Computer Failure - help please ??

[PaulBrum]

Chaps – I have a major problem and would really appreciate some assistance.
System:
Mobo

Biostar TA790GX3-A2+, AMD 790GX, SAM2+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/533/667, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX:
CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, Deneb, S AM2+, 3.0GHz, 8MB Total Cache, HT 2000MHz, 125W
GPU

Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI Dual slot cooler HDTV Out PCI-E
RAM

Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory CL4 2.0V
Storage

Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache -
Power

650W Xigmatek
Wireless

Dynamode 11n (300MBps) Wireless PCI Adapter
Optical

LG 22x Lightscribe
OS

Windows 7 Ultimate

Switched on the system this morning and nothing !!!! – I’ve got it on the bench and the symptoms are:

System is powering up – all fans working

No output to monitor whatsoever

No Bios beeps on power up

LED D1 and D2 on the mobo flash – D1 Slow flash, D2 very quick flash

LED (D1601) on Graphics card is flashing (is this an overheat indicator?)

I’ve taken out the Graphics card and reseated it to no avail, I’ve tried connecting the monitor to the motherboard display output, but again, no good

Any thoughts????

Help as always really appreciated.

Paul

[mycarsavw]

Try and boot it with one stick of RAM.

The LEDs on the mobo indicate the following;

LED D2  |  LED D1   | Message 
OFF     |    OFF    | Abnormal: CPU / Chipset error.  
OFF     |    ON     | Memory Error 
ON      |    OFF    | VGA Error 
ON      |    ON     | Normal

The fact yours are flashing would suggest a VGA/Chipset/RAM error - clear the CMOS and try and boot.

[vinnyT]

Check your mobo manual for the error codes, this should give you an idea where to look, ram, gpu, etc. (though my guess is the graphics card)

Does the manual for the gpu say anything about error codes for the led flashing? My guess is that this led should not be flashing and indicates the problem.

Can you try/borrow another graphics card? When you have powered up the system, is the gpu fan spinning? You have checked that the power connectors to the 4850 are secure?

You say you have tried using the mobo's onboard gpu but still got nothing, this may be because you had to disable it when you installed the HD 4850. I think you should try to get the mobo back to it's default settings by clearing the cmos (either by pressing a clear cmos button on the mobo, see your manual for where this would be, or removing the button battery from the mobo, having first turned off the power), this should re-enable the onboard gpu.

Could you try the monitor on a different pc, as an outside chance?

Edit; late again.

[PaulBrum]

I've done a bit of research on the AMD site and a flashing D101 LED on the graphics card indicates 'over temp protection enabled'

Would it be worth trying this:

1. remove the grpahics card
2. reset the CMOS
3. attach display to onboard GPU

By the way, checked the cable and the monitor - its neither of those.

What effect will resetting the CMOS have? will I have to refalsh the bios (I'm guessing not) - will I loose any settings / HD data?

Paul

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Have you tried booting the computer with the HD4850 removed?? The 790GX motherboards have integrated graphics.

Edit!!

Oops!! The OP suggested this before already!!

[PaulBrum]

Right - getting somewhere

I've removed the graphics card - reset the CMOS - no difference

Removed 1 stick of ram - and hey presto, reeboted and I have a visual output from the onboard graphics

Reseated 2nd RAM module and rebooted and fine, recognises the 2nd ram chip.

going to try and reinstall the grpahics card now - see what happens

will post results in a minute or two

[PaulBrum]

OK, graphics card back in and everything seems to be working fine now

Anyone got any ideas what happened - presumably a graphics card overheat - will this have damaged my graphics card at all (only 1 month left on 12 month warranty (purchased from ebuyer).

Ditto my ram??

Maybe time for a better case (Akasa Zen V4) as the PC is tucked under the desk ??

Help appreciated

Paul

[mycarsavw]

Could just be a blip with the RAM, it happens. Dust, dirt, etc etc.

Run a few passes of Memtest now and see if it reports any errors. Leave it testing overnight if you can, just to be sure.