Problems with mouse+kb and monitor turning on, old gaming rig: mobo/PSU problem?

[Boris t3h Spider]

So my computer is about 4 years old (roughly), and occasionally when I turn it on it seems to turn on normally (fans turn on, etc.) but the mouse and keyboard will receive no power (lights on them do not turn on) and the monitor receives no signal and there is consequently no picture. I will leave the computer off for a day or so, come back and turn it on and sometimes it will work normally. Strange.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that before having these problems my sound (which is onboard) would cut out and come back randomly in fashion similar to the other issues I have been having.

I have not been keeping up with hardware releases recently, and it's been a while since I built this rig so I hope these specs are relatively accurate. Specs are as follows:

ABIT IP5E
Q6600 @ 3.2ghz with aftermarket heatsink (thermalright ultra 90 or similar I believe?)
4gb DDR2
AMD 6850 @ stock speeds
Corsair HX520W PSU
Antec P180
500gb 7200rpm HDD
Dell U2311H

Obviously the monitor is hooked up to the videocard directly, so could this be a mobo problem? Bad PSU?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I've been going through the same. I have an extra keyboard that I swapped out and it consistently worked. I am back to my old keyboard and it's working so far.

What I'm going to do is just pickup a backup keyboard for this rig and see how it goes.

btw, i had the same issue with my mouse

 

[VirtualLarry]

My friend's IP35-E, with an E5200 @ 3.625Ghz, does something similar sometimes. When he first gets up in the morning to turn it on, sometimes it "sort of" turns on, but doesn't boot, doesn't display anything on the monitor. So he has to hold the power button down, to shut it off, and then press it again, and then it boots.

Ordinarily, I would suggest that boot problems like that might be the power-supply, but we just replaced the PSU with a brand-new Antec Neo Eco 620W in Dec., along with upgrading the video card to an MSI GTX460 768MB Twin Frozr model.

Maybe the CMOS battery is getting weak?

 

[Boris t3h Spider]

So I tried an old keyboard I had lying around (PS2 connection, existing keyboard that was connected was through USB) and this did not help.

Tried unplugging the mouse and keyboard and booting up, still no picture to the monitor.

My computer will not start up after being restarted when it does this. Leaving it off for several days, coming back and turning it on USED to work, now it simply powers on but I have not been able to get the keyboard/mouse/monitor to work for the past few days now.

Is this possibly a sign that the CMOS battery could be bad as suggested by VirtualLarry? I don't know how it works (if it could partially recharge itself, or something, sorry if that is not possible or sounds stupid). Is there anyway that I could check that this is the problem? I wouldn't know where to acquire another CMOS battery. Are they all the same size, etc? Any other things that could cause this?

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

 

[Davidh373]

As long as these problems all revealed themselves at once, sounds like the Mobo is going bad. (no graphics output, no USB/PS2). Unless I'm wrong, the CMOS battery is simply meant to keep your BIOS settings saved, and this would not effect graphics output.

 

[mfenn]

The CMOS battery is simply a lithium coin cell (non-rechargeable). They're usually CR2032 batteries which should be available locally (Radio Shack Walmart, drug store, grocery store, etc.).

 

[Boris t3h Spider]

I probably should mention that the sound also kept cutting out before this would happen, and would come back in a seemingly random fashion like the power to USB/picture would.

EDIT: Sound is onboard, by the way.

I am starting to think that this is just a case of the motherboard going out.

There is no one else I know with compatible hardware, so outside of this is there any way to confirm that it is in fact the motherboard that has gone bad and not anything else?

If it is the motherboard, are there any cheap(ish), good replacements left that are ATX form factor (would fit in the Antec P180), take DDR2 memory, and can OC decently (get my Q6600 to ~3ghz? It seems that most LGA775 boards are out of stock everywhere, except for a few exceptions.

 

[mnewsham]

Spend the $40 to upgrade to DDR3 and get this i guess.

 

[Boris t3h Spider]

Thanks, that doesn't look like a bad option as long as it fits the CPU cooler I am using.

If I am upgrading to DDR3 would it be worth my while to consider buying a different motherboard and getting something like a Phenom x4, or would this not be a significant upgrade from my Q6600?

 

[mnewsham]

a phenom x4 is more of a side grade as you can see here the Q6600 keeps pace with the Phenom X4 955 ($140) at stock clocks, yours is clocked at 3.2Ghz and would beat the X4. Picking up some decent 1600mhz DDR3 RAM and a motherboard for socket 775 is probably your best bet.