PC failing POST

[tomawest]

Hi,

I built my brother a PC nearly a month ago now and its never really been happy. First time i turned it on it failed to POST. The POST screen just said CPU INIT. After 5 mins of trying to work out what the problem was and turning it off and on a few times, it POSTed successfully.

Week later it turned off and failed to POST when turning it back on. I had it unplugged for a week, swapped the mobo and CPU with my own as they were exactly the same. It booted successfully.

Another week later after shutting down properly and being off for a day. It failed to POST again with the same errors.

I have a speaker also in the system and that doesnt make a noise. All the fans are on at 100%. Monitor not turning on at all. POST screen stuck on "CPU INIT" No idea what the problem could be. any suggestions?

Specs are:-

• Intel Q9450
• Asus Rampage Formula x48
• Powercolor HD 4870 512MB
• Corsair 750W PSU
• 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR2 OCZ Reeper
• Samsung 1TB F1 SATA2
• 2X Samsung 22X DVD DL SATA Drives
• Antec P182

My system is exactly the same except graphics card is an ASUS, RAM is C'air Dominator, and I have 2 Samsung HDD's

PSU was upgraded on my bro's comp from a C'air 620W but not worked with new one in.

Graphics card is showing 3 out of 4 lights on when the system boots and these stay on. This was swapped with an older card and same problem occured, however I could not guarantee that the older card was completely healthy.

Tried 1 stick of RAM and that didnt work.

Everything is defnately plugged in. Put in the 8 Pin power connector again and no success.

I cannot use my own computer to check everything as that is 30 miles away and would cause a lot of disruption in my house if it was off for a large amount of time.

Cheers

Tom

[peterb]

When you say you swapped the mobo and CPU - did you try his CPU in your mobo and your CPU in his mobo?

[tomawest]

Yes. My PC was a week older so I put his mobo and cpu in my PC and my mobo and cpu in his. I never put them back. he was having problems before and problems after. I havent had one problem with my system at all.

Both systems are using VISTA X64 Ulimate.

[shadowmaster]

Any motherboard beeps?

[Jay]

I think this could be either a board problem or mabe a possible graphics card issue. Also makesure you are giving the RAM enough voltage.

[tomawest]

No Beeps and cannot even enter the BIOS to change the RAM voltage.

I was thinking mobo but the problem has occured with two mobos now on the same rig and none have had problems on the other rig.

If it helps. The graphics card is stuck on 3 led's that are located just above where it is plugged in however I cannot get any information if this is normal or not. These lights do not turn off at all, they appear as soon as the PC is powered up.

[shadowmaster]

Take the gfx card out, turn on the pc, and see if you get any beeps

[tomawest]

No Beeps, however what did happen was the PC powered off after 3 seconds and refused to turn on again until it was unplugged and plugged back in again. This hasnt happened previously. POST screen didnt change.

It was checking the DVD drives before it did turn off. This is probably common and a very n00bish statement however i normally never pay attention. There isnt anything in the drives anyway.

[tomawest]

what normally happens with this board is that if there is any hardware changes, it will power down after a second and power up again. However if there wasnt a graphics card, i would understand why it wouldnt power up again.

[shadowmaster]

Is the case speaker connected to the motherboard? Otherwise you would not be hearing any beeps if there was some.

Could be the psu, do you have another psu to test with?

[tomawest]

Ive just put the card in the other PCIE slot and no success.

Speaker is plugged in, however there isnt one that comes with the case. I ripped it out of an old case and was under the impression that it was working. It was in the system when using the previous motherboard which was having the same problems.

It wont be the PSU as it stopped working with a corsair 620W plugged in. I put in a brand new corsair 750W power supply thinking it could possibly be underpowered and same result. The new psu is the one i use in my own system.

[Jay]

are you 100% sure the motherboard is not touching the case?

Did you put all the standoffs in and where they all in the right positions?

[tomawest]

Yes I am sure that the mobo isnt touching the case all the risers are built into the case.

What i ended up doing was bringing the PC back to Derby with me and swapping every part with my own working system until I found the culprit. Surprisingly was the mobo that had failed.

I just have contacted SCAN in trying to get a replacement. Pain in the bum but ut could be worse. Least I will get 8GB of RAM and a crossfired 4870 system until the mobo is returned. Bro has a laptop.

Thats what you call a silver lining.