Help - dead CPU (AMD64), dead motherboard(Biostar6100), or ?

[awalts]

I have a nearly year old Biostar 6100-939 board with a AMD64 4000 cpu. Things were going fine til this weekend when it failed to startup - I don't even get to a post screen.

When plugged in, the green "power on light" on my case is lit and two of the four motherboard LEDs are lit (numbers 3 and 4 as read from left to right).

According to the 6100 manual, if LEDs one and two are out, then it is a "CPU / Chipset Error."

LED 3 being on shows that "This LED indicates the voltage of memory is activated normally."
LED 4 on shows that "This LED indicates the system is ready for Power-on."

The other thing i have noticed is that if I press the on-board reset button, the case fan and the graphics card fan both spin for about a second and then stop. The CPU fan does not spin.

Does this suggest a bad CPU over a bad motherboard?

So far, all I've done is take things apart and put them back together, but still I get the same error/situation.

While I did build this computer, I am finding that it was easier to start from scratch than to figure out what isn't working now (especially with no replacement parts on hand).

The only other thing I can mention is that between the last time the computer was working and now, I had to throw the circuit breaker for that part of the house several times to fix a broken outlet. The computer was off at the time and is downstream of a surge protector - everything else on the surge protector is working fine. Hopefully this part is just a strange coincidence.

Thanks for any help
Avram
awalts@yahoo.com

 

[brick88]

if you are using a graphics card then remove it. it might be the power supply. otherwise check the capacitors on the motherboard for any signs of expansion.

 

[jitpublisher]

I have had problems with every Biostar board I have ever had. From booting issues to just plain instability and random crashes in Windows.
Check all the capacitors for any signs of swelling or leakage.
What are the specs of your PC, including power supply?

 

[Dahak]

That sounds suspiciously like a power supply problem.Try swapping the psu with a new one first,if it still does not boot up then look elsewhere.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2 5600+ @ 2.8ghz(stock)
M2N32-SLI DELUXE MB
2 GIGS DDR2 800 RAM
THERMALTAKE 850WATT PSU
7950GT KO(WAITING FOR MY OTHER TO COME BACK FROM RMA)
ACER 22IN. LCD
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
80GIG/250gig SATA2 HD's
XP MCE

 

[Dahak]

If you look around hard enough,you'll find all kinds of people that have had issues with one piece of hardware or another.I never used to like ASUS because of the reviews I read,But now my main gaming machine is an ASUS and it runs like a hot damn.All I'm trying to say is that some people have issues with a particular manufacturer and others don't

Dahak

AMD X2 5600+ @ 2.8ghz(stock)
M2N32-SLI DELUXE MB
2 GIGS DDR2 800 RAM
THERMALTAKE 850WATT PSU
7950GT KO(WAITING FOR MY OTHER TO COME BACK FROM RMA)
ACER 22IN. LCD
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
80GIG/250gig SATA2 HD's
XP MCE

 

[awalts]

Hi Dahak,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Pardon my ignorance, but would a dead power supply still give enough power to light the LEDs and spin the fans (LEDs always on, fans spin for about one second)?

I have been reading reviews of the power supply (which came as part of a Antec SonataII Case) on newegg and there are lots of complaints about the power supply dying in a 6-12 month range - right where I am now.

Maybe I'll buy a new power supply before moving on to anything else ...

Thanks again
Avram

 

[brick88]

if you have owned the build for a while and run it to the max of your power supply's specs it could have just run its course in life. this is why i usually pay the extra dollar to get a good power supply because of the huge difference in build quality and stability.