Computer will not initate video or start! > Even panic is not helping !

Gentlemen?,


Big trouble !


Dell Precision T5400 > 2X Xeon 5460 (4-core 3.16GHz), Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB), 16GB ECC DDR2-667 RAM, WD RE4 500GB > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

1. This computer was running normally at about 2AM this morning AutoCad, Sketchup, WordPerfect, Streaming radio.

Note A__ I had noticed that the RAM was running slightly hotter than usual lately. DDR-2 can be very hot- I've seen 93C when rendering. The situations in which RAM is usually about 73-75C were showing 79-80 C but the comparison is very casual and the temperatures were not a worry. The CPU's and Quadro FX 4800 were showing normal temperatures.

2. Computer at 6AM had no display > but was running and still streaming radio

3. At 6AM the power button light was solid amber, indicating a hardware fault. > If the system had gone into sleep mode, the power button light would indicate flashing amber

4. Pressed spacebar to wake up system > no video, but radio was still streaming, indicating the system had not gone into sleep mode properly

5. Tried restarting, and indicator lights showed system was booting

6. Monitor displayed "no signal"

7. Opened case and saw that all case fans, graphics card, hard drives, RAM fans were running. No unusual heat and in fact system was cooler than I would expect

8. Tried CNTL > ALT > DELETE restart > no response > did not shut down or restart

9. Hard shut down (power button)

10. Replaced Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) with Quadro FX 550 (128MB) < known good

11. Restarted, no video > Fault indicator lights 1,2,3 are solid amber, indicating (from manual) > "Routine system activity preceding video initialization"

Note B__ I noticed that the motherboard light was amber where I believe it should be green. However, I could not find this indication in the manual and >

Note C__ There are different fault light patterns to indicate graphic card failure, memory, board failure

12. Hard stop > Changed DVI connection on FX 550 to other port

13. Restart > no video > Fault indicators 1,2,3

14. Changed boot drive SATA connections to HD 2 (Seagate Barracuda 500GB) which is the backup drive and which is more or less a duplicate of the HD1 > restarted > no response, same error 1,2,3

15. Loaded Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit installation disk > restarted > no video, no response restarted > same error 1,2,3

____________________________________________


Any thoughts gratefully received ! Out of business!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 
Solution
Kinda sounds like you might be SOL. Sounds like MOBO went to hell. first easiest thing to try is a RAM switch if you have more than one stick try each one at a time, or try different ram all together. After that you could try to breadboard it to eliminate/isolate one at a time each hardware parts of the PC to see if it can be salvaged. Pull the MOBO out place it on an anti static bag or something that doesn't conduct electricity(wood, plastic cutting board), disconnect everything except the CPU, heatsink fan, and PSU. Power it on (shorting the power switch pins on the front side headder) and see if you get the long constant system speaker(assuming you have one if you don't, get one it is essential here) beep, if not you have a hardware...
Kinda sounds like you might be SOL. Sounds like MOBO went to hell. first easiest thing to try is a RAM switch if you have more than one stick try each one at a time, or try different ram all together. After that you could try to breadboard it to eliminate/isolate one at a time each hardware parts of the PC to see if it can be salvaged. Pull the MOBO out place it on an anti static bag or something that doesn't conduct electricity(wood, plastic cutting board), disconnect everything except the CPU, heatsink fan, and PSU. Power it on (shorting the power switch pins on the front side headder) and see if you get the long constant system speaker(assuming you have one if you don't, get one it is essential here) beep, if not you have a hardware issue bad mobo or cpu because you can't strip the pc down any less than this. If you get the constant beep power down unplug it and connect the ram power it on and see if you get the one long and 2 or 3 short beeps, if no beeping at this point your ram is junk try one stick at a time and see if it will beep with either. Now if you get the proper beeps up to now connect the video card and see if you get video.
 
Solution
hillmanant,

Thanks very much for your detailed reply.

I tried on Saturday (7.14) testing memory modules one at a time and the same light error code of "Routine system activity prior to video activation" resulted- no video. This led me to think more towards motherboard failure, but I didn't get to trying the tests you suggested as yesterday (Sunday) I had to borrow a computer and load software and files so that I would be able to work. As usual that takes almost all day.

Anyway, today (Mon) I thought I'd just put all the RAM back in and close it up, and I looked into just getting a replacement motherboard. I found NOS ones for about $100.

However, after it was cleaned up and put back together, out of curiosity I plugged it all in and of course it worked just as usual.

I don't know what to think, when things seem to repair themselves, it's a very uncertain situation. I just don't think it was a thermal shutdown as it happened when idling. Of course, I'm pleased that it's working, but am nervous now that it might fail again at any time and I can't trust it.

Thanks again for your advice- the motherboard testing techniques are very useful to know about.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

PS > "Hillman Ant"- is that the model that came after the "Hillman Imp"?


 


Yea the beta model LOL

Good to hear its running but make sure you got solid backups things like that don't just happen for no reason. Kinda sounds like a failing card slot on the MOBO.
Best of luck.