Constant Rebooting, No Video, Weird Sound?

[wtehfitzhogan]

Well, I started having a problem where my computer constantly reboots and has no video when I switched computer cases. I'm guessing i short circuited something, but not sure what. I had to let my sister's friend figure it out. He just took everything apart, and put it back together again. He put in another video card to reset everything. About a week later, my computer started to randomly freeze when I started to play games so I decided to try to take out the video card/ RAM and put them in again after dusting everything which my sister's friend instructed me to do. Now when I turn it on, it sounds like my CD-Drive is stuck, and my computer sounds like it's constantly rebooting. There is no video either. I tried replacing my 4670 with my old 2600XT to see if I got video. Didn't get nothing. Was thinking of replacing the Video Card/Mobo... Oh, and also my power LED on my computer case keeps flashing which probably tells me my computer is constantly restarting. The hard drive makes a weird sound which seems to sound like its running but also sounds like my computer is rebooting. Can't really explain it. I hope someone can shed some light on this problem..

 

[Azzur1]

hmm may be there is a problem with ur ram or psu, try to get them checked...i cant think of any other thing because i had similar problems i learnt that one of my ram slots had gone...

 

[wtehfitzhogan]

I also tried removing one stick of ram.. That didn't help. I'll try getting my ram checked.

 

[jsc]

System specs?

You have worked through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
yes? I mean work through, not just read over it.

Breadboard - that will isolate any kind of case problem.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

The breadboarding thread has a paragraph about how to build and test a PC in stages.

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU. You do have a case speaker installed, right? If not, you really, really need one. If your case or motherboard didn't come with a system speaker, you can buy one here:
http://www.cwc-group.com/casp.html

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to.

You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems.
Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if
it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

Install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card. Silence or long single beeps indicate a problem with the memory.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step.

 

[wtehfitzhogan]

Thanks jsc! I'll try the steps you mentioned above. Since you asked for my systen specs, here they are:

CPU:AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor ADO5600IAA5DO
Mobo: ECS A740GM-M AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GB667D2 (x2)
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
PSU: Ultra 330w Modular Power Supply
Hard Drive: HITACHI Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

All I hear from my computer is one beep. Just a short BEEP. Not a long one. Followed by what sounds like constant rebooting.