Motherboard fault?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mav
  • Start date Start date
M

Mav

Hi All,

I have a dead system. I have gone through all my diagnostic tests, including
replacing the PSU, removing all the components, testing HDD on another
system (which is fine).

The motherboard powers up, but goes no further than that. I get no beep code
and no video.

Two questions - without any beep codes, and pretty much only the mobo & CPU
installed, how can I test which is faulty - mobo or CPU?

Secondly - does anybody have any other suggestions???

Thanks very much in advance

Mav
 
Try booting with just the memory, CPU and Video card installed.
See if you get anything ??
PS You may leave a floppy drive connected.

Does the fans powered by the motherboard come on ??

Next, if you have a spare video card try it - you may also want to try to
reseat the video card before doing anything drastic.

My bet is on the motherboard - they seem to fail more often than CPUs
(unless you had a problem with the CPU fan)
 
Jon_Hildrum said:
Try booting with just the memory, CPU and Video card installed.
See if you get anything ??
PS You may leave a floppy drive connected.
Click to expand...

Sometimes an improperly connected 3.5 diskette drive will give
symptoms similar to those describe.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Mav said:
Hi All,

I have a dead system. I have gone through all my diagnostic tests, including
replacing the PSU, removing all the components, testing HDD on another
system (which is fine).

The motherboard powers up, but goes no further than that. I get no beep code
and no video.

Two questions - without any beep codes, and pretty much only the mobo & CPU
installed, how can I test which is faulty - mobo or CPU?

Secondly - does anybody have any other suggestions???

Thanks very much i
Click to expand...

Strip the machine down completely.

Remove all accessory cards, including the video card.
Unplug the power and data cables (both) to all disk drives.
Unplug the keyboard, mouse, and everything connected to USB, serial
and parallel ports.
Remove the RAM.

Just leave the internal speaker connected.

Now try powering up the machine. You should, with most systems, get a
very low pitched beep (like a foghorn) indicating no RAM.

Next reinsert the RAM and try it again. This time you should get a
series of high pitched beeps indicating no video (unless the video is
integrated into the motherboard).

If you still get nothing you could try it with the video card inserted
but don't expect a miracle.

If the system remains dead throughout these, and you are positive that
the power supply is good and is connected properly then the obvious
conclusion is that either the motherboard or the CPU is dead.

Statistically the motherboard is the more likely candidate, by a
factor of at least 10 to 1, but the bottom line is that there is no
way of determining positively which is the actual culprit unless you
remove the CPU and install it into a known good motherboard that
supports that specific CPU make and model.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Thanks very much for all the help so far.

Further developments...It powered up okay last night with just minimal
components, so I have rebuilt it this morning, and it powered up okay.
However it ran for about an hour, then froze.

As I said, I am convinced it is not software, as the HDD booted up and ran
another machine with no problems. Could this be a symptom of a bad
motherboard as well....?

Thanks again.

Mav
 
Just reboot and see what happens.

After the system is back up go to the Control panel -Administrative tools -
event viewer. It might provide a clue as to what happened.

No, this is not typically a motherboard problem. More likely to be
associated with some application, hardware or device driver.

What did you do when it stopped - Any error messages present
 
Hi,

Nothing happens when it freezes. No error messages, no crash, just stops.

I then have no keyboard or mouse control.

Only option is power off.

I have got hold of a new motherboard, and sat it running for a couple of
hours & all seemed okay...
 
I take that back.

New mobo, all other original components. Now it gets half way through boot
then restarts ... continuously...
 
Mav said:
Thanks very much for all the help so far.

Further developments...It powered up okay last night with just minimal
components, so I have rebuilt it this morning, and it powered up okay.
However it ran for about an hour, then froze.

As I said, I am convinced it is not software, as the HDD booted up and ran
another machine with no problems. Could this be a symptom of a bad
motherboard as well....?
Click to expand...

That has many of the characteristics of an overheating problem.

Check all of the configurable settings in the BIOS setup, and make
sure that all of the thermal alarms are set to provide a warning at a
temperature at least 10 degrees below the shutdown temperature.

Double and triple check that the CPU cooling fan is fully seated and
secured onto the CPU and that there is a thin film of thermal grease
between the fan/heatshield and the CPU. Too much can be worse than
none at all.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Thanks very much Ron. I have splashed out on new board, cpu, psu & ram, and
will try swapping them all out (cheapest first so I can return what's not
used!!!!), and hopefully will finally get somewhere.

and bought some thermal compound!!!

Thanks to everyone that offered advice & assistance.

Mav
 
Mav said:
Thanks very much Ron. I have splashed out on new board, cpu, psu & ram,
and will try swapping them all out (cheapest first so I can return what's
not used!!!!), and hopefully will finally get somewhere.

and bought some thermal compound!!!

Thanks to everyone that offered advice & assistance.

Mav
Click to expand...

let us know how it goes. Could also be the psu not being able to supply
enough juice. Installed anything extra recently?
 
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