Borked Motherboard?

Dyre Straits · February 3rd, 2009, 01:41 PM

Been doing a bit of 'house cleaning' on my PC over the past few days and had the side cover off the case. So, earlier tonight I decided to put the cover back on and....

No video....period.

No POST...nothing....nada.

I've done all the standard stuff like disconnect HDDs and other devices, removed the RAM modules, unplugged all the USB devices and even the KB/Mouse.

Can't even produce an error screen.

Put my ol' X1950 Pro in with the same result.

I've connected my 2nd PC to my LCD monitor and put the HD 3870 in and things are working fine. So, it's not the graphics card and it's not the monitor.

So, I'm assuming that the motherboard is toast. If it were the CPU, I'd at least get an error, correct?

Any other suspicions?

**Regeneration** · February 3rd, 2009, 02:46 PM

That sucks. I had the same issue today, but it was the PSU EATX cable.

1. Try to use electronics spray.
2. Remove the CMOS battery.
3. Inspect hardware for broken/missing parts.
4. Check out the PSU and its cables.

Dyre Straits · February 3rd, 2009, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regeneration

That sucks. I had the same issue today, but it was the PSU EATX cable.

1. Try to use electronics spray.
2. Remove the CMOS battery.
3. Inspect hardware for broken/missing parts.
4. Check out the PSU and its cables.

Some of this I did already. Just failed to mention it. But, I did change the PSU cable around. Mine has multiple ports for the 6-pin PCIe card. Also, I failed to mention that all the fans start up including the one on the CPU.

I'm going to have to put this off until I get home later tonight from work. At least I've narrowed it down some. And, if push comes to shove, the motherboard is still under warranty. I haven't even had it a year yet.

Unixlord · February 3rd, 2009, 03:05 PM

What exactly did this "house keeping" consist of? Cable management, dust removal or perhaps more?

**Regeneration** · February 3rd, 2009, 04:02 PM

Sounds like a broken motherboard.

Dyre Straits · February 3rd, 2009, 07:57 PM

I do think the board is dead. At least I found my receipt and hope to get an exchange ASAP.

The 'house keeping' involved simply blowing out some dust....which was very little. But, when I did that there actually was a BUG that blew out from somewhere inside the case. It was a dried up dead lady bug. [At least that's what we call them here in the USA. They are very small, red beetles.]

I also had routed a USB cable through the case to plug in my video camera. Once done and working, I shut down and put the side cover back on. That's all she wrote.

I've even since tried some other methods to get at least a POST screen. It just won't POST at all.

zme-ul · February 3rd, 2009, 08:08 PM

try this:
remove the mobo from the case, find a nonmetal surface big enough to hold the mobo, maybe the cardboard box the mobo came in
use a PSU, video and a memory that you know they 100% work and try to make it POST ...
if it doesn't ... well it's dead

Dyre Straits · February 3rd, 2009, 09:15 PM

Did a bit more cleaning and....bingo!!! I've got it back up and running now....with the side cover off.

I'll tackle putting the cover back on when I get home from work tonight.

DOOMJESUS · February 4th, 2009, 03:08 AM

maybe it's something physical like a ground problem or crossed wires on the mobo jumpers.

also i doubt the ladybug had anything to do with it

mkey · March 18th, 2009, 10:25 AM

Watch out, PC games, lady bugs are afoot *plays the jaws theme in the background*

Sorry, I had to do it

On topic, I had one situation like this once and I have reached this majestic conclusion that static electricity is at fault. So, after opening this machine that supposedly isn't working (i.e. it refuses to boot) I fiddle with cables and such, try to reseat mem sticks and whatnot. After plugging it in... wtf? It works. It ran a few hours, afterwards I unpluged it and left it sitting there in the corner. About 2 days later, the owner comes to get the machine. I plug it in and wtf? It doesn't work anymore. So I open it up, fiddle some more and it got magically repaired.

My conclusion - that machine had a POS sensitive mobo and whenever you left it powerless for some time it would lock up. If I leave it plugged in, it'll work OK.