System failed to start

[chsoh]

Hi, anyone who has an Abit KT7 motherboard ? If yes, please help me to do the following.

Take out your processor and power on the System.
Let me know what is the tone like ?

My system failed recently & will not start with the power on button, when I plug it in the power supply both casing and CPU fans starts but with weird light always on at CD-ROM (reading light). The computer does nothing else. Monitor never display anything and I only can shut it off with the power button.

I troubleshoot by taking PCI cards pices by pices, memory and finally CPU. all results are the same.

I can afraid that my CPU or motherboard is GONE.

Or anyone can help ?

 

[Teq]

Did you try disconnecting the CD-ROM?

Sounds like it's not resetting and hanging the system during POST.


--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[LumberJack]

Got to abit's web site for a list of all the tones and what they mean...

To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!

 

[chsoh]

Hi all,

Yes, I disconnected CD-ROM before and it still won't start the system.

When I boot my system, there is no error tone.

One more thing, My Keyboard light lid is off.

What you mean fail during the reset POST ?
I try to reset my BIOS to manufacture default (press the switch on the motherboard to refresh the password, I can't access to BIOS menu during startup. the system whole die)

but the same thing happen (NO TONE, CD-ROM light is ON, keyboard lid is OFF, monitor never display)

 

[Teq]

POST == Power On Self Test, it's run everytime you start up your system.

Was it trying to clear your CMOS that caused this?

If so, check with Abit's website for the correct procedure to reset CMOS and see if that fixes the problem.

The lack of video display suggests that you may have a video problem. If you are using an AGP card, they are notorious for bad connections. Try removing your video card and reinserting it being sure it's seated correctly and locked into the mainboard latch.

Ram is another possibility... try removing and reinstalling your memory.

Other than that, well, maybe you sould tell us step by step what lead up to this problem....








--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[chsoh]

Ok, let me explain.

As usual, I shutdown my computer after being used. I never install any program, never install any hardware.

One day, When I power on the computer, there is no response and my monitor was blank. I checked the monitor and there is nothing wrong and my monitor is working fine with other CPU.

Then I suspect some PCI card was defective or not connected properly. I detach my PCI card one by one.

1)take out sound card and start system, no response
2)take out internal modem and start system. no response
3)take out the network card and start system, no response too

There is no PCI card anymore, never mind, I continue to diagnose what is the actual component causing the problem.

4)Take out the AGP display card, start the system, no response too.
5)Take out the memory, start the system, no response and no error tone
6)Take out CD-ROM and HD, start system, no response too.
7)Take out the CPU !!, start the system, no error tone too.
8)Refresh BIOS (the normal step to empty the BIOS possword) by setting the jumper according to the manual.

No matter what component I take out, the system seem to be the same.

==>NO RESPONSE, CD-ROM light is ON, keyboard light is OFF. No error tone.

 

[speeduk]

Try a new power supply. If it still wont start then it could be your motherboard has gone or processor...not sure....can you try these components on a friends computer?

 

[Teq]

Ok, couple of things...

A PC will not boot up without a video device... on-card PCI or AGP it checks them all. The first thing to get control of the cpu is the video card's own BIOS... monitor stays in standby, probably the video card.

A PC will will not start up without at least 64k of working memory. The Bios writes itself to RAM and runs from there.

The cPU also has to work before anything is going to happen... In a PC, everyting --and I do mean <i>everything</i>-- goes through the CPU.

Instead of pulling out stuff, try substitutin in known good parts from a working machine... Pulling things out, especially when you get down to the Video, Memory and CPU does nothing but guarantee a no-go.

I'm still betting you've got a bad CD-ROM, good ones initialize even when the data cable is disconnected... the light should go out. That signals either CD-ROM or IDE problems The IDE controller could be holding it in reset mode but you should get beeps if that's happening. Try connecting the drive to power, without a data cable and see if it self-initializes. Depending on the BIOS, some will wait for up to 5 minutes before erroring off on an IDE device.

For the rest of it... build your system back to bare minimum... power, keyboard, motherboard, cpu, 1 memory strip, video, speaker... See what happens. Substitute in known good memory and a known good Video card. If it's still no go, substitute in a known good CPU. and so on...












--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[ntrop]

I'm pretty sure you're right when you say the CPU or motherboard is gone. I see similar situations daily and it's a bad motherboard more often that a bad processor. The only way you can really tell is if you can throw that proc in someone elses system and test it out.

 

[chsoh]

Hi all,

Finally I am able to find another AMD Athlon working system.

My CPU has GONE. The same syndrome happen to that working system when I SLUT in my processor there.

Thank your for all your advice.

regards