Acer desktop does not POST

[HellfireXD]

hello,
i have been working on a system for a friend of mine and the computer will not post. i get no sound, no beep codes and no video feed from the system. all the fans spin up, all the case lighting comes on and both the Hard disk and DVD Drive work (the DVD Drive even opens and closes).
i have tried swapping the Power Supply, Video card, and Hard disk for known good components to no avail. i do not have a spare CPU or any spare RAM to try this with.
the system has 2 RAM modules however just using one or the other in any combination of slots does not fix the problem. it seems odd to me that both sticks would die at the same time unless the motherboard was the cause. when i remove both sticks i do get the contentious beep error telling me there is no RAM present.
the only components left i can think of is the RAM the CPU and the motherboard. i would just go buy a stick of ram to through in but its not my system to i don't want to go throwing my friends money at a maybe solution.
any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

oh yes i forgot to mention i have already tried resetting the CMOS as well.

 

[Tmagic650]

The continuous beeps tell me that the CPU and motherboard are okay, and you are sure that you swapped memory modules always keeping the memory socket nearest the CPU occupied?

 

[HellfireXD]

yes im positive, it would have to be both modules for it to be the RAM.

 

[Tmagic650]

Then it has to be the motherboard...

 

[Tedster]

there are several no POST guides in the guides forum

before you buy ram, read my ram guide as well.

 

[HellfireXD]

one of the things i noticed is that the RAM is far from a matched pair ie a 2GB stick @ 800MHz and a 1GB stick @ 667MHz both latencies are 5-5-5 however.

 

[Kevork]

Out of curiosity, does the instrument have any case fans?

 

[Tmagic650]

I think you would be limited to less than 1GB max on that motherboard. It might only be 512MB. Try booting with just the 1GB stick

 

[HellfireXD]

Out of curiosity, does the instrument have any case fans?

No, not a true case fan if what your referring to is the 3 pronged case fans that connect to the motherboard. however it does have case lighting and it lights up fine.

I think you would be limited to less than 1GB max on that motherboard. It might only be 512MB. Try booting with just the 1GB stick

i have tried ether stick by them selfs and with the other in ether slot. any possible combination of sticks/slots i have tried. that was the 2nd thing i did after checking the PSU.

the computer came with 3 GBs according to the sticker on front of the case however, i doubt its the original RAM that came with it. unfortunately the computer has been worked on in the past but i dont know exactly what they did to it. They did say that they had to sent it to acer for repair but its no longer under warranty.

 

[Kevork]

Are the casing lights screwed with screws on the case directly?

 

[HellfireXD]

Are the casing lights screwed with screws on the case directly?

yes they are and after looking at it its a standard molex connector anyway.

 

[Tmagic650]

Then it has to be the motherboard...

This is all I can say at this point. The CPU is most likely okay

 

[Tedster]

that can do it (problems) and my guide clearly says don't do that.

 

[HellfireXD]

Thanks guys, ill see about getting some RAM for it and if that doesn't do it im going to get myself a POST diagnostic card (should have done that years ago).

 

[Tmagic650]

"I'm going to get myself a POST diagnostic card (should have done that years ago)"...

A problem with the POST card is that it plugs into the CPU's data bus. If there is a problem with the bus, the card is useless. We in the repair business have used one in the past, but they never lived up to the hype... and cost. I used to repair motherboards to the component level... Repairing lost its cost-effectiveness

A source:
Elston Systems

 

[HellfireXD]

how does this one look to you as far as "cost effective" goes?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110297001612

 

[Tmagic650]

The cost-effective I was referring to was repairing motherboards to a component level... Good price for the tester... Go EBay!

 

[WarriorMP]

HellFireXD,
you've been assisting me with my problem on another thread (AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP!).
Now, since I've been able to get the HDD working I have the Same Situation in my case. All Fans spool up but there's no "post" beep. The HDD light comes on then goes out and the CD drives all work (doors open). There's also a green ON light that remains continously light.

After reading your about your problem and recognizing it as my own similar problem is it possible that the ram as gone bad?
I havn't tried removing the ram yet but I have swapped the video cable from card to on-board. Still there's no video and no audible post beep.
The Ram is a matched pair of CORSAIR Xtreme performance DDR2 "TWIN2X2048-8500C7"
varified to operate at 1066MHz at latencies of 7-7-7-20. (Only operating at 800MHz though)

 

[HellfireXD]

The cost-effective I was referring to was repairing motherboards to a component level... Good price for the tester... Go EBay!

im not afraid of a little bit of soldering besides i dont plan on quitting working on computers anytime soon.
i thought so myself as long as it doesnt take to long to get here.

HellFireXD,
you've been assisting me with my problem on another thread (AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP!).
Now, since I've been able to get the HDD working I have the Same Situation in my case. All Fans spool up but there's no "post" beep. The HDD light comes on then goes out and the CD drives all work (doors open). There's also a green ON light that remains continously light.

After reading your about your problem and recognizing it as my own similar problem is it possible that the ram as gone bad?
I havn't tried removing the ram yet but I have swapped the video cable from card to on-board. Still there's no video and no audible post beep.
The Ram is a matched pair of CORSAIR Xtreme performance DDR2 "TWIN2X2048-8500C7"
varified to operate at 1066MHz at latencies of 7-7-7-20. (Only operating at 800MHz though)

not a problem at all.
the issue with your HDD makes me think its more likely a problem with the motherboard itself as that could cause bad sectors on the HDD and hence a corrupted system file. Although it could be that the HDD problem and this one are not related. most of the time that isn't the case however.

 

[HellfireXD]

replacing the ram did not work and the error code from the diagnostic card was D4 (uncompressed RUNTIME code) im thinking its the motherboard. any ideas?

 

[Kevork]

Hellfire,

Is the system freezing at different intervals during POST startup. Meaning one minute it freezes at the motherboard logo, second while checking HD, never in a consistent pattern?

 

[HellfireXD]

there is no video feed at all, ive tried a known good video card, known good RAM, known good PSU, etc... the only things i havent replaced yet is the motherboard and the CPU.

i get the same error code everytime i try booting with the diag card, D4 and the same code always comes before it 54. the BOIS is AMI year 1999.

Socket LGA775
the southbridge is VIA VT6398P
i cant tell what the northbridge is do to its heatsink.

heres a link to the motherboard