please help with a sad, no-boot situation

[diypc]

I bought this system a year and a half ago and it only worked for a week before it died. Now I have time to fiddle with it and I am not having much luck.
SYMPTOMS Doesnt boot-up. Leds come on, cpu and power supply fans come on, but no video and no beeps.
WHAT I HAVE TRIED- followed as much advice as i could find on this site including: hooked up only cpu, power supply and speaker to the motherboard outside of case on cardboard. still no beeps. cpu heat sink not getting warm after an hour or two of "running".

I suspect it is the cpu since it is not getting warm. Am i right to believe this? How can i be totally sure about it?

SPECS- soyo sy-6ba+IV mb, promise RAID ata66, 2 maxtor drives, 1 western digital drive, 500mhz pIII cpu, 3dfx video card, turtle beach montego II sound card, 128 mb of sd100 RAM, DV raptor capture card.

[ranchdog]

diypc....


To answer your question -- how to be totally sure? Person would have to swap out the CPU.

I'm inclined to believe the CPU is the problem.


Luck.

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....How long is a minute... depends on which side of the Bathroom door you're on. ......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
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[diypc]

Thanks for your reply. I have never been inside a computer before so please bear with me.
Is there any way i can get closer to ruling out the power supply and motherboard without swapping out the cpu? I dont have access to another cpu.
Also -is there a way to find out if my speaker is working? I think it works since I think it came with my Antec case which seems to be of good quality. It is really tiny and looks nothing like a speaker- i wasnt sure that it was until i read the plug end which said "speaker" on it. When i first opened the case the speaker was left disconnected and the plug was tied out of the way. Why would the person who built my computer do this?

p.s.- one last dumb question- is it normal for the reset and on/off button not to turn the computer off in my situation? The only way i can turn it off is by pulling the plug.

Thanks in advance- you guys are life savers

[ski]

If the LED's are coming on and the CPU's fan is connected to the motherboard, then the CPU is probably bad.

To check your case speaker, make sure it's connected to the correct terminal. You can also try reversing the connection.

There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers.
If your system uses the ATX form factor(no on/off switch on the power supply module), then it's normally shut down thru the O/S.
But since you cannot boot up, try holding the on/off button on the case for longer than 5 seconds and see if that shuts it down.
If that does not work, then you have to shut down by pulling the plug.

[Randy_tx]

IF NONE of the devices are getting warm -like the video card,it might be the mainboard that's gone. I would bet on the mobo or RAM going before a cpu [esp. the older Pentium's...they are almost indestructible!].

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Will XP save Me ?

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 12-10-2001).]

[diypc]

the video card is getting warm but the cpu isnt. Should i start looking for a new cpu?