Help! very unusual post problems...

[holtzman]

My computer will not post. Twice over the last few months, it has booted and given me a message saying my BIOS were corrupt, but after eltting it sit this error went away. It also began freezing a couple of months ago. Now, when i turn it on nothing happens, the fans, harddrives, cd drives and everything power up, but i get no beep and no POST. I have tried swapping out every part except the cpu and mobo, to no avail. It started up and booted once, but once i shut it off it died again. I havn't done any overclocking and the board is not very old, what could be possible causes of this? there is also a very faint white "cloud" ont he bottom of the board surrounding the north and south bridge, and over heating had been an issue. Is this a case of my mothboard just... dieing? after 6 months and no abuse?could it be my cpu?
AMD 64 x2 4200
asus m2v
2 512mb super talent
hyper type-r 550w psu
xfx 7600 gt

I assume the motherboard just died but i cant really afford a newone right now, especially if the cpu is shot. any advice would be rgeatly appreciated.

 

[acrobat]

Doesn't sound good

Its not uncommon for a motherboard to just die. I've had that happen to me, although only once, and it was while playing a game. But still, motherboards can just die.

Theres a possibility it could be the PSU (unless you tried swapping that out too?), but really, it sounds like the motherboard.

There are a few things you can try though. One is to reset the bios. You can do this by either removing the battery, or looking for the jumper on the motherboard to reset the bios. I'm hoping you still have the manual for the motherboard, as you'll need that to locate either the battery or jumper. If not, you might have to find a manual for it online.

The jumper option is actually quite easy. Its usually just 2 little pins, and you just need to bridge the gap with something metal. I just used a screwdriver the last time I needed to do it.

The second option, is to send it back for a replacement. Most computer components come with a warrenty of atleast a year. If the board is only 6 months old, you should be entitled to a straight swap for a new one. Either from the place you bought it from, or directly from the manufacturer. If you have never overclocked, then you haven't invalidated the warrenty, so you should be entitled to this. You will probably need proof of purchase though like a receipt. (If you do do this, its usually best to try where you bought it from first, because getting a replacement from the manufacturer can take longer).

If you have all that though, then hopefully you can just get a new board.

Theres a possibility it could be the CPU. Either the CPU or Motherboard dying would give you the exact same problem - PC not booting up. But the white powder around the northbridge makes it look likely that its the motherboard. The only way you could really find out for sure, would be to somehow try another CPU in the slot.

Personally though, I would just get a replacement board while its still young enough. And if you have problems with the new one, then you will know for sure its the CPU. But like I said, my money is on the motherboard.

One last thing, do you know what was causing the overheating problems? You should be able to get a temperature reading of your hard disks, your CPU, your video card, and your motherboard. So that would be a good indication too. If the CPU was massively overheated, then its possible thats the component that died, likewise for the motherboard.

 

[holtzman]

thanks

it would set off an alarm, oppening asus probe which said my mb was at 49 degrees celcius, then my computer would freeze. I fixed this by getting better/another fan, but it seems like my north and south bridges got to hot. I have a psu tester and it read .2 volts over (3.5v and 5.2v) for my motherboard hookups, is that critical or no? could it have caused the problem?thanks!

 

[acrobat]

I have no idea Hopefully somebody else will know. If not, does the PSU tester come with a manual or anything that explains the results?

As for overheating, it can be complicated. An alarm doesn't always sound. First off, the alarm has to be activated. And secondly, an alarm may be set to sound if the CPU gets too hot, but if the motherboard or graphics card (for example) got too hot, that wouldn't set the CPU alarm off.

As for cooling, many computers really need quite a lot of fans. If you have a modern graphics card, then that will likely have a fan built into it. Then the CPU/Processor needs to have a fan attached to it. But then you need to have atleast two more fans, in your case. Ideally, one on the front of the case, sucking cool air into the case. And then another fan on the rear of the case, blowing the warm air out of the case.

Motherboards, and the northbridge/southbridge chips on them, very very rarely have a fan. They sometimes have big chunks of metal attached to them to help draw the heat away from the chips. But they rely on the cooling within the case to keep them cool. And the only way to keep the cooling within the case good, is by having those two (or more) fans in the case - one sucking cool air in, and one blowing the warm air out. So if the case wasn't that well cooled, then that could make a motherboard overheat.

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own, unless you`re only replying to a specific section, in which case you would only quote that section.

 

[holtzman]

yeah

the tester said up to 5.25v is alright, though 5.2 still bothers me anyone have any other advice??