, Nov 26th. My AMD Machine
crashed or became unusable.

Three months ago, I assembled this computer and it was
working fine without any issues till last Friday 5:30
AM.

Computer was left ON for sometime from Midnight. Early
Morning I got up and continued to use it for 15-20
minutes and it went down suddenly as if I issued a
Shutdown command.

Computer is connected to a Surge Protector / Power
Strip and it is plugged into a UPS system.

Now the Configuration :

Mother Board : FIC KT-748, AMI Bios
Processor : AMD Athlon XP 2800

DDR Memory 1 : Kingston 512MB (3200)
DDR Memory 2 : Patriot 512MB (2700)

Video Card : ASUS 9600XT AGP 4/8X Card (vivo)
Monitor : CRT KDS 19inch? XBF (Flat Screen)
Primary IDE: Maxtor 120GB, 7200RPM, 8MB Cache
Secondary IDE : IO Magic DVD/CD Burner

Standard Keyboard and PS2 Mouse

Case : Antec case with 350W PSU and two case fans.

OS : XP SP1

Details :

After the System Crash, I tried to restart the
Machine. Nothing happened.
Monitor was not recognizing any input as if it is not
connected to PC.

Opened the case and tried the Cold booting. No Beeps.
Case fan shown some feeble movement and stopped.
Nothing more.

Removed HDD, Memory and tried. Same results.
Used another Video card and tried. Same ..
Used another Monitor and tried the above again.
Nothing different.

Got a Brand New Antec PSU 350 and tried the above all
over. Same result.


On the Motherboard, there is a square 12V (optional ?)
Power Connector.
Disconnected and started the system again.
This time all the Fans, including CPU Fans are
working.
But nothing more. No beeps, No Video.

Any Comments .. input .. advice ..

 

[Insomniak]

Sounds like the mobo took a hit. Time to replace.

I would be surprised if your PSU isn't somehow damaged as well, although maybe not fatally.

 

[chucky2]

FWIW...I agree with Insomniak...does anyone you or anyone you know have an ATX motherboard that can be sacrificed if need be just in case testing out your ATX P/S proves it to be nuking motherboards.

It would go something like this:

1. Take sacrificable working ATX motherboard that is known to be working, and swap out it's ATX P/S with yours. If it works, and the voltages check out, then you know that your ATX P/S should be good.

2. Try your FIC motherboard again, just for grins. If it doesn't work with all the components (where possible, hopefully you can re-use the CPU and RAM, and definitely the ATX P/S) from the sacrificable motherboard in it, then you know you've got a dead motherboard only.

2.a. If it's just a dead FIC motherboard, then get it RMA'd or buy new.

2.b. If you put in your ATX P/S and it kills the sacricable motherboard, then you know you need a new ATX P/S and a new motherboard.

Hope you get it all worked out!!!

Chuck

 

[villagepeople]

Thank you for the input.
I already tried a brand new 350W Power Supply.
Result same. So I returned the PSU to the store (Staples).

 

[chucky2]

villagepeople- I guess what I was trying to say is that if your original ATX P/S died and nuked the motherboard, and now the motherboard is nuking P/S's connected to it, you could be in a perpetual loop when you get a different motherboard.

To really troubleshoot this, you need another known working motherboard with the same architecture as yours, i.e. same CPU socket type, same P/S type, same RAM type. Then, you swap out the CPU and RAM it has for yours and see if it works...if it does, you know your CPU and RAM are probably good. Then you swap in your suspect P/S (so the only thing that is different at this point is the motherboard) and see if this works...if it does, then you've isolated it as just the FIC motherboard. If it fails, then you swap the previously good P/S back into the expendable motherboard to make sure it's OK...if it is, then you've got a flaky P/S. If this happens, take your CPU, RAM, and the expendable motherboards good P/S and try that in the FIC motherboard...if it works, then you narrowed it down to the P/S...if it doesn't, then you've got both a bad motherboard and a bad P/S.

I know this is the long way of doing things...but it should ensure you have all the angles covered...

Chuck

 

[mechBgon]

The ATX12V connector is not there just for show. Definitely use it, on any motherboard that has one.

If you need an economical replacement motherboard with a good reputation, the Shuttle AN35N Ultra is a good budget buy. I do know one person who had one fail, but that is the only instance I can recall for that board. If you'd like something more deluxe, the Abit NF7-S has a great repuation and a pretty deluxe set of features including nVidia Soundstorm certification, Firewire, and an SATA controller.

 

[RacerX]

had a similar incident about a month ago (with a friends computer) ...anyways I made sure it wasn't the vidcard, ram or power supply ... and the cpu cooler/heatsink was heating up (motherboard was getting power and fans spun up) ... so since the cpu seemed to be working (ie- heating up) I figured it had to be the mobo and got a replacement.

long story short, it was not the mobo ... it was the cpu that was toast. I would pull your cpu and look for any cracks on the core or signs of overheating.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
edit - okay I only skim read everything the first time, now I took the time and read it all. These are the exact same things I recently encountered and I was pretty sure it was the motherboard and it turned out to be the CPU instead. I think that processor is history (for lack of a better term) ... I'd try replacing that before ripping out the mobo. good luck either way

 

[mechBgon]

On that tangent, here's a photo guide on heatsink positioning, just in case.

 

[villagepeople]

Thank you for the input.
Now I need to have an RMA created

 

[chucky2]

So, was it the motherboard? Or, CPU, or RAM, or P/S, or...?

Just curious...

Glad you got it worked out!

Chuck

 

[villagepeople]

Originally posted by: chucky2
So, was it the motherboard? Or, CPU, or RAM, or P/S, or...?

Just curious...

Glad you got it worked out!

Chuck

Nothing sure yet.

These are the options in my mind,
1.
Planning to get a new MoBo and PSU from local Microcenter.
Will test it there in their tech center.

2. If nothing conclusive,
Request for RMA from FIC (MoBo Company)
But I don't see a toll free Customer Support Phone# on their site.
I already emailed them the problem 5 days ago. But no reply yet.

This is a new (bad) experience for me, last PC I assembled 2 years ago is still going strong with AMD Athlon 1600XP. New one has got better PSU and two case fans, as opposed to the old one with a generic PSU and one case fan. New PC connected to the Same UPS/Powerstrip which I used earlier with the old PC.
Well this is an education, but bit expensive and painful.
I am still confused, not going to give up.

Will update the Forum after my next course of action.

 

[villagepeople]

I took my PC to local Microcenter. One of their Techies let me to use their facility.
I replaced the Old MoBo with another KT-748 MoBo bought from there just to test/verify it.

The Power connectors including the ATX12V connected to the new board. Switched the Power.
Bingo.
New MoBo gave a beep, All the Fans worked including the Video Card Fan.

SO THE PROBLEM IS THE FIC MOTHERBOARD.

I returned the New MoBo to Microcenter.

Next pain is to get an RMA from FIC.

Thank you guys for the inputs. It really helped in building my confidence.

 

[chucky2]

Glad you got it isolated villagepeople!

Chuck