Troubleshooting an old system

[Xesh]

Hi everyone, I've got this old computer I built for college, and I'd like to fix it before my classes begin (it's my last year now). Here's the deal:

The motherboard is an Epox 8KHA+ from early 2002. The video card is a Leadtek Winfast Geforce 2 Pro. When I first turn on the computer, the lights on the card are good -- power LED on, AGP 4x on, ERR off. When the mobo's LEDs read 2b, which is when the monitor usually comes to life, the power LED on the card goes off, the ERR LED goes on, and the computer doesn't finish POSTing. If I press the reset button on the computer, the LEDs remain in the same configuration, the motherboard beeps at 2b, and the POST continues (with no video). If I actually power down the computer and restart, the lights are again good until 2b.

Sometimes, it actually works. In fact, when I first started getting the problem, I'd just keep restarting the computer until it worked, and now my HDD is dead. Just a few moments ago, I took the mobo out of the case (to see if the mobo was grounded), and in two tries it worked fine until I put the mobo back. But I don't think it's a grounding problem because I took it out again, and no luck this time.

So, I sincerely apologize for the long read, but if anybody can give me some help on this one, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks everyone

Joe P

 

[Xesh]

A new twist: after the computer locks up and the ERR light on the vid card comes on, I have to hold the power button down for a few seconds for it to turn off. If I hold it for just long enough without it turning off, the lights on the video card go back to normal, and I can reset or turn on/off all I want to, the computer working just fine! I'm willing to bet that time will undo this, and I know that if I reseat the card, it'll be bad again.

Is it possible (I really can only pray) that this is nothing more than a dirty AGP slot? I can't see in there real well, but I didn't notice any debris. But the whole case has been dust-ridden for some time now ( yeah, I'm pretty lazy about that ), and perhaps some got in there? Ugh. Is there any way to really clean it out? Anything more effective than compressed air?

Thanks again for any ideas.

 

[Xesh]

One more thing: there appears to be a capacitor on the video card missing! There are many spaces for components that simply haven't been attached, which is normal, but one capacitor - C414, on the back - looks like it's been ripped off! Is it possible it was removed during manufacturing to correct a known problem?