One (or more) of three things dead: Mobo, PSU, or Proc

[lchyi]

My computer will not post anything to the monitor. When powered up, the HDD, the fans, and everything that takes power will spin up however the computer will not display anything or beep. So what I did was take out all the drives, left one stick of 1GB Hyper-X memory (which has been in three systems now, so I'm pretty sure they both work at least) in, took out the heatsink, the proc, and reseated it, and booted it up. Still nothing. Everything spins, nothing works.

So I'm guessing it's one of a few problems:

1) Barton 2500+ fried.
2) DFI KT400A mobo died (no leaky caps that I could find)
3) PSU is bad.

I don't have an extra of either. Are there any other tests I can try? Otherwise I'm going to have to order an old 2400+ Sempron chip. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to replace the mobo. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to replace the PSU and hopefully everything will boot up. Which is it most likely? I'm thinking processor, then mobo, then PSU (since it is delivering steady power to the board).

 

[refresh daemon]

Maybe try running with the five essential components (mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU and vidcard) and then see what happens when you run missing the vidcard, then the RAM and then the CPU. If everything seems to start up fine (you get beep codes) without the missing part, you can probably narrow it down to that missing part.

Also, have you tested to see if the board is grounding to the case? Try placing the motherboard on some cardboard with the min. components and starting it up.

jc

 

[lchyi]

I don't think it's grounding out. The computer worked fine for about 2 years then just went kaputz there were no physical changes. I wasn't around when it broke but I was told it was displaying colored stripes on the monitor before it died completely. So I thought to myself, "Video card." Bought a new video card but it didn't help. So there's a slim possibility I got a DoA vid card but even so, I'd think it'd still go through to Windows right (ie hear the hard drive working a little, the beep after the RAM is checked, the hard drive continuing to work as it loads up the OS, etc. etc.)?

The only thing horribly wrong with the computer was the 120mm fan in the back. It was spinning slower than usual so I think the heat might have fried the processor. But I'd think a mobo as good as the KT400A would have shut down procedure when it over heats.

But yea, I'll try ripping out the parts, seems like a good plan.

 

[tbalon]

If all else fails remember to try resetting the cmos jumper. You may have to go into the BIOS and resest the date and time and any other setings that you may have changed from the default. Surprisingly this has saved me a couple of times from replacing a mobo.

 

[lchyi]

I did the whole reset thing including yanking the battery. No change there. I hope it wasn't the motherboard, I really liked that one

 

[refresh daemon]

I think the most likely suspects, since you replaced the video card, are going to be either the PSU or the motherboard; but since everything appears to spin, I think it might be a motherboard problem. Those are hard to diagnose unless you can confirm that all the other parts are working. At least in my experience.

 

[DetroitSportsFan]

I'm leaning toward the board as well ... but I wouldn't be surprised if both the board and the cpu were gone. Electrical components tend to take out other electrical components when they die.

Its pretty easy to get attached to a system, but in your case I think I'd be looking to buy something on a newer platform. If you do your homework, you'll be able to replace your current mobo and processor with a brand new newer platform mobo/processor combo AND still reuse all your old components. Socket A is old enough now and out dated enough now, when it breaks, replace it with something newer (both AMD and Intel have budget priced processors that are much better performers than socket A. The price isn't that much different but the performance difference is.

I have an s939 opteron 165 based machine, a barton 2500 XP unlocked and running a moderate overclock. I also have an old XP 1800 based machine. If a major component fails on either of the socket A machines, I won't bother with it. It becomes a good reason for another upgrade. When I upgrade, I always go to the newest technology. Even on a tight budget, you can get significantly better performance than your beloved Barton XP. You can also utilize a lot of your existing hardware while you save the funds to continue your upgrade.