PC died and/or dying...any ideas?

[RBBRMADE]

My rig specs are in the sig.
I was installing a BenQ 1625 Lightscribe DVDRW, and doing some reboots, etc.
I have recently (2-3 weeks ago) upgraded to a 3.2EE CPU from a 3.0C.
I have recently (~1 week ago) upgraded to a ATI x800xt aiw, from a ti4400.

I installed a lightscribe driver and rebooted.

At startup the machine ran for a few seconds and then the monitor turned itself off.

Now when I startup the fans and drives spin, and it does a couple of different things...

1. No beeps, no video.

2. A beep after a few second delay and the display quits when starting Windows (Safe or Normal)

3. Normal boot until reaching just past the Windows splash screen, where I lose video.

4. Once I noticed the three LEDs (numlock, etc.) on my keyboard were blinking the whole time (booting), Windows started to a blank screen with a mousepointer which would not move.

5. I noticed the card reader I have had two lights glowing green. Before it always had one of those lights glowing orange. I unplugged it from a USB header.

6. I also entered BIOS setup to check CPU temps, which were fine. While poking thru the menus, I saw some display issues. (tearing, garbage, etc..)

I have:
reset BIOS.
cleaned and applied new thermal paste and reseated heatsink for CPU.
swapped video cards.
swapped power supplies.
removed new DVDRW.
unplugged all unnecessary devices.
removed one stick of RAM.

I should get my hands on another CPU to test tomorrow, and I am leaning towards the CPU or mobo.

Wuddayathink?

Thnx,
Ron

 

[montag451]

More likely to be psu - try unplugging all non essentials - dvd/cd/sound/drives/usb and see what happens.
If no luck, disconnect everything, EXCEPT
psu/case speaker/power sw/cpu+fan.
Do you get beeps now?

 

[RBBRMADE]

I tried a different PSU with the same results.

 

[Laogeodritt]

I'll have to agree with montag. It could just be that your PSU is not capable to deliver the required electricity to all the components. Was the other PSU a higher-wattage PSU than the first?

I suppose if the PSU was damaged or otherwise defective if could have fried the motherboard or something too...

As montag said, try disconnecting all components except the essential components, thus Motherboard and CPU; the computer should POST in that case. If that works, then it's probable your power supply is just not enough to support all these components youh ave. Otherwise, it's probably the motherboard, RAM sticks or processor.

EDIT: According to this Wikipaedia article, no POST beeps indicate a problem with the power supply or the motherboard.

 

[RBBRMADE]

I run a 2 year old Antec 430-ish...
I swapped it with a ThermalTake 480...

no go!

Ron

 

[Scrubber]

When you first install the OS, it creates a hardware hash based on certain components in the system. If you change a major component like the CPU, then the checksum no longer matches and the OS will think it's running on a different machine. If you don't reactivate within 3 days, the anti-piracy component kicks in.
Info on this site explains it in a little more detail. MS's point of view here

 

[montag451]

Well,
as you are sure it isn't a psu issue, then it is most likely a mobo problem.

 

[RBBRMADE]

the activation thing was it!
no, I am just kidding......um, thank you for your time, Scrubber.....

I am relatively happy, because I swapped my CPU with another, and it still doesn't work! yay!
yay! because my EXTREMELY Expensive CPU is OK.

It has to be the mobo at this point. I guess I'll have to get one with the same RAID chip so I can get my data off of my main RAIDed drives.
I'll probably just buy the exact same board if I can find it.

Thanx guys,
Ron
Ron

 

[sipuncher]

I've got your same motherboard (Gigabyte 8KNXP) and had the same problem... well, my fans spin and drives power up but no video or beep or nething. That's as good as it gets! Tried psu, ram, graphics card, cpu all to no avail so RMA'd the board to dabs this morning. Is there any sign of damage to ur board? Blown caps or anything? Couldn't see anything wrong with mine.

Fingers crossed this sorts it... goin from 3.2ghz to 500mhz isnt much fun!

 

[RBBRMADE]

No visible damage at all.
I picked a board up from eBay and it arrived today.
I installed it, and the system runs just fine.
I am RMAing my old board thru Gigabyte.

Seeya!
Ron