LEDs and Fans on, no POST

[Maven07]

While Playing Lineage 2, system BSODed and restarted twice, I disabled auto restart and enabled a complete memory dump. Loaded L2 again and once again it crashed a few minutes into the game.

Got DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. (Cant remember the code that showed up. Think it was 0xD1, but I'm not sure anymore, didn't write it down at the time.) There was no other system file included in the BSOD.

Memory dump was at 76 when we had a blackout. I thought it would be alright, so I tried to turn it on when the power came back. All I got was black screen, no POST, no BIOS but LED lights and fans are on.

PC is about a year old. Everything is at stock settings. Been running smoothly for the whole year. Bought a new Video card, Inno3D 9600GT 512ddr3, 2.5 weeks ago, and been using it with L2 since with no problems. It just started crashing sunday. Was at a convention, so didn't have time to fix it until now.

System right now is breadboarded on my desk. Stripped down to just HSF and PSU. Gonna wait for advice from you guys.

CPU - Celeron D 420 1.6Ghz
Motherboard - Inno3D SL7N73VM (http://www.inno3d.com/products/motherboard/SL7N73VM.html)

RAM - Corsair 1GB PC2-5300 ValueSelect 5-5-5-15 (stock settings)
Video Card - Inno3D 9600GT 512DDR3 (stock settings)
Power Supply - iMaster Pro 550w (26A at +12v rail - minimum requirement for the 9600GT)

The PC was originally bought mostly for work and some video editting. The build wasn't really for gaming. Bought the vid card originally to play the AION Chinese CBT, but had no time. L2 was the only game I played on it.

I'm leaning towards a busted board or inadequate PSU, but it was running fine for 2.5 weeks, so I'm kinda waiting for recommendations or advise on how to fix it before I go buy new parts. The PSU is quite new. Just a month old, and the store said it was good enough for the 9600GT. And it was working like a charm the whole time.

Steps I tried to fix:

1. Strip down everything except for HSF and PSU.
2. Shorted the power on.
3. LEDs and Fans came on, no POST.
4. Shorted it off.
5. Plugged a system speaker into the JSPEAKER 4-pin set, the board doesn't have a built-in speaker. (Manual said this was only for the case internal speakers. But there isn't any POST speaker, so I kinda hoped it would work.) No beeps.

Should also note that I had checked the drivers with a free scan from Uniblue's Driver Scanner last friday, it said I was all up to date. Need advice badly.

Thanks a lot.

 

[drunknmunkys]

Have you tried the PSU with another computer / another PSU with this computer? Just because the LEDs and fans come on doesnt mean there's enough power for the whole system.

 

[Maven07]

Nope. That's the only desktop I have. I guess I could borrow a volt-ampere tester tomorrow. I mainly use laptops since I travel a lot. Have 3 of 'em at the moment.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

This could also be a RAM issue. BSOD's are very often caused by faulty RAM. Is your 1GB of RAM 2 512MB sticks? If it is, I would try each RAM stick by itself in each RAM slot. The "READ before posting about boot problems!" sticky at the top of the forum has a lot more troubleshooting ideas.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems

 

[jsc]

If you have, or can borrow, a digital multimeter, you can check the main outputs of the PSU. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires should be 5 volts. Orange wires should be 3.3 volts. The gray wire must go to around 5 volts within a half second after you press the case power switch.

With only CPU and HSF and the system speaker installed, when you turn on the PSU, you should hear a series of long beeps. This is telling you that you have no memory installed. If you get silence, either PSU, motherboard, or CPU is bad.

 

[Maven07]

@shortstuff_mt - nope. its only 1 stick of 1GB ram. And I did try all those things at the READ. Wouldn't have posted if any of 'em worked. xD

@jsc - yeah, I'm currently looking for one to borrow. Thanks for the info. Problem is, the board has no default system speaker or a slot for it, so I sort of jury-rigged one onto the slot for the case speakers (which didn't work or probably was working and telling me the one or all 3 are dead). Which is what's giving me the headache. As I can't be sure which is really faulty, all I can really do is get the multimeter.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Are you getting anything at all on the monitor?

 

[Maven07]

@HundredIslandsBoy - nope. monitor is dead.

I emailed the board's tech support and they gave me a BIOS update... really helpful... xD I told them I couldn't even POST and that the PC wasn't booting up.

 

[drunknmunkys]

I'm still betting it's your PSU. Enough power to light LEDs but not to power the mobo. I've never heard of that brand, and I can't find it on newegg: that's not a good sign.

Here's a good guide to quality PSUs if that does turn out to the problem.

 

[CeruLucifus]

Black screen with only fans running? That sounds to me more like the video card or possibly the motherboard.

You said you got the PSU in a store only a month ago? Take it back as a return and act dumb. "You said it would work and it isn't." They might let you return it for credit or money back -- in which case get a name brand PSU with more 12V amperage, so you've ruled that out as a source of problems.

But what you really want is for them to test the PSU for you. If it tests out bad, see above -- exchange it for a good one.

And if they test it and it tests out okay, you know it's the motherboard or video card ... but don't stop there, try to talk to the tech support guy who does the testing. Ask him what it could be ... act smart or dumb depending on what gets you the most info.

Ideally, he will volunteer to let you bring in the system (or breadboarded system) and troubleshoot it for you. They ought to let him. If you have another bad component it's a chance for them to sell you more hardware.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I wouldn't be so fast to point at the GPU or motherboard. I've seen more "black screens" caused by RAM problems than anything else.

 

[drunknmunkys]

So we've narrowed it down to... RAM, PSU, CPU, MOBO. We're so helpful!

Since its only one stick do you have another you could try to see if that stick is bad? I'm guessing you don't or you would have tried that by now.

 

[Griffolion]

Should probably troubleshoot in order of components most likely to fail:

RAM: Get hold of a spare stick and swap it in, if it boots, your RAM is at fault, if not, keep going.

PSU: Get hold of a decent PSU, Corsair HX series is a solid choice. If problem is fixed then it was your PSU.

CPU: Get hold of a reference CPU, doesn't have to be anything special. Again, if it works with this reference CPU, then your old one was the culprit.

Mobo: This may be the most annoying 'get hold of' scenario, but if you can, try your current setup on another motherboard and if it AT LEAST posts, you know it was your Mobo.

If none of these work, then you best find a God that fixes computers

 

[Maven07]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I'll try those when I get home. Currently on a business trip. Will report when I get back.

 

[Maven07]

Ok, i got the multimeter and so far, the PSU seems to be the culprit. Its only generating 7.19v on the 12v wire. Everything else on it checked out ok.

Hopefully this is the problem. I'll be getting a new PSU this week, if it doesn't fix it, LOL, might as well get a new board and RAM. xD

Thanks for all the help!

- resolved.. hopefully xD -