having problems starting computer.

[ghrark]

hello, i have had an ongoing issue with my ECS GOAL3+ motherboard. i bought the board off of newegg with an AMD sempron 3000+ (approx. 1.80 GHz) and a heavy duty cpu cooling fan. now i don't have any picture and i know it works caus the fan turns on. is there anything i could possibly be doing wrong? no video on the computer at the moment. im going to hook the fan up to another space to see if it will turn on there. hopefull it works. any ideas as to what could have caused the problem?

also, it was working fine and then one day my hard drive failed so i took the drive out and then all of a sudden my computer wouldnt boot and then my power supply wouldnt work so i hooked another one up and it booted. then the same problem happened with the second power supply so i put it up until today when i decided to work with it some more. i know the warranty on the board is good but im not about the warranty with newegg. bought the board 3 months ago. again, any ideas would be helpful!

 

[BadBigBen]

PSU...

1.) just because the HeatSink Fan works does not mean that the PSU is good...

2.) I would turn in that mainboard, if it has gone through three PSU in three months... as there is something seriously wrong there...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[cdogg]

Because you've had problems with the last two PSU's, it's hard to say what exactly is going on. It begs the question as to whether the problem is really the PSU?

Setting that aside for a moment, let's dig a bit deeper:

1) When you turn the PC on, do you see/hear any hard drive activity (look for the LED to flicker)?

2) Are there any beeps?

3) Did you assemble the PC yourself from scratch?


The CPU may need to be reseated on the motherboard. Be sure to use 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the old thermal paste from the CPU and heatsink. Also, I recommend using Artic Silver thermal paste when you reapply it (check a local mom & pop PC store if you don't want to wait by ordering it online at newegg). Make sure you don't use too much or too little. Usually the equivalent of two good-size drops is all you need.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[ghrark]

i removed the cpu already and put the damn thing away. now ive pulled it out and put it back together and its not turning on. ive got a 550 watt PSU in it and all the cables are connected. the board has a built in video card and ive got the monitor connected. no hard drive or other hardware is connected. just the monitor. i should at least get video if it works right? yes i assembled the thing myself. also have RAM in the motherboard. even swapped out for new RAM sticks. nothing. is it possible since the cpu fan turns on that the cpu is fried?

 

[cdogg]

Yes, it is quite possible that the CPU is the problem. Because the CPU fan turns on, you know that the motherboard is receiving power from the PSU and has accordingly turned on the fan(s) that are connected. Therefore, it would seem that there is a wiring problem to the front of the case (check the LED and power cables) or there is a problem with CPU itself. If it were the memory, you'd hear an error beep code.

Of course, it is impossible to rule out a problem with the motherboard or PSU as Ben pointed out. The only way to know for sure is to swap in known-working spares for all of the above one at a time to find the culprit. When faced with this scenario, it is best to start with the cheapest component and work your way up to the most expensive. At this point though, my bet would be on either the CPU or motherboard assuming that everything is wired correctly.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[BadBigBen]

my bet would be on either the CPU or motherboard assuming that everything is wired correctly

I agree there Cdogg...

the thing that makes me wonder is that the mainboard went through several PSU and I do not think that it is the CPU that did that, but rather the first PSU may have taken out the CPU with it, possible the mainboard aswell...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."