Is it toast?

My desktop died last summer randomly with no explanation (maybe a power surge?). I never bothered to try and troubleshoot it until now. When I turn it on, everything spins, but then from the mobo I just get a solid beep for about 3 seconds, then a pause, then another beep ad infinium. I know the PSU is still good, and I've tried it without any drives, the RAM, the VGA card, the sound card, etc. and still nothing. Today I removed the heatsinks from the Northbridge and the Processor, cleaned off the old paste, and examined them for any damage. The CPU had a few slightly bent pins because it got ripped out of the socket by the heatsink (they were really stuck together) but I carefully fixed them all. They boot looked fine, and I don't see any visible damage anywhere on any parts. After reinstalling the parts, it's still dead.

Is there any way I can try to isolate if it's the motherboard or the processor or am I better of selling off what I can.

Specs:
A-Bit IS7 mobo
2.8GHz P4E Processor (Prescott)
2GB KT Hyperram (PC 3700 DDR)
nVidia 6800 GT (Leadtek)
Audigy 4 soundcard
FSP Group BlueStorm 500 PSU
Aftermarket NB cooling

Suppose you could try CPU in another motherboard if you have access to eliminate it being the CPU ... and in all liklihood if it's not the CPU it is the motherboard ... have tested memory in another computer ??

if its the beep.,it couldve been the RAM but since you reinstalled the parts then its not the RAM.,check if your motherboard or CPU have burnmarks...

Here, it's Abit's own BIOS "Beep" codes.

Number of beeps....Meaning of error

1...DRAM refresh is not working.

2...Parity circuit is not working or parity status bits are not cleared when parity is disabled.

3...First 64k memory test failure. Address line test (A0..A15) failure.

4...System timer is not counting properly.

5...Processor register/flag test failure.

6...8042 keyboard controller gate-A20 error.

7...Processor exception error encountered.

8...Display memory R/W test failure (NON-FATAL)

9...ROM-BIOS checksum error.

10...CMOS Shutdown Register R/W error


1: If it is beeping continuously, then there is either a RAM problem (try re-seating RAM, or try alternate RAM; EDIT : or try alternate RAM slots) or a motherboard RAM controller problem ( this unfortunately,requires new motherboard).

2: Vid card is a long and 2 short, this is fairly standard among manufacturers. A power supply problem will give long beeps until power is shut down.

3: There is no specific code for PSU failure - continuous beeping is a RAM error. A bad PSU could, I suppose, create a condition that looked to the BIOS process like a RAM error.


BTW you may wanna check the "frequency" of your RAM against your Mobo's manual. Some boards are very "intollerant" of certain speeds...just a thought. This sounds supisciously like a RAM problem.

Hm, Ram you say. I've reseated everything (ram, cpu, pci cards, vga card). I haven't tested with different ram (but I have with just 1 stick (i had/have 2 identical sticks).

What about the possibility of it being the northbridge's fault? I have a 3rd party cooler on it (cause the stock one's fan died on me) and it was giving me trouble (one of the loops fell off the board a while ago, so I had to install it upside down (doesn't really matter).

It died after a power outage, so I wasn't thinking northbridge at first.

Like all things computer, thats as much of a possibility as anything, I'm still leaning toward RAM though. I've had boards act similarly only to realize through trial and error that a different flavor RAM stick solved the problem. Why,should you ask... I never could give you a valid reason, only the symptom and a possible remedy. Can you get it to boot at all???

I say motherboard - the likelihood of both sticks of ram in an identical set dying are minimal ... even with a power outage.

Didn't mean that...was referring to "frequency" differences.

Well the ram is DDR466 on a 400MHz FSB but it was overclocked for years to 470MHz.

I agree with Weevil, the voltage regs and caps on the mobo got smoked if it won't power up and the PSU works in another rig

Yes, that was my conclusion as well but I've thoroughly inspected the board and found no damage / corrosion / etc. Even the northbridge which had the iffy heatsink. It looked perfect when I reseated the sink.

It's driving me nuts that I can't say "this is what's wrong with it"