The PC doesn't boot anymore

[Phili]

Hi,
last week my brother played Half-life2 until a error message came: "Memory could not be read" and when he tried to restart the game, the computer crashed.
After he rebooted 4-5 error messages came, but he doesn't remember what they said! and he clicked OK.
So he came to the desktop, put it was impossible to click, no reaction!
So he used reset, but the Mainboard didn't made a sound and the screen remained black.
I tried CMOS Reset, exchanged the CPU, Ram and Video Card. But it doesn't helps.
Can it be the Mainboard?
How can I manage, that the PC starts again?
The PC: AMD Athlon XP 2600+
1GB DDR400 Twinmos Ram
Abit AN7 Mainboard with newest BIOS
Hercules ATI Radeon 9800XT
300Watt FSP PSU

Kind regards
Phili

 

[Unforgiven]

i had the same issues with ram errors and half life 2. come to find out that i had a few bad sticks of ram. sounds like you may have some ram issues. try removing a stick and booting with just 1 (if you have mutilple sticks) or swapping out the ram entirely and replacing it with something else. see if that helps your boot issues. also i would suggest running memtest on your current ram once you can get the pc to at least turn on.

 

[Phili]

I exchanged the Ram, but it didn't help, I can't run Memtest because I don't even come to the BIOS!
Kind regards
Phili

 

[mlc]

could be psu related... but try clearing the CMOS again this time keeping the battery out for a few minutes or so... I've read of issues in the past with folks having problems clearing it.. and the had to keep the battery out for an extended period before the reboot would work....

 

[Phili]

I tried the PSU on 2 other Mainboards:

1.PIII (I don't know which one), near the CPU came a 1cm high flame!
2.VIA KT133M Mainboard Compaq OEM, after 1 second, it was like turned off.

Is it the PSU?
If yes I will buy one tomorrow!

Kind regards
Phili

 

[resStealth]

wow that is most definitely the psu. you should never see a flame on the mobo. i was thinking maybe the wattage wasnt enough. what brand is it? and go out tomorrow and get yourself an antec, not some noname. with hardware you really get what you pay for