PC won't boot...help please

Hi,

I am in desperate need of help here. The other nite my pc died, and thinking it was the PSU i bought a new one which turned out to be $100 down the tubes. The problem is apparently the mobo, the core2duo, or the video card. The ram and drive are the only other things, and i've eliminated those. It froze up on me one nite, and when i tried to restart it with the button on the tower it wouldn't start. Let me describe exactly what happens when i try to start it. It does any of three things when i try and start it....

1)-starts and goes to the post screen where it counts the ram and all that, but freezes about 1/2 way down the page and won't respond to any key entries. (using a PS2 for testing, not usb)

2)-screen stays dark and nothing happens.

3)-LED's go on, then it turns itself off in about 5 seconds. Then it turns itself back on a couple seconds later, then in 3 seconds back off. It repeats this infinitum.

It does these 3 things somewhat randomly;y, but for the most part it does #1 first after it's been sitting for any length of time, then second try it does #2, then after a few more tries it starts doing #3.

So to me it sounds like a heat issue which i assume makes it most likely the mobo. but the thing is, i need to me much more sure than my non-tech mind can be. because each time i make a mistake in determining the wrong part that is the problem, i'm out another few hundred $ as i was by buying a new un-needed PSU. Please help if you can, as i am lost w/o my PC and can barely afford to replace 1 more part let alone all of them. Oh, and i forgot to mention it also sometimes goes to the 2nd screen where it lists PCI devices. But thats rare, and as in all other scenarios at no time will it respond to any key entries, so no chance of ever getting into the bios or starting from the windows CD. Thank you.

if you can, try swapping out the video card with a different one. also, try reseting the bios. are you doing any overclocking?

Welcome to DEV
I agree with Sandman about the videocard.......can you get a hold of a friends card to try in your comp.???

If you bought your PSU from a "good" shop they should at least give you a credit minus a restocking charge.

A couple of things you can try.....don't know if it will work,but it did for my kids comp.
1/ Once they couldn't get a signal....turns out it was the VGA port was fried...got a VGA to DVI Dongle ,plugged it into the DVI port....worked great




2/Sometimes for what ever reason if it won't start I take out the videocard and reinstall it..just a seating prob I guess.
Hope this Helps

could also be a cmos problem. Had to work on a pc a few weeks back. Wouldnt boot to shit and turned out the cmos needed to be reset.

Also it could also be a short in the case, faulty wiring for the power button, bassically take the whole pc out of the case and run it out testing different things on it to try and get her to boot

Thanks all. I don't think it's the card or a case short. I've had the mobo out twice now and i did check for any possibility of shorting. I also reset the CMOS. I think it's the CPU, and heres why. Let me know what you think.

I have a synthe (sp?) cooler on the CPU, and the mounting it has is not very reliable. i once caused one or 2 of the pins to come loose causing the cooler to come loose enough to hang down a couple of degrees from normal so the heat sink was obviously not making full contact with the chip. This happened with the PC off luckily. But when i checked it this time one pin was loose, tho it didn't seem like it was leaning at all. But as we all know it would only take a very slight air gap to over heat the CPU. When it first froze it was with a game up, tho minimized. But never the less games even when minimized are running higher cycles as is obvious by the fan going fast even after minimizing.

This PC is only a year old and it just doesn't seem likely a good quality board (gigabyte DS3) would just go bad for no reason. So while i can't tell you for sure the heat sink/CPU connection wasn't solid, there is a good chance. And i know that CPU's can fry within seconds with no heat sink. So a sink with very bad contact i would think could easily go bas in a few minutes when running it hard like games do. What do you think?

Second question. If i buy a new chip, then a new MOBO if the chip isn't it, is there anyway i can hang onto my current C drive install even if either isn't the same model? I don't want to lose it. I have most things on a storage drive, but i have so many things installed that are highly customized, losing it all will cause me a LOT of work. I figure since i have to buy at least one of them if not both, i would feel a lot better about it if i upgraded so i could at least feel like i'm getting something for my money. Then again, if it means losing my drive i may rather go with the same chip and board.

well to rule out the chip you can find cheap celeron D's for 30bucks. if it works then it is the e6600 but if it doesnt then its the board.

To rule out overheating try reseating the original hsf (intel one) and see what it does then with a proper heatsink on it

I've reseated the HS twice now with arctic silver 5 and this HS is very good whether or not the mounting system is or not. It's kept my temps as low as 21/21. So while overheating sounds like the issue, i think it's due to something having been fried and shorted or some such thing. I'm positice the HS is fine after re-do'ing it twice. As to the $30 chip, i'd rather upgrade than throw away $30. Then if it's the board at least i have a faster CPU. I just need to figure out what to get. I need to know whether ANY core 2 duo will allow me to get by having to reformat my drive assuming it turns out just to be the CPU. In other words, if i go from my 2.13 conroe to a 3.0 wolfdale, will my board accept that or ANT duo, and will i still be able to keep my current windows install?

well tbh the e6600 is a damn good chip. you wont see any real results from upgrading to wolfdale in the real world and that too me is a waste of 290 bucks. Here is another idea which helped me diagnose a board problem before. Take the cpu out and look around the socket and the chip and look for any scorch marks or anything.


Also how exactly do you know your ram is good?

I did take the chip out. In fact, twice, and i examined it with an eye loupe. Nothing i could see. As for the ram, i don't know for sure, but if it's bad, both sticks are because i tried each one by itself in both slots. It also just doesn't seem like a ram issue unless they are overheating, and they aren't, at least not to the touch. The only thing that had a possible reason to fry is the CPU, so thats why i think it may be the best thing to buy first.

Ok my brother had this problem since he built his computer his computer would turn on for about 3 secs turn off restart and turn of 3 seconds later, what we found out was that the power supply wasn't in right, so I suggest to look at your power supply and make sure that there all in right, If its not that then I am thinking that its either your ram or its your videocard, Hope I became helpful

I can't see what could be wrong. i unplugged everything from the PSU except the CPU plug, the main mobo plug, the video card plug, and a plug for the drive. How could it be in wrong?