mysteriously doesn't POST - out of ideas

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hdneto17

Here are my settings
A7N8X-VM/400 motherboard
ATI Radeon 7000 64mb agb video card
512 MB of DDR
any other details needed can be provided

This is a weird problem. I was trying to install a second hard drive
into my previously perfect working computer when the damn thing didn't
POST next time I started Now when the motherboard starts up the
keyboard doesn't light up and nothing is shown on the screen. THe fans
and everything is fine and I swear I hear the hard drive spinning but
nothing shows on the screen. I am sure its not the power supply.

These are the things that I have tried:
resetted the CMOS
took out the video and hard drive living me with on ly the essentials

also of note:
I did have this same exact problem before but the ONLY THING I did was
repadily turn the power on and off and after a while and it would work
fine. But now that doesn't work anymore
 
Video card is part of the essentials, hehe. Unhook or take out everything
except the board, psu, cpu, memory and video. Those are all you need to
POST. See what happens. If you have a LED light on your motherboard, see
if it lights up or not. When my board died I was lucky enough to have the
dead light help me out :(
 
You have'nt caught any switches that sets the FSB by any chance. I ha
a similar problem the other day

The computor would boot but kept getting a disc error as though th
HDD was duff, after trying several things and trying a known good HD
the problem still persisted

The bios settings was correct but yet a bios reboot cured the proble
so I hit the idea of checking the bios battery, this was down to 2.5
with a digital test meter. Never measure these batteries with
analogue meter or they will soon be 'flat'

I always remove the mobo's multi-pin power lead as well whe
re-booting bios and ensured that it had set to it's default settin
etc

Have you configured the linking pins on the HDD for master/slave
cable connect or whatever

One idea is to disconnect all the drives including the HDD the
re-boot where you should get the bios POST beep, then try connectin
the HDD first and then try again and so on till all drives ar
connected

Sounds silly I know but it's quite easy to unseat a PCI card

Dunno if any of these helps, you may well have tried them all

Dav
 
hdneto17 said:
Here are my settings
A7N8X-VM/400 motherboard
ATI Radeon 7000 64mb agb video card
512 MB of DDR
any other details needed can be provided

This is a weird problem. I was trying to install a second hard drive
into my previously perfect working computer when the damn thing didn't
POST next time I started Now when the motherboard starts up the
keyboard doesn't light up and nothing is shown on the screen. THe fans
and everything is fine and I swear I hear the hard drive spinning but
nothing shows on the screen. I am sure its not the power supply.

These are the things that I have tried:
resetted the CMOS
took out the video and hard drive living me with on ly the essentials

also of note:
I did have this same exact problem before but the ONLY THING I did was
repadily turn the power on and off and after a while and it would work
fine. But now that doesn't work anymore
Click to expand...

Are you sure this doesn't have something to do with your
hard drive changes ? Try disconnecting all drives, and see
if the board will POST.

The second test you can try, is remove the memory. If the
processor is able to run, it will execute the BIOS and it
will generate beep codes on the speaker inside your
computer case. Hearing the beep code for missing memory,
is proof the processor is still working. If it won't do
that, then either the processor is fried, or the +5V on the
power supply is bad or low. (The A7N8X family has no 2x2
ATX12V power connector, and power conversion for the
CPU Vcore uses +5V.)

With the power switched off on the back of the computer,
you can also pull and reinsert the 20 pin main power
connector. Examine the pins and plastic for burn marks.
Make sure the connector is fully seated and the plastic
latch is engaged. A bad connection at the power connector
will eventually fry the connector and ruin it. These boards
draw lots of +5V - my A7N8X-E deaws 16 amps from +5V when
running Prime95, so you want to make sure the power
connector is firmly in place.

Paul
 
Thanks for the help!

I tried many of the things you guys suggested.
I removed the ram and the motherboard made sounds so I think that
eliminates the fried CPU.
I took out the video card(now I'm using the built-in video) and still
nothing so I don't think its anything with the video card

I really doubt if its the hard drive because it worked before the
problem occurred. (I put in the original hard drive, it worked for one
boot, I shutdown, I booted again and then the problem started.) By the
way doesn't the motherboard POST regardless of the hard drive?

When I installed the hard drive I was VERY careful not to touch the
motherboard and I didn't mess with the power so I don't think thats it.
Before when I had the same problem, but I moved the CPU heating sink a
little bit and then it worked. I don't know if this means anything
because it was very minor moves(kind of just nudged it.)

Whatever the problem is I doubt if its anything drastic because before
when I had the same problem I just waited and messed around with the
keyboard connector(pretty random I know) and then it would magically
just start POSTING. The only difference between now and then was before
the keyboard would at least light up when I pressed the num lock. Now
it won't do anything. Maybe that points to the right direction.

Thanks again guys
 
Yes, it will POST with or without a hard drive. You might have a faulty
keyboard port or a dying keyboard. If you have another keyboard try using
it. Or, go into BIOS and disable the requirement for a keyboard to be
present, then shutdown, disconnect the keyboard, and see if it'll boot
multiple times without trouble.
 
How can you I go to the BIOS without it posting?
By I'll try another keyboard.
Is a faulty keyboard port a big problem?
 
My bad, I read the "I put in the original hard drive, it worked for one
boot..." and forgot the "I shutdown, I booted again and then the problem
started," hehe sorry.

It can happen, that's why USB keyboards were invented :). Anyway, try
booting with no keyboard at all anyway, see what happens.
 
Nah, keyboard, new keyboard, or no keyboard doesn't seem any match for
the computer's misbehavior.

I really don't think its the actual keyboard thats the problem, I was
just saying that does the lighting up of the keyboard(CAPS, NUM....)
matter or say anything about the system?
 
Worth a shot, a faulty port or keyboard could stop a computer from clearing
POST. That's why when you do a POST test you unhook everything not only
inside, but outside (except the 5 required internal components: board, psu,
video card, ram, cpu).

Weird, it'll give you error beeps if you take out the ram, but won't give
error beeps for whatever the hell is causing this or for lack of keyboard.
When your system was down to just the five required components, did you get
the normal one beep?
 
No beeps.

Fan whirls, LED on, my monitor even goes on the state that its
receiving a signal but still NOTHING on the screen.

Its just in that suspended state where it seems to do nothing.

I read something about a short or something, it suggested removing some
screws from the motherboard. The position of the board might be the
problem - that might be why I was able to fix it before by just nudging
the board. What do you think about this idea?
 
That could be it, something touching that shouldn't be would do this.
Pulling the board out and putting it on something like cardboard then
booting will show if it's the problem. Maybe one of the standoffs under the
board moved.
 
If the thing gave error beeps when you removed the ram, the board should
still be good. With what you said about jiggling the port and it working,
with the actually port ruled out now, the mounting being loose or messed up
sounds promising.
 
ARGGG...........

Removed board from case and booted up system to no avail.
So we can eliminate the short circuit(I was really wishing that was
it.)

Now I am going to try reseating the CPU and its fan(which I really
really don't want to do). If this doesn't work I am completely out of
ideas. Do you think about reseating the CPU and its fan is the culprit?
 
Give it a try. The jiggling moves something in there, something is loose
and needs to be seated right. Man, I respect your patience in this
situation, if this was my machine I'd have thrown it out the window by now
:\

You should completely and totally disconnect everything. Every cable off
the board, the cpu, the fan connectors, etc. Put the thing back together
like it's a new machine, that way you're sure it's all connected right.
 
You know whats so funny this computer was intended for my father. I had
it all working fine and everything and I set it up in his room. I got
it all working after it tried to mess up. But then I got greedy and
tried to install his old hard drive so I didn't have to burn all his
files on cds. That completely and utterly totally backfired on me. Now
I got this POS that WON'T EVEN FCKING POST WHEN I DIDN'T DO
ANYTHING!!!....sorry for that outburst that was building.

Anyways thanks for the help Smith i'll get back to you after I try this
surgery(which I am really worried about killing beyond the point of
repair.)
 
ARGGG...........

Removed board from case and booted up system to no avail.
So we can eliminate the short circuit(I was really wishing that was
it.)

Now I am going to try reseating the CPU and its fan(which I really
really don't want to do). If this doesn't work I am completely out of
ideas. Do you think about reseating the CPU and its fan is the culprit?
Click to expand...

It is not likely the CPU or fan have failed while you
replaced the hard drive.

Did you unplug the AC power before you were in the system?
Did you unplug it when you cleared the CMOS?

Check the battery voltage... with a multimeter. You might
try another battery if you have no way to check the voltage
-CR2032 is the type, available at many drugstores et al
that sell watch or hearing aid batteries.

I'd wonder if you have a corrupt bios, maybe accidental
static discharge while installing the drive.
 
Muhahahahahaha

I was doing surgery with the cpu and started to mess around with the
fan. I started doing the most random thing - unscrewed the fan on top
of the sink(not actually the heat sink but just the fan on top of it)
and took out the RAM and put it back on(something that I did about a
billion times to check if the board was working). Just started gaving
it another try(what the hell you know) and then BAM!!! It started
POSTING and was back to its old self.

Have no idea which did it(the unsrewing and screwing back of the fan or
the readjustment of the RAM) and I really don't care. I personally
think it was the RAM, because I did that last..which makes no sense
because I put the RAM back the same way numerous times before.

I would like to thank all those that helped me especially Smith, you da
man. Also, whoever suggested taking out the RAM to see if the board is
working unintentially helped solved the problem. Anyways THANK YOU!


ps. nice try God
 
lol glad you got it. Annoying how a single loose thing can screw everything
up in a computer isn't it?
 
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