Motherboard or drive issues?

[wprebeck]

Brief rundown of problem:

I've got an older desktop (P4 2.4, ASUS motherboard, 2GB RAM). Here's the issues I'm having -

OS (XP SP2) won't load.

Power on = HDD runs, but won't load.

Tried system disk (XP) in three different drives (CDRW, CD, DVD-R), drive spins, nothing loads.

Tried system disk that came with motherboard. Same thing.

Unplugged HDD from board, tried the above again. Nothing.



Anything else I can try before scrapping this board, and buying another? I can't think of anything else that it could possibly be. With NONE of the drives loading a system disk, but all of them are powered and spinning (four drives total, counting the HDD), I can't think it's a drive issue. Checked all connections on the board, all are secure. Memory is in place, PCI cards all in place....

And the damn thing was fine two days ago. What's funny is...my wireless connection is run thru the desktop, and it's obviously fine; I'm using it right now.

So, my initial thought was a burned up/broken HDD. Now, I'm leaning towards crapped out motherboard. Any differing opinions?

[CitizenOfDreams]

Does the computer go through the POST, or does the screen just stay black?

How old is the battery in the motherboard (sometimes a weak CMOS battery can cause some funny stuff to happen)?

If you can go to the BIOS setup, do the hard drives and the CD/DVD drives get detected properly?

[wprebeck]

Does the computer go through the POST, or does the screen just stay black?

How old is the battery in the motherboard (sometimes a weak CMOS battery can cause some funny stuff to happen)?

If you can go to the BIOS setup, do the hard drives and the CD/DVD drives get detected properly?

Screen stays black. Something else I just noticed, don't know if it's relevant or not. Caps Lock/Num Lock on the keyboard - they can only be toggled for a brief second when the system is turned on. After a moment, they can't be changed from the setting they're on.

So no...can't even get into BIOS screen, even with motherboard system disk or Windows disk.

[CitizenOfDreams]

I would start with...
- checking the monitor and the monitor cable;
- re-seating the video card (if the video is not onboard);
- plugging in a different video card;
- checking the CMOS battery voltage (replace if less than 2.5V);
- pull out all the memory sticks and see if the computer starts beeping.

If the above does not help, chances are you have a bad motherboard or CPU.

[DoubleWide]

It's not the hard drive because you should be able to unplug the hard drive and still get it to post.

Turn everything off.
Turn on your monitor.
You should get an orange light.
Turn on the computer, it should go green if it's getting a signal.

Visually check the capacitors by the cpu to see if any burst.

Remove ram one at a time and try booting.

Did you have any storms since you last booted?

[wprebeck]

It's not the hard drive because you should be able to unplug the hard drive and still get it to post.

Turn everything off.
Turn on your monitor.
You should get an orange light.
Turn on the computer, it should go green if it's getting a signal.

Visually check the capacitors by the cpu to see if any burst.

Remove ram one at a time and try booting.

Did you have any storms since you last booted?


Turned everything off.
Monitor light flashes green, indicating good connection, but no data incoming.
Turned system off.
Removed both DIMM cards, got beep when powered back on.
Replaced one DIMM card, still got beep.
Replaced second DIMM card, no beep.
Removed/replaced video card (Raedeon 1800 Pro, IIRC).
No change at all.

Still have flashing green light on monitor, but no data. HDD light indicates on, and I can feel the drive running. But....the light indicated on when the drive (EIDE type, older system) was completely unplugged, both power and EIDE cables.

So....anything else I can do? I'm betting the motherboard is shot, and not the HDD. Since I don't have another desktop, and an EIDE internal HDD won't exactly fit on this laptop, I can't exactly go testing the drive.

[CitizenOfDreams]

So far it sounds like a dead motherboard. Time to go on eBay and get another one.