Troubleshooting a hardward failure - need help

[Kirel_Redhand]

Hi all..
I've got a bit of a problem and I'm not quite sure where to start.
Last night I was playing BF3 and I noticed a little bit of artifacting on the left side of my screen. 10 minutes later, I experienced a hard crash (where the image freezes, the sound is a like I higher pitched buzz on infinate loop). The only thing I could do was a hard reboot.
From that point, on, the computer wouldn't start.
Hardware:
Motherboard: EVGA P55 FTW
Ram: Crucial 6gb
CPU: I5 660
PSU: XFX black edition 750W
Vid card: SAPPHIRE FleX 100352FLEX-2 Radeon HD 7950 3GB
Hard Drive: 1tb seagate
Windows 7 64bit
I've reset the bios (both using but reset button and by popping the battery out for a bit.

When I boot up, the board goes through post. It has 6 fast beeps followed by 3 short beeps and then the post code is 85. Post code 85 is a "85 - Display errors, if no display check monitor/video card. "

I just replaced the video card a few months ago. The old one is still good, so I popped in the old one and While the beep order changed a little, the post code 85 showed up. I.E. no change. To me, that indicates that the video card is not the problem.

Thoughts?

 

[Matt1970]

The I5 660 has video so I try unplugging your Video card and use the onboard.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

Unfortunately, the Motherboard doesn't have video out.

EVGA p55 FTW
Interfaces 2 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45,
1 x Keyboard - Generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style),
7 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A,
1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) - 6 pin FireWire,
1 x Audio - Line-out - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm,
1 x Audio - Line-in - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm,
1 x Microphone - Output - Mini-phone 3.5 mm,
1 x Audio - Line-out (side surround) - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm,
1 x Audio - Line-out (rear) - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm,
1 x Audio - Line-out (center/subwoofer) - Mini-phone 3.5 mm,
1 x Audio - SPDIF output - RCA,
1 x Audio - SPDIF output - TOSLINK

 

[Bubbaleone]

If you're getting code 85 and switching graphics cards made no difference,start with the basics. Disconnect all periperals except keyboard and mouse then press the Clear CMOS button either onboard, or on the external I/O panel and test. If no change; pull the board out of the case and place it on cardboard.

Connect only the graphics card, one stick of RAM, keyboard, and mouse then test like that with each stick of RAM. I realize code 85 is grapics related but memory problems that aren't neccessarily detected will also cause the graphics portion of boot to fail. Post back when you've tested all the sticks of RAM with CMOS cleared, and the board out of the case.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

@bubbaleone Just for clarification:

"Disconnect all peripherals" includes things like the hard drives, correct?

 

[Bubbaleone]

Yes; you're trying to minimize as many variables as possible. If you can get it to post to BIOS in this minimal hardware configuration, then start adding back one stick of ram at a time until it either posts with all of them installed or one of them causes it to fail again. If it'll post with all RAM installed, then start adding back one piece of hardware at a time and test.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

Ok....

I unplugged everything except
1 stick of RAM
Vid card.
mouse/keyboard

Reset the bios - restarted - no change.

 

[denis280]

I unplugged everything except 1 stick of RAM

did you try with other stick

 

[ch33zw1z]

try it with no RAM or VGA, see if POST error changes.