You're Not Gonna Believe This®
Hey guys!! I have a problem that...well, you probably won't believe. ha ha.
I have an Athlon XP 1900+ PC that my dad asked me to look at. He said it "wouldn't turn on." Since I've been to look at this PC before, and everytime the VGA cable was unplugged, I assumed that's what the problem was. So I plug the VGA cable in tighter -- nothing. Won't even POST. It turns on, the hard drive and CD-ROM come on but don't spin, all the fans come on and spin, but no video signal.
So first things first...I tried a different monitor. No signal. Next I went and bought a new PCI videocard. I tried it in 4 different PCI slots -- nothing. No signal.
Next I borrowed a stick of DDR PC 2100 ram from a friend that was confirmed to work. I switched out the ram. No signal. I tried it in all 3 ram slots -- nothing.
At this point I'm completely dumbfounded. What could cause a PC to not POST like this? I unhooked the sound card, the modem, the network card, the hard drive, every fan, and the CD-ROM. No POST, no signal.
This was after about 4 hours of screwing with the thing. By then I had determined that either the CPU or the motherboard were fried. I drove 45 miles to the nearest PC shop and bought a refurbed socket A motherboard and an Athlon XP 2000+, both of which work with PC 2100 ram. I put the 2000+ in the old motherboard, power it on and BAM!! POST!! It got all the way into Windows. I turn the PC off to plug the mouse/keyboard/ethernet cable in. I turn it back on...you guessed it, no POST, no signal, when 1 minute before it got all the way into Windows. I tried for 10 minutes to get it to POST to no avail.
Then I took the new 2000+ CPU out and took out the old mobo. I put in the new socket A mobo and the 2000+ in the case. I power it on with the ram in, no POST, no signal. Uhh...every single piece in the entire PC is replaced now except the power supply. I really didn't think it'd be the power supply since it did power on, just no post.
I reset the CMOS battery and the CMOS jumper in both motherboards. No POST, no signal in either. Neither motherboard ever beeped or gave any warning signals.
I'm ripping my hair out by this point. I figure that maybe, just MAYBE the power supply is bad. So I put my Enermax PSU in (very high quality) and boot it up. No POST, no signal, but everything does turn on, just as before.
I'm truly perplexed after this. Then I remember that my PC that I game on has had the no-POST error before, so I thought maybe, by astronomically low chances, that the Athlon XP's PSU and my PSU are bad. So I go buy a new PSU from the local PC shop. No POST, no signal.
I'm starting to think that the PC is haunted. I do some Google-ing and see that some no-POSTS are caused by case shorts. So I take the entire mobo out of the case and set the old mobo and new mobo on anti-shock bags. I try both with all 3 PSUs and 2 seperate processors. I tried 3 different videocards, including PCI and onboard video. I reset the CMOS in both motherboards. NOTHING.
I've tried EVERYTHING to get this PC to boot and it simply won't. PLEASE, PLEASE reply if you have any suggestions -- I've built and repaired a hundred or more computers and I've NEVER seen anything like this before. This PC won't POST after replacing EVERY single part in the entire PC. ??????????????????????
Hey guys!! I have a problem that...well, you probably won't believe. ha ha.
I have an Athlon XP 1900+ PC that my dad asked me to look at. He said it "wouldn't turn on." Since I've been to look at this PC before, and everytime the VGA cable was unplugged, I assumed that's what the problem was. So I plug the VGA cable in tighter -- nothing. Won't even POST. It turns on, the hard drive and CD-ROM come on but don't spin, all the fans come on and spin, but no video signal.
So first things first...I tried a different monitor. No signal. Next I went and bought a new PCI videocard. I tried it in 4 different PCI slots -- nothing. No signal.
Next I borrowed a stick of DDR PC 2100 ram from a friend that was confirmed to work. I switched out the ram. No signal. I tried it in all 3 ram slots -- nothing.
At this point I'm completely dumbfounded. What could cause a PC to not POST like this? I unhooked the sound card, the modem, the network card, the hard drive, every fan, and the CD-ROM. No POST, no signal.
This was after about 4 hours of screwing with the thing. By then I had determined that either the CPU or the motherboard were fried. I drove 45 miles to the nearest PC shop and bought a refurbed socket A motherboard and an Athlon XP 2000+, both of which work with PC 2100 ram. I put the 2000+ in the old motherboard, power it on and BAM!! POST!! It got all the way into Windows. I turn the PC off to plug the mouse/keyboard/ethernet cable in. I turn it back on...you guessed it, no POST, no signal, when 1 minute before it got all the way into Windows. I tried for 10 minutes to get it to POST to no avail.
Then I took the new 2000+ CPU out and took out the old mobo. I put in the new socket A mobo and the 2000+ in the case. I power it on with the ram in, no POST, no signal. Uhh...every single piece in the entire PC is replaced now except the power supply. I really didn't think it'd be the power supply since it did power on, just no post.
I reset the CMOS battery and the CMOS jumper in both motherboards. No POST, no signal in either. Neither motherboard ever beeped or gave any warning signals.
I'm ripping my hair out by this point. I figure that maybe, just MAYBE the power supply is bad. So I put my Enermax PSU in (very high quality) and boot it up. No POST, no signal, but everything does turn on, just as before.
I'm truly perplexed after this. Then I remember that my PC that I game on has had the no-POST error before, so I thought maybe, by astronomically low chances, that the Athlon XP's PSU and my PSU are bad. So I go buy a new PSU from the local PC shop. No POST, no signal.
I'm starting to think that the PC is haunted. I do some Google-ing and see that some no-POSTS are caused by case shorts. So I take the entire mobo out of the case and set the old mobo and new mobo on anti-shock bags. I try both with all 3 PSUs and 2 seperate processors. I tried 3 different videocards, including PCI and onboard video. I reset the CMOS in both motherboards. NOTHING.
I've tried EVERYTHING to get this PC to boot and it simply won't. PLEASE, PLEASE reply if you have any suggestions -- I've built and repaired a hundred or more computers and I've NEVER seen anything like this before. This PC won't POST after replacing EVERY single part in the entire PC. ??????????????????????
