At startup the components run, but no display

[deadlockedworld]

Hello, and thanks in advance.

My girlfriend's old Emachine recently died, and I am not certain what's wrong. Any ideas would be welcome. I'd really like to keep it alive for another year or so.

Initial symptoms:
PC went to sleep and would not wake up--even when pushing the power button (still lit) there was no response. I was forced to unplug it in order to restart. This happened a couple times before the current condition. The final time this happened the PC went to sleep almost immediately after startup--not after being left alone. I felt around and it didnt seem to be overheating or anything...

Current symptoms:
Now the computer will not boot up at all. When pushing the power button all fans start up at full speed and remain at that speed (with no PC regulation). The monitor remains inactive and displays no activity of any kind. They keyboard does not light up.

My investigation:
-I've tested the monitor on on my computer--it seems to works fine.
-I've unplugged and replugged all elements of the Mobo--everything is tight fitting and in place.
-I pulled out battery to reset BIOS, but no effect.
... what else can I do without being able to get to the bios screen?

System Specs
Emachine T6216
Board: MSI MS-7207G 100
BIOS: American Megatrends 11/15/2005
AMD Athlon™ 64 3200+ Processor (with AMD 64 technology) (512KB L2 cache, 2GHz, 2000MHz system bus), XP Home SP3, NVIDIA nForce 410 Chipset
512MB DDR 400MHz dual channel

History:
I should note that when this computer was about a year old it had a problem that resulted in the replacement of the original motherboard and hard drive. (this was before me, so im not certain what the service department had to fix)

Does anyone recognize these symptoms? Its my suspicion that this is either a strange PSU or another motherboard problem. Can a PSU die, but still run the fans? I dont have a PSU tester, but if anyone strongly feels thats what it is I could probably try pulling mine out of this comp to test it.

 

[crazy359]

Well one tip is PLZ DO NOT put PC DESKTOP computers to sleep, with laptops its fine but sleep screws up desktops.

Hm.... Well MAYBE your RAM is dead because sleep mode is know to sometimes do that. Or simply your video card because you are not getting any image

hope it helps

 

[tortnotes]

Check and tell us what kind of power supply that machine has.
Emachines has a reputation for unreliable computers because they use cheap power supplies. One particular PSU made by Bestec is famous for frying motherboards and then starting back up again like nothing had gone wrong.

Even if you don't have the Bestec power supply, my money's on a failed power supply killing your motherboard. Replace them both or replace the machine. Hopefully the power problem didn't damage anything else.

 

[tortnotes]

Oh, if you'd like to read more about the behavior of these power supplies, check this out:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=154
Somewhat technical but fun to read.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Thanks tortnotes. This machine definitely isnt worth replacing the motherboard on, but I think I can salvage a used PSU to try in it soon.

Does anyone actually have experience with these symptoms though--or are the suggestions simply based on poor PSU reputation?

 

[jitpublisher]

This is indeed 1 of the many ways a PSU will act when it fails. Replace it.

 

[crazy359]

Yea definetly could be the psu for some reason i forgot about it (=

 

[deadlockedworld]

I tried a new PSU-- no luck. It must be the motherboard... PC laid to rest.

Now I have to let her share with me... yuck. I hate having two accounts on my computer.