System has power, but no display on monitor

magiteck · 02-19-2005, 12:24 AM

I just pieced together a basic system, and here's what I've got...

EPoX EP-8KHA Motherboard
(http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=96)
1000MHz AMD Athlon Socket A CPU
350W PSU

When I power the system on, I get the onboard FAN working, the CPU Fan working (which is plugged into the mobo), a light on the mobo lights up, and two large LED's on the mobo display "F" and "F" respectively.

However, no display goes out to the monitor. I've tried two different video cards, one AGP and one PCI, and neither makes a difference. If I plug an IDE Hard Disk Drive in, it does receive power and start to spin. The system doesn't beep, also.

I've tried resetting the CMOS by putting the jumper into the reset position for 15 minutes, no difference.

Any thoughts on what the problem could be? Does it sound more like Motherboard or CPU?
(and could it be RAM? I'd think it would still POST and display an error if there were a RAM problem, am I mistaken?)

I'd appreciate any feedback!

KaTaLy5t · 02-19-2005, 04:39 AM

Those two LEDs you're talking about are called a "Port 80 diagnostic LED". THe code "FFh" means that the PC has attempted to boot but was stopped by BIOS interupt 19h (Int19h).

Int 19h is a software interupt and is called the "bootstrap loader". Here is a definition of bootstrapping: " A bootstrap loader is a program that resides in the computers EPROM, ROM, or other non-volatile memory that automatically executed by the processor when the computer is turned. The bootstrap loader reads the hard disk drives boot sector to continue the process of loading the computers Operating System".

To me this means that the PC is unable to read the boot sector of the hard drive and so is unable to boot the PC. This can point to a faulty CPU, if there are no beeps accompanying the codes then it could be a CPU or mobo problem, I'd be inclined to go for a CPU problem here. Check that the CPU is seated properly. If it is then I think it might be faulty.

Ross

dai · 02-19-2005, 09:44 AM

m/b or p/s
video,ram,cpu you would expect to receive a bios error code

m16_killer · 02-21-2005, 05:54 AM

Hey,,,

Hiiiz , I had the same problem in the past,,, the same thing , ther's power in the motherboard but only blank screen.. so I've tried many things , changed the RAM , changed the P/S ,,,, many things ..... SoOo the last thing i did I take out all the parts on the motherboard and but it in again many times , and it worked ..

I don't know wher was the problem but it's Over now.

knhrmr · 02-21-2005, 06:21 PM

Magiteck.........I am haveing the same problem as you are describing. I still can't figure out what is wrong with it. I have tried power supply, ram, cpu, video card, hard drive, everything you tried and nothing seems to work. Any help would be appreciated.
m/b pc chips m599 v3.2

Thanks knhrmr