PC won't POST (no beeps)
- From: BitsAndBob <BitsAndBob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 May 2007 14:40:53 -0700
Hi,
My PC's not so much "home built" as "home upgraded". But it "died" the
other night and a rebuild hasn't helped. So I wondered if someone here
might have an idea what's going on, as it looks like a similar problem
to one that might be enountered towards the end of a build...
After working well for months, my PC turned itself off the other night
and has had trouble POSTing since. The PSU comes on, and fans and
drives spin, but I don't get any beeps and I don't get anything on the
monitor.
I'm not sure what the BIOS is - there's a Phoenix chip but the manual
refers to Award and AMI. I'm guessing it's an AMI - as no beeps is a
valid error for an AMI BIOS.
From http://webpages.charter.net/dperr/beepcode.htm (and elsewhere)
"If no beeps are heard and no display is on the screen, The first
thing to check is the power supply. Connect a LED to the POWER LED
connection on the motherboard. If this LED lights and the drive(s)
spin up then the power supply will usually be good."
So, that looks OK.
"Next, inspect the motherboard for loose components. A loose or
missing CPU, BIOS chip, Crystal Oscillator, or Chipset chip will cause
the motherboard not to function."
I think the CPU is the only non-soldered component. I've reseated it
umpteen times. Occasionally it would work, only to stop working when I
fitted the heatsink (I only ran it for seconds without the heatsink to
avoid overheating). But now I don't even get that...
I remove and refitted the motherboard (Gigabyte GA-8PE800) in case
there was anything underneath it causing a short, but it made no
difference.
I've also removed all my PCI cards, so it's none of them. I tried a
diferent AGP card but that didn't help either...
Since it did post occasionally, my best guess is faulty motherboard. I
figure a faulty CPU would NEVER work - although I did have to
straighten one of the pins. Also if I completely remove the CPU, the
fans spin, but not the hard drives, so the CPU does seem to be doing
SOMETHING.
Any other ideas?
If not, I guess I'll try replacing both. It's only a P4 3GHz (Skt 478)
so I should be able to get something as good (or probably better) for
not too much. But obviously I'd rather not if I don't have to.
I've just bought a laptop to replace this system, but I need to get my
files off first!
Thanks,
Bob
.
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