***Help!***

[acidrainy]

Hi there, long time no see, again.


This time I come back with a little bit of a problem...
Currently I'm typing this post on my laptop as my main rig (as in sig) wont boot.

When pressing the power button, every device powers up but the monitor does not come on. This is starting to worry me, to the stage I stripped the computer to component parts at 3am simply to clean out all the dust!


What I've tried already:

• Clean all components such as GFX & Ram in my mad spring cleaning spree.
• Re-housed GFX card several times.
• Tested 2 monitors
• Reset CMOS several times
• Removed the power Molex from the GFX card to see if the red error thing appeared (nothing happened)
• Left it overnight in the hope that it may work in the morning

I’ve pretty much just about short of re-housing everything including the CPU from what I can tell.

If anyone has any suggestions, advice or thoughts to what may of gone wrong, please by all means share that!

Thanks.

[killgORE]

unplug everything apart from the graphics card and one stick of ram..

try to boot.

if this fails.. all you can do is try reseating the ram/graphics card one at a time. try again..

If it still fails. you are going to need an old graphics card to try. and ram if that doesn't work.

Basically. this approach is time consuming but brutally methodical. change one variable at a time and keep trying.

How did you clean the system ? with a gigantic static thing <- i hope not...

[killgORE]

additionally.. having another system to test the RAM/graphics card in is a good idea because you would know that they work... then we have a problem with the mobo and u are pretty b0ned...

[acidrainy]

I'm getting a mate and his PC round, should be able to find out what went :/

Unfortunaly he is on an Intel rig, so can't test everything

[malfunction]

Try booting without the battery in the board - I've seen a couple of older boards refuse to POST when the battery had died (even though without it they booted just fine - though obviously at default settings).

Try just the basic components (as killgORE says) but also try them outside of the case as something might be shorting out on the motherboard. I fixed my bro's system in about 5 seconds flat one day - he though the mobo was dead but somehow a blob of solder had fallen off an add on card and wedged itself onto some tracks on the mobo so check the board to see if anything is on it.

Is your system speaker connected / is there one mounted on the mobo? If so are you getting any beeps out of the board with the CPU, RAM and GFX in? If not try removing one or more and seeing if the board at least beeps at you when you power it up (MIGHT give you a clue as to what if anything is dead). Also try leaving it dis-assembled (without even the battery in the mobo) overnight - on anti-static bags if possible.

Other than that try each stick or RAM separately and if possible beg / borrow a GFX card to try out.

[killgORE]

/me doubts its the processor.. thats like one of the two worst scenarios. dead processor or dead mobo... just hope its the ram, cheapest thing to replace.

[GreenPiggy]

Sounds like you could have a case of Bios corruption on your hands(obviously test the core components first) although it does seem a little unlikely on an NF7-S
Do you know how to hotflash a BIOS?

[acidrainy]

/me doubts its the processor.. thats like one of the two worst scenarios. dead processor or dead mobo... just hope its the ram, cheapest thing to replace.

I use corsair, i'ts not the cheapest to replace

[acidrainy]

Do you know how to hotflash a BIOS?

I do know how to do this, but I aint even posting from what I can tell :/

[Steve]

Take the RAM and VID out... see if it beeps to complain. That's a sign of life.

[killgORE]

nah.. I would still hope its the ram

if the processor died. I don't know if you should trust the mobo that it fried in..
ITs more FUN.. but more hassle to replace a mobo.

[acidrainy]

***Update***

GFX & RAM work, managed to test in another PC so thats kinda the 2 most expensive things working at least


I've currently got mobo out the case, although I have lost my AS3 so cannot mount cpu & heatsink back in to do more testing :/

[malfunction]

***Update***

GFX & RAM work, managed to test in another PC so thats kinda the 2 most expensive things working at least


I've currently got mobo out the case, although I have lost my AS3 so cannot mount cpu & heatsink back in to do more testing :/

Unless the core is chipped on the CPU (and it doesn't sound like there's any reason it would be) then I would guess that your mobo is dead - possibly bios corruption as mentioned above. The Asus nForce2 mobos have suffered from it (and some of the nforce2 based shuttles too) though this is the first time I've heard of the NF7-S doing the same thing - there's loads of people on here with the same board (I've got the Asus one) so maybe someone will offer to hot flash it for you.

It's pretty easy to remove and re-insert the BIOS chip as long as you're careful and make sure you put it back the right way around. I've done it a couple of times successfully (but the first time I did I sent a couple of older mobos to silicon heaven )

[acidrainy]

Take the RAM and VID out... see if it beeps to complain. That's a sign of life.

Just had a chance to test this as I just located my AS3.


Bad news.... I think, no beeps? This a sign that the mobo is broken? If so, whats the easiest way to get this fixed?




Cheers again for all the help people

[acidrainy]

*Bump*

Still can't find anywhere local to get this fixed :/
Can anyone help?

[MD]

no beeps at all with no compoents in it usually means you either have a totally dead mobo or you have a short somewhere in your case, could be one or 'tother

m@