System appears to have power, no boot/bios

[eiamhere69]

System specs:

Phenom II 920
Foxconn a7da-s
FSP700-80GLN
HIS HD 4830 IceQ 4 512MB (256bit) GDDR3
8GB DDR2-800 Ballistix Crucial = 4 x 2GB
2TB Samsung


While shutting my system down late one night I had to wait while Windows 7 updates where installed. After the system finished installing and shut itself down, I switched my machine off at the mains and went to sleep (I'm not going to win any awards for fiction writing)

The next day I switched my system on but left the room, as such, I'm unsure what boot processes may have been displayed, if any. All I do know is that when I came back to use the system a couple of minutes later my monitor (actually a 22" lcd tv connect via DVI to HDMI cable) had a blue screen with no signal displayed. Since then my system has not booted.

When the power button is pressed, either on the case or the motherboard all fans spin normally and all lights appear as normal. However, no USB devises receive power, ie. keyboard LED will blink as if it had power for a fraction of a second during boot, then nothing. Also I am unable to reset or switch off the system by either the button on the case nor the motherboard power switch.

I have tried the following:

Resetting Bios - Still no signal (I have tried connecting the DVI cable to both onboard GPU/motherboard and the HIS 4830)

Used a Speaker on the motherboard pins - no beep codes

Used a PCI Boot error code checking thing-a-me-bob (I'm unsure if this is supported by my motherboard). Every LED is lit to show power is fine, however, the LCD display is blank, ie. no error codes are display.

I have tried using an external DVD drive to boot Windows 7 installation disk, but as mentioned USB Does not appear to function, also no display output.


The case has alot of fans and I have regularly checked temps, all was fine in this respect.

I have checked both the Ram and the hard drive in an older Dell system. I have no means of testing the GPU as it is a dual slot.

I was looking at testing the PSU (I'm not very good with electrical) but have read that even if if the volts are within range, it could still struggle under actual real life load.

I also considered buying a new pre-flashed bios chip thinking this may have been corruped, but am unsure as it could be the entire motherboard or the PSU.

I'm sorry for the very long post, but I thought I should try to include as much info. as possible, to prevent wasting anyones time.

I would be eternally grateful for any help or advice people can give , Ed

[peterb]

I doubt it was anything to do with the Windows update, as that wouldn't prevent the machine from entering POST or enabling you to gety into the BIOS set up screens.

You said you tried using the onboard graphics - did you physically remove the GPU first?

The standard method of fault finding is to dismantle the machine to a minimum of one memory stick - no drives or peripherals - and see if that will power up. If not, the problem almost certainly lies with the PSU or the motherboard/CPU.

You can see if it the PSU by substituting the power supply for a known good one, it doesn't need to be a particularly high power one as a bare system doesn't take much power. If the system powers up - problem was PSU. If it doesn't, you have a failed mobo or CPU - most likely the motherboard.

[TheDutyPaid]

Thinking this points to the PSU. 5 years ago, I always used to shutdown my PC and turn it off at the wall. This killed the PSU after a year and had the same thing of fans spinning but not anything else a PSU tester http://www.maplin.co.uk/supply tester showed the main power rail was dead.

Since then I have only shutdown windows and never the cut the power to the PSU and it has been happy ever since.

[noodles2k]

If the PCI test card has power then it sounds like the psu is ok, but it can't hurt to rule it out if you can. I'd look at the psu, cpu and gpu in that order.

If you haven't already, check the onboard gpu without the main gpu installed.

[eiamhere69]

I doubt it was anything to do with the Windows update, as that wouldn't prevent the machine from entering POST or enabling you to gety into the BIOS set up screens.

You said you tried using the onboard graphics - did you physically remove the GPU first?

The standard method of fault finding is to dismantle the machine to a minimum of one memory stick - no drives or peripherals - and see if that will power up. If not, the problem almost certainly lies with the PSU or the motherboard/CPU.

You can see if it the PSU by substituting the power supply for a known good one, it doesn't need to be a particularly high power one as a bare system doesn't take much power. If the system powers up - problem was PSU. If it doesn't, you have a failed mobo or CPU - most likely the motherboard.

Sorry, Yes I removed the GPU (prior to resetting bios and after). I've removed everything, Booting with each stick of ram, one ata atime. I also tested the ram in another machine.

I have a PSU in my Dell E520, it's old and only about 300w, nothing else other thanvery old, low power psu's (even lower than 300W) which should really be thrown out.

[eiamhere69]

I was going to test the PSU will a voltmeter, but have read reports that even if the readings are ok, it could still be at fault.

I suppose I was hoping the Bios chip was corrupt and it would be a straight in out replacement (but really knowing it was never going to be that simple), I guess I've likely got a damaged motherboard and or PSU, who knows about the CPU.

[eiamhere69]

All lights on the PCI card are lit, but the LED read out doesn't show anything, no power to usb ports either. I have tried with and without the GPU, it was actually the very first thing I did, but since then I have tried resetting the bios.

[OilSheikh]

Do you hear the POST beep ?
If you don't, your PSU or your CPU is dead. I would start with the PSU.

Take everything out of your case, lay it flat out barebone on newspaper and plug everything in one at a time until you identify the culprit.

Please also invest in a better PSU. FSP who ? Go for at least a Coolermaster or OCZ

[peterb]

Do you hear the POST beep ?
If you don't, your PSU or your CPU is dead. I would start with the PSU.

Or motherboard

Please also invest in a better PSU. FSP who ? Go for at least a Coolermaster or OCZ

FSP are one of the better manufacturers, and are OEM manufacturers for both Coolermaster and OCZ. Neither Coolermaster nor OCZ manufacture power supplies, although they do design them for OEMs (like FSP) to make to their spec.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...er,2913-8.html

[balaam]

Don't plug in a Dell PSU without first checking that it conforms to standards. Dell produced PSUs to its own ideas, the pinouts on some are NON-STANDARD. The smoke will break your heart.
By the way, most PSUs must have some load on the 5V line at least to enable then to regulate the voltages. A 6V, 24W light bulb does just fine [old mbke tail lamp]. No load, and all you will see is spikes and surges on your meter.