- Sep 23, 2007
- 46
- 0
- 18,530
I'm having problems with a computer I built for my wife a few years ago. I've had a couple people throw out the possibility that the mobo is bad. I guess the frustrating thing of this is that in about 10 builds, I have never had a mobo go bad. Plus, I'm more than aware that sometimes minor things can make a computer act totally screwy and seem like a big problem.
In general, it started as random lockups or restarts, but very infrequent. I ran diagnostics on the RAM, HDD, heat levels, and system utilities with no problems indictated. In about 3 days, it progressed to the point that it won't even completely go through the BIOS. I know this is way simplified, but bear with me: I get the initial beep, the hard drive starts up, then stops...and nothing. Nothing on the screen either.
Here's what I've done so far...
--Tried a different power supply...no change
--Tried current power supply in different computer--worked fine
--Tried swapping HDD'S --no change
--Tried HDD in anther computer -- worked fine.
--Tried using only 1 Dimm (have 2), then swapped them, then tried both in reversed position, then back to original position, --no change.
I have looked for bad capacitors, but am not 100% clear on what I am looking for. I have been told that it would look like a leaked battery, but I see nothing on my MOBO that suggests any problems.
The progressive nature of the problem has me stumped. If it IS a bad mobo, would it progressively die like this? Is it possible one RAM died and progressively took the other one with it (seems highly unlikely).
All in all, I'm just trying to make sure I didn't miss anything simple before trashing the thing.
Any suggestions are MORE THAN WELCOME.
Specs:
Abit KG7 w/ Athlon T-bird 1200
1 Gig DDR Ram on 2 Dimms (Crucial)
GeForce2 MX
Note: I have not made any hardware or software changes recently. I have not flashed the Bios either.
In general, it started as random lockups or restarts, but very infrequent. I ran diagnostics on the RAM, HDD, heat levels, and system utilities with no problems indictated. In about 3 days, it progressed to the point that it won't even completely go through the BIOS. I know this is way simplified, but bear with me: I get the initial beep, the hard drive starts up, then stops...and nothing. Nothing on the screen either.
Here's what I've done so far...
--Tried a different power supply...no change
--Tried current power supply in different computer--worked fine
--Tried swapping HDD'S --no change
--Tried HDD in anther computer -- worked fine.
--Tried using only 1 Dimm (have 2), then swapped them, then tried both in reversed position, then back to original position, --no change.
I have looked for bad capacitors, but am not 100% clear on what I am looking for. I have been told that it would look like a leaked battery, but I see nothing on my MOBO that suggests any problems.
The progressive nature of the problem has me stumped. If it IS a bad mobo, would it progressively die like this? Is it possible one RAM died and progressively took the other one with it (seems highly unlikely).
All in all, I'm just trying to make sure I didn't miss anything simple before trashing the thing.
Any suggestions are MORE THAN WELCOME.
Specs:
Abit KG7 w/ Athlon T-bird 1200
1 Gig DDR Ram on 2 Dimms (Crucial)
GeForce2 MX
Note: I have not made any hardware or software changes recently. I have not flashed the Bios either.
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