PC refuses to start. 2

[kwunder]

Hi,

Over the past few weeks, my PC developed an intermittant problem, wheras it would lock up on the BIOS screen during startup. Sometimes it would start perfectly.
When I tried to start it today however, I am getting nothing outout to the screen at all. I can hear the fans starting up, but there is no little bleep from the case like there used to be, and no sign of the BIOS screen at all.

Is it dead ?

It's an Asus A8NE mobo with AMD Athlon 64

Thanks in advance

 

[paparazi]

Bulging capacitors? motherboard/PSU or graphics card
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[kwunder]

Martin,

Bulging Capacitors ?

Do you mean I have too much stuff plugged in ?

The PC has run smoothly since my last upgrade 6 months ago (an external USB Hard disk)

Do you think it's all just taken it's toll on the motherboard over time ?

 

[G0AOZ]

No! Check this out...

http://badcaps.net/

Another thing to try would be a change of PSU. Temporarily hook up a known good one of the same or higher Wattage rating.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kwunder]

Thanks G0AOZ

I actually had to replace the PSU about 7 or 8 months ago when it dies completely.

I think this may be the excuse I've been looking for to simply get a new machine. As it's a 4+ year old AMD Athlon XP, I expect I'd be pleasantly surprised if I got a new Intel Dual Core machine ?

I use it primarily for video editing work and music editing.


Thanks guys !

 

[paparazi]

I would treat this like any other random problem.
First minimise the ellements involved ie: best take everything back to bare bones.
Now when I say this don't be tempted to go half way...bare bones really does mean everything removed from the motherboard except the essentials (CPU with fan, 1 stick of memory, graphics card, and PSU) remove all header pinout wiring, including front panel and USB.
Remove keyboard/mouse and any other external devices
Reset cmos (button/or short pins/remove battery for 10 minutes)

Now it will be easier to diagnose
Momentarily touch pwr (power) pin outs with a small flat blade screw driver
What do you see?
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[kwunder]

Martin, thanks for the extra info. I did strip down the machine to the bare bones, but alas, it still refused to budge. Consequently, I have been out and treated myself to a new PC.

Which in turn has now presented me with another slight issue to be resolved. I have posted details over in the "Windows Vista" section.


Thanks for all your help - much appreciated !