[SOLVED] Black screen and no POST on 9 years old PC ?

[Frank352]

Hello,

While I was using my computer, I started hearing a strange, low pitch sound, probably coming from the CPU fan as well a as slow a beeping sound from the motherboard speaker (sorry, but can't remember the pattern). I opened the side panel and I noticed the CPU fan was starting and stopping every 1-2 seconds. I then shut down the computer and cleaned the fan and CPU heat sink.

Now, every time I turn the power on, the casing fans and HDD start spinning continuously and the CPU fan only spins for 2 seconds before stopping. The screen is black and I can't access the BIOS. The lights on my keyboard doesn't turn on and only the light on the side of my mouse (Anker vertical mouse) turns on (not the bottom one).

I tried clearing the CMOS by removing the battery and shorting the clr_cmos pins. I also replaced my power supply and still nothing. I can hear a clicking sound coming out of the motherboard speaker every 1.25s. When I remove the RAM sticks, I can hear continuous short beeps before the system reboots, but still no power on my usb ports and nothing on my monitor. I also tried using only one ram stick (I tried all the slots and both ram sticks) and nothing changes. I doubt both ram sticks would die at the same time, but I will try getting another one just to make sure.

Anny idea of what could be the issue? I'm starting to suspect the CPU/motherboard, but I would like to make sure before replacing them.

My specs are as follows:


Motherboard: Gigabyte H77-DS3h
CPU: Intel i7 3770
GPU: Integrated (I removed my Zotac GTX-650 for troubleshooting)
RAM: Corsair 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 (CMV16GX3M2A1600C11)
PSU: Corsair VS600 (Brand new)

Build date: Fall 2013

HDD is now disconnected for troubleshooting

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You might want to state what the make and model of your prior PSU was. From the way you've described the issue to be, it might very well be a dead motherboard. Perhaps see if taking all your innards except the motherboard to a donor platform, revives it. If so, then it's possible that the motherboard is compromised. You could also see if the BIOS on the motherboard might've gotten corrupt.

Speaking of BIOS, the motherboard has dual BIOS chips on it. You could try and reprogram the BIOS chips and see if that revives the platform.

 

[Frank352]

Hi Lutfij,

My previous power supply was an Antec Neo HE550.

Good idea regarding the backup BIOS. I tried to force BIOS recovery using the method described here: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/gigabyte-motherboard-shorting-main-bios.3651446/. It definitely did something since I now only hear a single clicking noise when I turn the power on instead of the continuous clicks. Unfortunately, still no power on my usb ports and no signal on monitor.

I'll try to put my hand on a compatible motherboard and see if it solves my problem.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Frank352]

Quick update if it can help anyone.

I bought a used motherboard with CPU + RAM. I used it (on a table, with only the MB speaker and PSU connected to it) to test my components and it turns out both of my ram sticks were faulty.

I replaced the RAM in my computer and now everything works.

Thanks for your help Lutfij!