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System tries to POST, no video

Twofootputt

Twofootputt

Senior member
Antec Sonata(BF deal)
Chaintech SKT600
Athlon XP 2500 Barton(OCZGladiator3HSF)
512 MB Kingston Valueram
ATI 9200SE 64MB
160 GB SeagateHDD - 8MB cache
FDD
DVD-ROM
CD-RW

Assembled components this afternoon. When I powered up, the CPU fan came on the FDD,CD & DVD lights flashed as usual, but nothing on the monitor. (It works, I'm using it now). I have already rechecked all the connections and cleared CMOS via the jumper. Still same reaction. Any ideas?
 
POST beeps? I'm interested as well because I'm having the same problem, just completely different setup. Has it worked before?
 
You might want to take the board out of the case, lay it on cardboard like shown here, and fire it up with just the bare essentials: one memory module, video card, CPU/heatsink/fan, and no drives, no case wiring except power-button wire, no keyboard, no mouse.

Another oversight I sometimes see, is the builder overlooks the standoffs 😱 Your Chaintech doesn't use an ATX12V secondary power cable, so you're home free on that one.

Good luck 🙂 I wrote up a full load of more troubleshooting brainstorms/issues in this rich-text document if you have the patience to read through it all 😱
 
No beeps on startup. I forgot that the RAM is PC3200 which I am reading may contribute. I will take out the Mobo & try booting as suggested below after I read the info. Thanks.
 
I am getting the exact same problem with a 2 year old Alienware PC that has been running well until now. The other night my graphics simply cut out while I was playing World of Warcraft, and from then on, my system refused to boot at all. After taking it apart, dusting everything, and putting it back together, it booted - only to shut down due to apparent overheating issues (the PCU fan was losing rpm and eventually went dead). Thinking it could be a power issue, I switched the computer power cord over to another outlet. I have yet to determine whether or not this solved the problem. Currently, I'm running the computer with the cpu fan and case off and a house fan blowing into it, which is keeping the temp. down just fine.

My first suspicion was that this was a DVI issue - I tried switching back over to analog a couple times, with varied results (sometimes the system would boot, othertimes it wouldn't; again, I have no idea if the analog played a part in this or not). My question for the creator of this thread is are you using DVI or analog?
 
Allerious, if you need a replacement CPU fan, post what CPU you have and I'll rummage up a suggestion. Or contact Alienware, it's probably covered under either their warranty or AMD/Intel's as long as you're the original owner.
 
Pulled mobo out of case. Still won't boot. Tried CPU, RAM & video card in my system. (MSI KT4VL) Everything work there separately & all three together. Is my mobo bad? I'll check back in AM. Thanks again.
 
The Radeon is definitely getting fully seated in the slot and not sticking halfway? I remember my old K7S5A had THE stiffest AGP slot in the world at first... faked me out and I had the no-video situation until I noticed that. 😱

I'm just pulling out random ideas at this point, but you might try unlocking the CPU socket and then pushing firmly on the CPU and locking it down again for the heck of it. I've heard people report that working a few times.
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Allerious, if you need a replacement CPU fan, post what CPU you have and I'll rummage up a suggestion. Or contact Alienware, it's probably covered under either their warranty or AMD/Intel's as long as you're the original owner.
Click to expand...

I've considered getting a new fan, but I'm still not sure whether the fan is the problem at this point. In fact, I'm leaning towards other causes. Nevertheless, I have a 2.6 ghz p4 on socket 478. Basically, the system is booting randomly at the moment. Sometimes it will start, and other times it won't, with no apparent change to it whatsoever. This is what gets me about hardware problems - the components you're dealing with seem to have minds of their own. When the system does boot, it takes me to bios with the following message:

During the last boot-up, your system hung for an improper CPU speed setting. Your system is now working in safe mode. To optimize the system performance and reliability, make sure the CPU speed conforms to the specs. of your CPU.

After that, I can leave bios and the Windows Xp boots up normally. Now, I know from that message that this sounds like an overclocking issue, but that's not the case. My system is slightly overclocked - by the manufacturer - and it's been like that ever since I bought it. I haven't overclocked anything else, or changed hardware recently.

Concerning the CPU fan - when I first boot up the system, it works. Then, it slowly starts going down in RPM (according to the bios monitor - personally I can't see a difference) and finally, it dies out after a few minutes. I have no idea of what might be the cause for this, but so far I've taken it as an indication that the fan itself is not the direct cause of my problem. After all, there are times when the CPU isn't hot at all and the system still refuses to boot.

Currently, I'm considering upgrading to Service Pack 2 to see if it helps out at all. I'm still running SP1 at the moment, but I've heard lately about blue screen issues that people have been having, which resembles my own problems because I've gotten a few BSoDs right before my graphics cut out and my system died on me.

Motherboard:

ASUS P4T533-C

Suggestions appreciated.
 
No offense, but I think you are hugely underestimating the importance of your CPU fan staying at 2000-5000rpm. You ain't gonna cool a 3.6GHz P4 properly with a house fan 😛

Let's start here, what motherboard is in the Alienware, is it an Asus? If so, ensure that Q-Fan is disabled in the BIOS.
 
Allerious, your system may have come overlocked by the MFG, but I highly suggest you reduce it to normal speed for now, and definatly replace the CPU fan. An overheating CPU will not give you a reliable system. And your CPU is more than slightly overclocked if you are using an Asus P4T533-c, because that is an RDRAM board, with a 533mhz fsb, so your CPU is being overclocked by at least 600mhz, since the highest CPU supported is a 3.06ghz P4. If you keep trying to run with a dying CPU fan, you will end up damaging your system.
 
Video cards were seated solidly. Clip on inboard end fully engaged and even penetration all the way across slot. Same w/RAM. Tried removing CPU & HSF, tried again w/XP2000 that I know is good, no luck.
Reinstalled XP2500, still no go. Any other ideas before I RMA this board?
 
Originally posted by: stevty2889
Allerious, your system may have come overlocked by the MFG, but I highly suggest you reduce it to normal speed for now, and definatly replace the CPU fan. An overheating CPU will not give you a reliable system. And your CPU is more than slightly overclocked if you are using an Asus P4T533-c, because that is an RDRAM board, with a 533mhz fsb, so your CPU is being overclocked by at least 600mhz, since the highest CPU supported is a 3.06ghz P4. If you keep trying to run with a dying CPU fan, you will end up damaging your system.
Click to expand...


I made a typo, sorry. The cpu is only 2.67 ghz, OCed by Alienware from 2.6. I've been monitoring the temperate constantly while running the house fan, and it only reached 50C on one occasion (full load). Usually it sits around 30C idle and 40C with a full load. I think I can get by with the house fan for a while yet.

Today, while running Adaware, of all things, I got an error message telling me that the file system on C was corrupt. Anyone know if this could relate to my problems? My current plan of action is to download SP 2 from Microsoft and see if anything changes. If it doesn't, I'll probably reformat shortly after. That will at least determine whether or not my hardware is the issue.
 
Originally posted by: Paperlantern
Twofootputt, your power supply sounds like its bad, anyone else may want to try this as well
Click to expand...

Thanks, I tried using my PSU from this computer w/CPU, HSF, 1RAM stick, video card, no floppy, no opticals, no HDD, no luck.

MechBgon, thanks for all the helpful posts & your tolerance for those w/less knowledge/experience.
 
MechBgon, thanks for all the helpful posts & your tolerance for those w/less knowledge/experience.
Click to expand...
We're all learning as we go, I'm glad if I was some help 🙂 Looks like you've pretty well narrowed it down to the motherboard then?
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
MechBgon, thanks for all the helpful posts & your tolerance for those w/less knowledge/experience.
Click to expand...
We're all learning as we go, I'm glad if I was some help 🙂 Looks like you've pretty well narrowed it down to the motherboard then?
Click to expand...

Well, the original setup won't boot when plugged into my case with an adequate & functional PSU, so I guess the Antec 380W is OK. The CPU/HSF, RAM & video card all function solo and as a unit in my MSI board, so they appear to work. The system won't boot out of the case on cardboard as you suggested trying. The Chaintech board won't boot with my old XP2000, 256 of PC2700 RAM, & my ATI 9600 vid card which all are good on the MSI board. I guess I'll RMA the board to Newegg
 
Originally posted by: Twofootputt
Originally posted by: mechBgon
MechBgon, thanks for all the helpful posts & your tolerance for those w/less knowledge/experience.
Click to expand...
We're all learning as we go, I'm glad if I was some help 🙂 Looks like you've pretty well narrowed it down to the motherboard then?
Click to expand...

Well, the original setup won't boot when plugged into my case with an adequate & functional PSU, so I guess the Antec 380W is OK. The CPU/HSF, RAM & video card all function solo and as a unit in my MSI board, so they appear to work. The system won't boot out of the case on cardboard as you suggested trying. The Chaintech board won't boot with my old XP2000, 256 of PC2700 RAM, & my ATI 9600 vid card which all are good on the MSI board. I guess I'll RMA the board to Newegg
Click to expand...


New MoBo came last week, posted first try. Up & running fine. Thanks for suggestions.
 
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