Computer won't post

[Fr34k]

Ok here's main comp specs to start with.

Asus P5N-D
Intel Q6600
EVGA 8800 GTS
PC Power & Cooling 750 watt PSU
Western Digital 320 GB HD
Corsair Ram 2 GB (1GB x 2)

I've been running this comp for roughly a year and a half. Had some issues in the past, been fixed and has worked like a charm for months. Haven't so much as upgraded ram or even changed OS since the comp was built.

So as the story goes, I was watching a video when the monitor started going fuzzy with the vertical / horizontal lines. Eventually it froze so I held down power button to turn off the comp. Turned it back on and the only screen it will go to is the Mobo loading screen. Says the normal press tab or delete for bios settings and whatnot. Computer will not go past this stage.

First thing I did was take out the vid card. Figured since the image went berserk before the comp crashed, maybe something was wrong. Pulled out the card, cleaned all dust etc that was on it and then put everything back in making sure that everything was in correctly and tight. No luck.

So then I took the vid card back out and took out the battery to reset CMOS hoping it would help. Let it sit for a bit, put everything back in, no go.

So I'm thinking that either my PSU, Mobo, or Vid Card took a shit. Any ideas on if it could be something else? I have a fully built spare comp I can pull parts from if I need to, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I don't even think I could try and boot from a windows disk it just isn't getting that far =/

[Bikpik]

I'd try another PSU first (since you have one you can use) then make sure everything is seated properly on the MB (RAM, VC, CPU fan, etc.)

Also, can you get into the BIOS, or it just freezes at that screen?

[Spekkio]

first try the power supply as suggested as that's a very easy test. if that doesn't help, strip the machine back to just the motherboard and if your motherboard does not have a vga port, the video card. see if you can get your board to post all the way to asking for an OS. if it does, your problem is likely traceable to a device that's attached like an expansion card, drive, or something like that at which point you can attach them 1 at a time to find the offending device.

if you don't get that far, strip out all but 1 memory module and try booting again. if this works, one of your slots or one of your sticks are bad. simple process of elimination to find what's going on. if that doesn't work, repeat the test with a different memory module and or slot in several configurations. this will not only test for bad hardware but a bad connection from something coming unseated or a slot getting clogged with dust. if none of those work, the board is probably fried.

[Fr34k]

Freezes at the mobo screen. I've even tried buttonsmashing f8 / del / tab trying to get anywhere else and it just stops. I'll try the PSU today and update, thanks.

Edit: Won't get to the OS but I'll try messing around with the ram as well.

[Artemicon]

Good chance its the PSU, If its atleast turning on it wouldn't hurt if you tried each of your DIMMs individually in the first slot since thats the easiest change to make. Then like Spekkio said previously start from scratch with just the mobo or Vcard on the mobo and go from there adding things 1 by one or you could work backwards and take 1 thing off until your bare.

[Fr34k]

Ok so I decided to be lazy and just try the easy stuff. I started by switching the ram in slot 1 & 3, same problem. So then I went with a single stick in slot 1. I got past the mobo screen to I guess the boot screen, but I had no keyboard plugged in so I turned off the comp. Put the other stick back in slot 3 and rebooted. Got through, all the way into windows. I was like ok cool, maybe the ram just got unseated or something. I only had my 17" monitor plugged in so I turned it back off and plugged in my 22" so I would have both screens again. Now it's back to the same thing.

I tried a single stick in each slot, both sticks in a variety of spots, etc. I don't know why it would boot properly and then all of the sudden go back to stuck. Could both sticks of ram be faulty? Any way to test this? Like using the ram in my spare comp and seeing if it will boot with it? Swap the rams?

[Fr34k]

Alright another update. Switched the ram from my spare PC to my main PC. At first it took me to the boot screen saying that the post failed on the previous boot, go into the setup and set everything to default. So I did, and computer ended up turning back on fine. Guess this is a perfect excuse for me to upgrade ram

[Spekkio]

it's also entirely possible your contacts are dirty in your ram slots. on most ATX motherboards, the ram sits directly to the right of the CPU and perpendicular to the airflow. this means that a tremendous chunk of dust flows over the ram sticks and sometimes into the slots. if you clean them carefully with compressed air, that might just solve all your problems for under 5 bucks.

[Fr34k]

Alright so after 3 days of the computer working fine with my spare ram only running a single monitor, I decided that if it was going to fuck up again it would have done it already. I decided to reboot so XP would recgonize my 2nd monitor hoping everything would be back to normal. You can probably guess what happened next.

Same old problem. Decided to throw the old ram I thought was faulty into my spare PC, and it boots fine. So what's next to test the PSU? I just don't get why it would work fine 3 different times after only switching the ram, and then pull this shit again.

[vanidin]

so, just from reading over the posts, it seems the only times you've gotten it to work was with one monitor connected. (since it crapped out on you) so I'll throw this idea out there: Try a different video card.

[Fr34k]

Easy enough to swap and worth a shot. I noticed that too, that's why I was only running the single monitor. After the issue came up again I tried with single monitor and still nothing.

[vanidin]

possibly the psu then, bit of a pain to swap a diff one in and check, but you never know. if psu doesn't solve it, then i'm a guess a a contact is broken/shorted/cracked on the mobo possibly.

test the video and ram in your spare pc if possible just to eliminate those as possiblities, if they are fine and a diff power supply doesn't fix it then I will suggest you start looking at a different motherboard. thankfully boards that can handle that processor are getting quite cheap, but of course, a new i5 or i7 sounds nice too doesn't it? ;p

[Fr34k]

Switched the PSU, gave me a boot error initially like it did last time. Changed to default settings or w/e and it booted up. Both monitors hooked up from the get go, so everything seems to be working. About to reboot to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Honestly I want to just get rid of this thing and build a new i7 rig, but I haven't found a buyer for my spare PC yet, and I don't think I have room for 2 spare desktops in my room. That and I don't use my computer nearly as much as I used to. Maybe that will change with FF14 comes out, who knows.

[Fr34k]

Restarted computer, same error yet again. I thought the PSU was a little small for the 8800 so I put in my 9500 GT, nothing. Tried several times and it just won't budge. Put the spare PSU back in spare comp, and just guna use this bitch for now. I just cannot understand how I can get the comp to work by switching the ram, back to error. Get it to work by switching the PSU, back to error.

[vanidin]

I'm gonna stick with my motherboard theory i think :/

I took a look on newegg, there's a lot of motherboards that will handle that cpu in the $40-50 range

[Olo401]

Yeah I get the same feeling.. the more stuff you try to get it working, the more I think the motherboard's acting screwy.