hi folks

grr...trying to get a mate to buy a new pc, this one is one its way.

firstly he was having trouble....turn it on, it would freeze anywhere before getting to the desktop.......sometimes in the boot screen, sometimes at the logon page, sometimes, just no display at all!!!

anyway, backed the stuff up onto my pc and reformatted the 40gig hard drive he was using with XP completely (there was an 80gig for storage)

now......it said it installed fine....go into windows...and there's nothing....no XP themes (just the Windows 95 classic looking stuff)....nothing in the WMP files etc...AND, he couldnt install anything.

fine, i think now its either the hard drive or the motherboard playing games, and despite it SEEMING like the XP install was fine, MAYBE it wasnt......so.......tonight i backed up the contents of the 80gig onto my own pc.....plug it into the mobo etc of the other computer, flick the switch....power on, hdd activity, but nothing, no display etc

now, i think its either the motherboard OR the power supply
despite the fan on the vga card spinning.....
i cannot get my dell to display anything from:
hdmi - off the video card
analogue - off the video card
analogue - from the motherboard!

also, NO keyboard lights show (ie num lock/caps lock etc) and the centre wheel of the mouse doesnt glow blue (which, happens)

the reason trying to sort it out, is because he's short for change at the moment........im trying to get him to piece together a new one for under $300....but first, trying to confirm that this one is dead.

any suggestions/comments or instructions on what to try next?
i removed all add-on cards, and left only the hard drive plugged in, as well as two optical drives (one with the XP disc in it spinnin up)....

unplug everything and go right back to just the motherboard and its analogue display out?

and...details of the hardware:
an L&C 360w psu
p3, maybe p4
P4SGX-MX motherboard....which, after a google...is an asus (guessed so, sounded like the P5N-MX etc)
WD 40gig IDE <was taken out>
WD 80gig IDE <plugged in, set to Master>
Lite-On CD burner <had the xp disc in it>
LG DVD burner
sound card (no idea) <was taken out>
video card (no idea) <see above>

and......my suggestion:
P5GC-MX ($61)
E2180 ($92)
2gig A-DATA 800mhz ddr2 ($45)
WD 160gig SATA ($57)
Shaw 600w ($22)
got case/optical/peripherals etc
$277 sounds alright to me

cheers

edit: sorry for the lack of structure in my post, i've already posted it in PCPP and this is a bit of a patch up of posts. So far, opinions i've recieved its PSU 2:1 MOBO. I told my mate to go get a new psu, so i'll be trying that tonight.

and, off topic.... i put a bid on 4gig of Ballistix Tracer memory....my build thread will be updated tonight if i win

Have you tried different ram in it? I had a computer do a similar thing with dodgy ram. Would crash at random points while loading windows, then sometimes run fine.

You've tried restting the bios?

no not yet, thing is, it wont even get to the boot/bios screen...there isnt anything at all getting displayed on the screen......and even if i knew my way around the bios (like i almost do with my own) i couldnt do it without a screen, because the keyboard isnt getting any power

should be trying a fresh power supply at lunch time. if that doesnt get anything going.....then yeh, i'll strip everything and start with just powering the motherboard/a stick of ram/monitor and keyboard plugged in. if THAT still doesnt get any display etc, then i'll swap out the ram (i think i have some spare stuff somewhere)....if none of that works, i guess i'll pronounce the mobo dead.

one question, what physical button is it on the motherboard that can be pressed (if its there) and what does it reset? (i think this is the CMOS button? remember being told it years ago..resets BIOS?)....i guess i'll give that a try if i can see it.

Id suggest resetting the board completely (either with the jumper reset of by disconnecting all power and removing the memory battery) and doing a check on the ram.

If you don't have access to hard drive diagnostic software or the time to run a full diagnostics: Fresh install to the spare 40Gb HDD. If there are no problems with the OS, this would mean that the original HDD is stuffed.

Like Komodo said, pull all power to the board. Pull the AC cable from the wall and then pull the battery off the motherboard. Easiest way to reset it. There is also a jumper that you can short to reset the board, does the same as the "cut power" route, except you need to know what pins to short.

well...touch wood...it's now fine....new psu = bios

so.....now the 80gig is the XP disc, and i reformatted the 40gig again (storage drive now).......jus gotta throw it in and it 'should' be all wicked.....i'll update this post most unimpressed if it doesnt work

cheers for the input

normally the reset jumper pins will have a red jumper shunt you just swap the possition and then swap it back basically. its easier than removing the battery sometimes.

Just swaping the PSU doesnt reset the bios though

fingers crossed enzo!

here's that post...

now....push the power button, get nothing.
- light on the motherboard is ok
- light on keyboard and mouse are ok
- not even a twitching of either teh psu or cpu fans

done since we installed windows on it:
- unplug everything (bar the main mobo cable) to tody and plug back in
- reformat the 40gig and put stuff on it
- pull off the front USB wires thinking they were in one block....wrong, ugh
- gave the case a general wipe out (with only the board in it really)

since the failure to start
- removed the cmos battery and put it back in
- unplugged everything excpt the front power button wires (etc)
- tried both RAM sticks individually
- took out add-on video and sound cards
- unplugged optical drive
- tried with no hdd (now only with OS one)

Is it all working now enzo?

LOL good luck mate!

Too tired to give a sh!t now personally. I'll check in tomorrow for progress reports if i think of anything i'll let you know

yeh lol....

i got pissed off and gave up....walked over to my bed and passed out

i'll have a look this arvo after work.

Possibly it is the mobo then. Could very well have been both the mobo and psu that were stuffed?

yeh, im thinking so....the same thing happened with my old PC (though i initially the psu fan would flinch)

rather not have to tell my mate, so this arvo i'll grab another psu and try.....but to me it looks eerily like the motherboard.

i thought that it was a bit strange and when we removed the front cover the pins for the power button itself might've wriggled loose on the motherboard, but no such luck. but yeh, with those plugged in, the 20pin motherboard power connector and the 4pin motherboard power connector plugged in (both from the psu) and the ram in, despite getting the green motherboard light, dont get any signs of life from the cpu or psu fans.

ugggghhhh...fixed

mate gets here 'did you put that jumper back?'

'no, what jumper?'

' the one i took out but put back and wasnt sure if that was the right spot.'

........worked first time.

cheers guys, i'll let u know when it carks it for good ....but, hopefully not for a while i guess.

Ahh the old friends fiddling with things they know nothing about problem.

sweet that it's all working again

It's a pain in the ar$e when people do that .... if you don't understand it .... leave the bloody thing alone!

LMFAO!