leonardsix

Hey all well I've been having a big problem with my computer, was hoping some of the vet's here could help me out.

Initially the problem I was having was that the when I would play graphics intense games like FarCry or FEAR my comp would crash and and I would hear the audio message from the mobo saying "system failed vga test". Checking the mobo manual it says it's refering to a possible problem with the vid card. But I could reboot and the computer would come back up and work fine until I tried playing one of those types of games again, so I ignored it.

Then one day my system just crashed. And wouldn't come back up. No matter how many times I rebooted, I would just get a black screen on the monitor. Not even an MS-DOS black screen. A total black screen, like the monitor wasn't even getting an image. One thing though, the monitor could tell that it was plugged into the comp, because it didn't say "No Signal".

Tried switching monitors, still nothing. So I figure ok, the card must have just died, good thing I went with BFG, lifetime warrenty, 24/7 support no problem. Called them up and had the card replaced. Just got the new card today, installed it, and it's still the same thing. Turn the computer on, just black screen.

So does anyone have any ideas? Could really use some help on this one.

Sys specs:

MOBO: ASUS A8V-E DELUXE K8T890
VIDEO CARD: VGA BFG| 6800GT 256MB DVI TV RT
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX
RAM: gigaram 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model GR9053-512MB/400/SA - Retail
Power Supply: Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W Power Supply
HDs: Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
WinXP

Doby

Hi,

Sounds to me like a possible cpu overheat, were you monitoring temps and what were they?

Make sure the heatsink is tight if not its a sign that the cpu may have overheated, then remove the hs and clean the paste up off the cpu using pure isoproyl alcohol. Then examine the cpu, look for burnt edges or other signs or black marks.

Remember you must clean and reapplt thermal paste.

Rick

forcifer

i agree with doby. make sure you are getting adequate air flow through the vga also.

leonardsix

Ok I've been reading back pages and seen a few other people with a problem like this. Is it possible I burnt my motherboard? If so would the green light at the bottom of the motherboard that remains on even when the power is turned off still be working? Because it is, so I don't know if that means it could be burnt or not.

Bruno

hey leonardsix,

I believe Doby's earlier post is on point. In my experience with AMD processors, in particular an older T-Bird 1.4GHz, one of the rubber bumpers on the processor seemed to dry out over time causing the CPU fan to not sit squarely and with even pressure on the CPU itself and it took about 5 seconds for the CPU to burn out after powering the machine on. And let me tell you, it was visibly black and burnt. My machine behaved the same as yours, all fans etc powered up and the light on the mobo itself was on but my monitor screen was black/blank. Also, even if your machine is not powered on but you have the power cable connected to the power supply etc the light on the mobo will be on until you take power away from the box. I replaced the CPU and the machine was back in action. The mobo - memory - all PCI cards etc were fine. I highly recomend using silver oxide thermal paste when you reinstall the processor and fan. You may even notice slightly lower temperature readings using this paste versus using generic grease.

Best of luck to you!

leonardsix

Ok that's what I'm gonna do then.

Did you mean isopropyl alchohal?

Also do you reccomend a specific type or brand of thermal paste? Or just ay old stuff at the store?

leonardsix

Alright I did some research and surprisingly Radio Shack brand is actually pretty good. So I picked that up and I've got some alchohal here so I'll give it a go and let you guys know.

leonardsix

Alright I removed my heatsink, cleaned off the old compound and applied some new heatsink compound to the proccessor. I'm waiting awhile before I turn it on so we'll see what happens.

The good thing was that it was a surprisingly easy process, but nothing looked burnt at all so I'm not sure if it was a burnt out chip that was the problem.

We'll see, though. I'll let you guys know. How long should I wait to turn it on? I've read 24 hours for best results.

leonardsix

Here's an update...

I'm not hearing any beeps from the motherboard.

No burned edges around cpu/heatsink or pci-e slot/card.

Here's what I've done so far.

Cleared CMOS. Everything the Same.

Reseated RAM. Everything the Same.

Unplugged cd/dvd roms, tried booting with minimal power being taken up. Everything the Same.

Removed Heatsink, cleaned and reapplied thermal compound. Everything the Same.

What's next? Another question, if the motherboard was fried (because I've heard it's possible on a couple different boards) would I definitly hear beeps? Also the onboard mobo LCD is green, should that be working if it was fried.

Bruno

If you are unable to access the BIOS and you still have a black screen after powering the machine on then it sounds like the processor is fried. Do you have another processor you could stick in the machine temporarily to test this?

leonardsix

Well now I'm f'ing pissed.

Today, I went out and bought a power supply tester and a cheap pci card.

The power supply tester showed that the power supply was working fine. So at least I know, as far as my new comp is concerned, it's probably not the power supply, unless the tester is some how faulty.

The PCI card didn't change anything either, so at least I know it's not something that affecting just my PCI-e slot. I needed another PCI card for that older computer anyway and here's where it get's annoying.

I had an old computer that I was planning on giving to a close relative. The video card for it had burned out so today I took the oppertunity to get a new pci vid card which I used to both test my new computer (to see if my problem was limited to my PCI-E slot/card) and to also put in my old comp.

I put the PCI card in my old computer and was able to get it up and running, but then I took the proccessor out of the old computer to try and test it in the new computer, to see if the processor was the problem in my new computer. Well they were different sizes so no go there.

But what really pissed me off was that when I put the processor back in the old computer, hooked everything up and turned it back on, I now get the SAME F'ing problem as I've been having with new computer. Everything starts up but I just get a Black screen.

So now I have two friggin dead a$$ computers. And with the power supply working in the new comp plus the new PCI card not helping in the new comp it's starting to look like either my motherboard or processor in my new comp is fried. Which I can only assume is the same problem that I now (thanks to my screwing with the processor) have in my old computer. The vid card is one thing, but I'm not ready to go through the whole irritating troubleshooting process, plus shelling out more money to replace whatever I fried just to get an old 733mhz up and running.

I can't believe just taking the stupid processor out for barley 30 seconds could totally screw up what was just working a minute ago. I kept my self connected to the metal case the whole time. Ugh and on top of all that my new computer is still screwed and I don't have a clue what's wrong with either.

I'm so freaking tired of these stupid machines I'm ready to throw them off of a cliff and go back to books, paper and pencil.

Bruno

Ok, last thing to try before cashing it in: Verify the processor is seated correctly in the socket. Make sure all PCI cards etc are corrrectly seated. Then try removing the CMOS battery for a bit so the CMOS settings will clear. Put the battery back in the socket and power it up.

leonardsix

Ok well I think I've made a little progress.

I tried removing all the components (except the processor) and powering on to see what kind of beeps I got. Well I didn't get any beeps. But I'm really not sure if my internal speaker is plugged in correctly or if it means there is a problem with my mobo.

But I also plugged in my external Cambridge speakers and I'm now getting a vocal POST message saying "System failed CPU Test" over and over and over. So that's very interesting. It's also important to note I get this message no matter how many components I have plugged in. I'm not really sure if I was getting this message when the computer first went down and I just had my speakers turned off or plugged into my headphones or not.

Anyway, upon hearing this message, I did some research and came upon this forum post...

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=31392

What the guy was saying seemed to ring true with my setup so I gave that a try. After following the instructions, still no change.

So at this point I've got a POST message saying "System Failed CPU Test" over and over. But aside from that nothing. Would this message indicate that it really is my CPU and I should just go out and get another CPU? Or is there more tests I could do? Could it still be my motherboard?

cfcDevil

I know this thread is a few months old but i can totally feel what the OP had faced. Mine just happened two weeks ago and i still don't have the solution.

It all started with a blank screen. My story goes like this.....

"Now i have tried everything mentioned in this thread on my A7V266-E/AA, still no luck. So i went ahead and got another ASUS mobo that came with a Athlon 1.3Ghz processor. It is a A7V-Vm. Tested this new combo, worked great. Was able to post, allowed me to enter BIOS.....yada yada yada. Swapping begin......

First, i swapped the processors. The 1.7Ghz(from my A7V266-E/AA) worked on the A7V-VM board. Yay! However, the 1.3Ghz did not work on the A7V266-E/AA board, as expected. So the conclusion is, the ASUS A7V266-E/AA mobo is faulty. End of story? No way. This is when things got interesting. :)
As i was putting back the 1.3gHz athlon back to the A7V-VM, out of a sudden, the CPU fan on the A7V-Vm stopped working. I thought it was an easy fix by swapping the CPU fan as well. Nope, didn't work. So i tried plug the fan cable to the Chasis Fan socket on the board instead of the CPU Fan socket. Bam! It works! However, the BIOS will shut down in five seconds because it did not detect any fan from the CPU Fan socket. It has to use the right socket. Otherwise the mobo thought i forget to fan the processor even though i did. Now, every time i power on the PC, it shuts down automatically after 5 seconds.

Now i have two good Athlon processors, and two bad boards. Must be the biggest joke of my life! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

My 3rd mobo is on its way. So the saga continues....... What's up with these ASUS mobos anyway.