PC wont go through post. 1

[claymca]

Was going to do a clean install of XP Pro, but before I did that I decided to do some wire management. I disconnected everything and organized all the IDe cables and such. But when i went to power up there was a problem. The PC wouldn't go through post. It seemed to be stuck in some type of loop. I noticeed that the CD ROMS and the harddrive seemed to be constantly restarting.

So I had an old PC laying around I took out the mother board and put it in the case I was having problems with connected everything and it booted fine.

Could my motherboard have a problem. Could it have a short?

Thanks

 

[franklin97355]

Try this first.
faq602-2731

 

[claymca]

I have pretty ruled out everything on that list. The only thing I notice is when I pulled out the RAM it still attempted to go through POST. No beep codes or anything. How could I test the CPU to make sure it isn't fried. I did notice that when I went to reseat the CPU the thermal grease was pretty much dried out.

 

[ImpetusEra]

reset bios, give that a try.

 

[claymca]

I have tried that. I'll try removing the battery next.
Question? Will my pci graphics card cause it not to boot to post if its bad?

 

[franklin97355]

Video card can stop the post but you shouldn't be able to see anything if it's bad.

 

[claymca]

I don't see anything. All I notice is my cd rom, DVD RW and CDRW powering on and off repeatedly. Also with the case open my hard drive's internal light seems to show that the pc is trying to boot over and over.

 

[ImpetusEra]

Take everything out expect what's necessary to see what's happening. Basically just the mobo with cpu and processor and the video card. If it starts working on the screen then add in one piece at a time until you find the bad part. I had an old IBM system do that. One day it was fine the next it powered up but did nothing. It did finally start working, don't know what it was. Another time I put an IDE cable on the mobo in a tight spot and was two pins off so there weren't connected. Black screen and no beep codes.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there, double check all connections (IDE, FLOPPY, and USB!!!)... then make sure that the GFX card is seated correctly (My system wouldn't boot cuz the GFX card was just 2mm out of the AGP port... and no signals...)... also make sure that the the cpu hs/fan is connected correctly...

Ben

*just a few thoughts to look at*

 

[claymca]

Well I disconnected everything except the GFX Card and CPU from the MOBO and my monitor was getting no signal and I made sure the GFX card was seated properly. So it seems the GFX card may be bad.

Going to get a cheap card to day to see if that is that fixes the problem.

 

[ImpetusEra]

If this is a PCI graphics card most manufacturers suggest it be placed in the first PCI slot. May want to try that.

 

[claymca]

No its a AGP card.

 

[claymca]

Just replaced the CPU. No luck. Still "no signal input" on monitor. I need help. I need my PC back up and running ASAP. Everthing is disconnected except the video card and CPU.

 

[techkiwi]

If you've disconnected everything but the CPU and video card, and replacing the CPU doesn't work, what does that tell you?!

Do you have on-board video? If so try removing the video card so you literally have just a motherboard, RAM and CPU.

 

[claymca]

Let me say thanks for the help so far. I appreciate it. What I don't appreciate is when someone comes back with a smart reply like the one above. I am only trying to get help with this problem. I only asked that last question with the hope someone may have had the same problem and found the answer. So that way I don't have to go spend money, I don't have at this time, on a video card and that not be the problem and it could have been the mainboard the whole time or vice versa.

Further more if I had a on board video I wold have ruled out if it was the video card or not. I thought that was what this forum was for to get help and to help. Not flame someone when they ask a question no matter how simple the answer may be. The only stupid question is the one not asked. Remember that.

 

[claymca]

Just thought I would post the results of this problem. It turned out to be a bad motherboard. Thanks for the helpful replies.

 

[neocitron]

bummer... next time i hope you get a good quality mobo... Gigabyte has the least failure rate...i believe.

garbage in, garbage out.

 

[techkiwi]

Sorry to bump this up but I didn't check back after posting my comment on November 17th.

claymca, let me apologise. My intention was not to be "smart" or flame, and I sincerely apologise for upsetting you. I sometimes write in a way I think is funny, and sometimes get it wrong - this was obviously one of those times.

May I respectfully point out that you had not mentioned whether you had on board video or not, which is why I mentioned that. I was trying to be helpful as I have worked on computers with onboard video and video cards and solved issues relating to jumper settings for example.

Anyway, apologies once more, and glad to hear you got it working.

Regards

Graham