Complete workstation failure.

[Froberg]

I'm asking the question here because I haven't, nor have any of those I've asked, ever seen or head of the issues I'm experiencing with my workstation.

I built it three years ago;

Core 2 Duo E8500
Asus P5Q Pro
8GB Dominator
Zalman 600W PSU
ATI HD 5770 (If memory serves, was a RMA replacement unit.)

Wednesday evening I switched the computer off, because it had to reboot due to a Windows Update. When I went to start it in the morning it wouldn't boot up. The Diodes on the CPU cooler were flickering, and I noticed that the case-fans weren't spinning up, nor were the HDD's apparently spinning up.

I reset the BIOS, removed the battery for a full day and left it without power, tried taking parts out and booting and nothing changed a darn thing.
I then blamed the PSU, so I threw it in my old Athlon system, where everything worked flawlessly.

Right, motherboard then. I went to a mate who owns a net café, got a spare LGA775 motherboard he had lying around - switched out all components, and tried to boot.
The exact same issue occurs.

Now, I've never seen this error before - so I've really no clue as to what I should be looking at next. Frankly, rather than spending money on new components which may or may not work.. I'm thinking it might be time to just give it up and start anew. This particularly sucks since I just purchased half the ram and a new CPU cooler less than a year ago.

At any rate, if anyone has any suggestions at all as to what the cause of my troubles could be - any help will be greatly appreciated.

If you're in the "upgrade now" crowd, I'm taking suggestions! I figure a new PSU, Mobo, Memory () & CPU ought to do it.

Thanks for any assistance you will be able to provide in my time of need.

 

[HEXiT]

test for a dead cpu. turn on monitor wait for no signal message, as soon as you see it then turn on pc if the monitor jumps into standby immediately your cpu is likely dead.
note most monitors will go into stanby after a few seconds so when i say imediatly i mean as soon as you hit the power button and look at the screen. not 2 or so seconds after.

also you can start up the pc with other components detached . like the gfx card or ram. if you have a on board speaker on the motherboard. most pc's with eather screech when theres no memory in or give a beep code. same for gfx it will give a beep code... as long as the cpu is working and the bios is intact.

 

[Froberg]

Like I said, the only thing I have not tested is the CPU.....

I don't get any signal message at all, and the GPU works in my other case.. I prefer these "new to me" errors on other peoples' systems.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

**I'm thinking it might be time to just give it up and start anew. This particularly sucks since I just purchased half the ram and a new CPU cooler less than a year ago
**
nothing stopping you re-using the ram and cooler (assuming rams ok ofc)
Moto

 

[Froberg]

Was thinking I'd need to go for DDR3?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Can do ofc, but ddr2 isn't dead yet, just didnt want you feeling despondant over something you'd just bought, thinking it was binning time for it
and coolers are re-usable as long as you clean/reapply thermal paste correctly ofc
Moto

 

[Froberg]

Aye.. any suggestions on what to go for? I'm assuming that Intel are still leading the way CPU wise? ;-)

 

[Emperus]

Return to your friend with the CPU and get it checked first.. Best to first pin point the damage and then you can start thinking about the best course of action..

 

[HEXiT]

to get a no signal message you may have to turn the pc off completely at the wall.

 

[Froberg]

Well, I just picked up a used E6600 for 35 USD including shipping to test out if the CPU has been fried.

If naught else, I can at least sell the old bits in parts.

I've tested everything else I can think of, and the PSU is working fine in my old case with a Athlon 3200+.. :/

I just don't get how a machine can die like this out of the blue. Shut down perfectly, and it's just.. dead. Never seen nothing like it.. :/

 

[theDanijel]

I had a similar problem a few months ago on a friends pc. I just cleaned it to see if there were any burn marks (I thought something was fried) and when I saw that all loked fine, I put it together and it worked just fine. My conclusion was that due to dust or something similar, threre was a small sc and he was lucky nothing was fried

 

[Froberg]

This is across two different motherboards, both of which have been cleaned using compressed air.