Help resurrecting dead pc - asus p6t mobo + i720 stopped working

[woodmawa]

looking for help i can get some help from the community.

my home machine stopped working. All had been all fine for 2 years but my wife was on it the other day and it just shutdown and wont restart.

its running tripple boot windows7, win xp and ubuntu with easy bcd 2

the only funny thing i can point to is that about the day before i had upgraded to latest ubuntu, and every now and then when i was going through stuff, it would throw my off the user session and put me back at the login screen. only did that once or twice but it was odd.

so whats it doing now - not much. the fans run, the lights are on but its completely black screen, and no POST check of any variety. I have a speaker connected and i hear nothing, no beeps, nada

i've taken out the grapahics card - a 'PNY GTS 250'
i've taken out 3X RAM - KIngston hyper X ddr3

motherboards power and reset buttons on the P6T mobo are glowing

when i try and boot again - still no POST check, no noise at all other than fans

my power supply is an OCZ Xstream pro 700W

also my LG cd rw drive will not open/close when i press the button. This had worked as i'd stuck in an old ERD commander dvd to see if it would boot of that - but came to mend it this morning and couldnt get the driven open. Had to use paper clip to eject the CD.


not sure what to do next - is there a way to find out if its the mobo or the i720?

not quite sure on next steps

help really appreciated - i need to access my drives and kinda stuck

 

[Raiddinn]

It sounds like a PSU problem to me.

Do you have any possibility to borrow a different one from somewhere?

If not, does your motherboard or processor have a built in graphics chip (if it is on the processor, does the motherboard have a graphics port)?

If the PSU is failing, removing the video card should mean that the PSU can supply enough power again.

Even if you don't have another card, just quickly take out the video card and try to turn it on and tell me what happens. If you do have access to a different video card then do the no video card test as well as trying it separately with the other video card in addition.

 

[Ubrales]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums!

Looks like it has something to do with your upgrading. Try a "System Restore" to a previously known good date. After you get it running, make a complete backup. Then try the upgrading once again.

 

[woodmawa]

It sounds like a PSU problem to me.

Do you have any possibility to borrow a different one from somewhere?

If not, does your motherboard or processor have a built in graphics chip (if it is on the processor, does the motherboard have a graphics port)?

If the PSU is failing, removing the video card should mean that the PSU can supply enough power again.

Even if you don't have another card, just quickly take out the video card and try to turn it on and tell me what happens. If you do have access to a different video card then do the no video card test as well as trying it separately with the other video card in addition.

my p6t mobo has no on board graphics port

query why would it be the PSU? right now i dont have another without buying one so cant do a quick swap

essentially the lights are on and fans spin - but absolute zero on eveyting else, - no post, no beeps

i have the gt250 card out right now, long with the memory on the side here

 

[woodmawa]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums!

Looks like it has something to do with your upgrading. Try a "System Restore" to a previously known good date. After you get it running, make a complete backup. Then try the upgrading once again.

not possible to do a system restore - there is no post, no noises and black screen

i cant use the cd drive as the door wont open - unless i use a paper click

if i have a cd rom in (my ERD commander ) - no differrence the machine will not boot

i think i'm down to either PSU, mobo, or the cpu - however the fans spin, lights are on etc - so i suspect its down to mobo or cpu

 

[Ubrales]

not possible to do a system restore - there is no post, no noises and black screen

i cant use the cd drive as the door wont open - unless i use a paper click

if i have a cd rom in (my ERD commander ) - no differrence the machine will not boot

i think i'm down to either PSU, mobo, or the cpu - however the fans spin, lights are on etc - so i suspect its down to mobo or cpu

Don't worry about the CPU - CPUs almost never go bad.

The first item to check would be the PSU (I know the fans run). The next item would be the motherboard. Make sure that the RAM is well seated.

Here is a nice guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems

 

[Raiddinn]

When things work perfectly for 2 years and then they all of a sudden quit working out of the blue, that usually indicates a failing power supply.

By usually I mean like 90% likely.

Are you sure you can't borrow one from somebody?

Also, you don't particularly have to have a video card or onboard port in order to turn a computer on. You can just take the card out and turn it on and note what happens.

 

[woodmawa]

i'll have to go scouting - not sure if i know anyone with a spare

however there are two blocks connecting to the p6t -

theres a 4 pin connector near the cpu - goit out my voltmeter and can see 5V on both yellow cables - that looks ok

then theres the man ribbon connector - i pulled that off and all i can see (i think its 25 volts on the purple cable )

so that looks odd

sounds like thats what me the problem then my friend - as you said its worked fine for several years.

i'll hunt around see if anyone has a spare that i know of

 

[Raiddinn]

If you don't know anybody, there is a Corsair CX 430w for $28 after rebates on Newegg.com. That should do what you want for pretty cheap most likely.

 

[delluser1]

i'll have to go scouting - not sure if i know anyone with a spare

however there are two blocks connecting to the p6t -

theres a 4 pin connector near the cpu - goit out my voltmeter and can see 5V on both yellow cables - that looks ok

then theres the man ribbon connector - i pulled that off and all i can see (i think its 25 volts on the purple cable )

so that looks odd

sounds like thats what me the problem then my friend - as you said its worked fine for several years.

i'll hunt around see if anyone has a spare that i know of

CPU power header ? Yellow cables ?
Should be 12v, that's not OK

Purple cable with 25v, that's not right either, should be 5v

 

[woodmawa]

i must have a fairy godmother or something -

my boy (just back temporarily) had a new /spare 750W unit under his bed! (its a long story)

i've rummaged and reconnected and powered up - it moves !. its found my unbuntu boot disk (i think i must have swapped my drive cables over somewhere - so it didnt pick up the easy bcd/win xp drive first

however half a loaf is better than no bread at all - i'll now do a proper swap out and screw everything in place again,

however thats saved a ton of money (a new mobo and or new chip) would have dented my for £100s even if i'd have had a cpu upgrade - mrs W was not well impressed sadly - so buying a new power supply/paying the lad for his is a far better financial position to be in and means i may survive to live another day without having large strips of flesh removed by the afore said Mrs W.

 

[woodmawa]

swicthed drive cables, screwed it all back into box - it boots and finds easy bcd + windows etc

thanks to all who contributed during my period of angst -

hugely appreciate all your comments hopefully that'll be ok till the next official rebuild!

Will

 

[Raiddinn]

Glad to hear things worked out so well.

People can be pretty resourceful when they have to be.