defective main board or cpu ?

[Robert L.]

Hi,

One of my computer is down right now. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong
with it.
It can only be an hardware issue, since it doesn't even POST.

I remove the Sound Card, Ethernet card. I replace the video card with a
known working one. The memory have been swap / remove / exchange.

These part are then not faulty.

The only defective part can be:
Power supply
Main board
CPU

I can test the power supply, but i'm certain it is not the problem, power
seem to be correct.

Here's what the computer do:
I press Power, the power supply make is usual sound (the fan is running).
One of the led (a green led) on the case (the power on led) is not powered.
The red one (the hard drive access led) is powered until the HD stop
seeking.
There's no POST (no beep), there's nothing on the screen.

I don't want to buy both CPU and Main Board, if this happen to someone here,
can you reply and tell which part was defective.

Main Board: Gigabyte GA-7ixe4
CPU: AMD 850 Mhz

This computer is 2 year old. No defective part was remove. I only add
memory, but it's 6 month old. And it work perfectly, and flawless until 1
week ago. This is not a brand, it's a part by part computer.

Thanks for any help.

Robert

 

[philo]

Hi,

One of my computer is down right now. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong
with it.
It can only be an hardware issue, since it doesn't even POST.

I remove the Sound Card, Ethernet card. I replace the video card with a
known working one. The memory have been swap / remove / exchange.

These part are then not faulty.

The only defective part can be:
Power supply
Main board
CPU

I can test the power supply, but i'm certain it is not the problem, power
seem to be correct.

Here's what the computer do:
I press Power, the power supply make is usual sound (the fan is running).
One of the led (a green led) on the case (the power on led) is not powered.
The red one (the hard drive access led) is powered until the HD stop
seeking.
There's no POST (no beep), there's nothing on the screen.

I don't want to buy both CPU and Main Board, if this happen to someone here,
can you reply and tell which part was defective.

Main Board: Gigabyte GA-7ixe4
CPU: AMD 850 Mhz

try resetting the cmos if your board has a reset jumper

 

[Robert L.]

try resetting the cmos if your board has a reset jumper

Already done. I forget to write it in the previous post.

Thanks.

 

[philo]

Already done. I forget to write it in the previous post.

inspect the cpu with a magnifying glass to see if it's burned

if it;s not burned, then you might as well just flip a coin

 

[kony]

inspect the cpu with a magnifying glass to see if it's burned

if it;s not burned, then you might as well just flip a coin

Hardly, motherboards fail about 20X as often as CPUs so long as there
isn't something obviously wrong with that CPU like overvoltage, failed
fan, heatsink fell off, etc.

Dave

 

[Robert L.]

Thanks,
the coin is flipped, and the mainboard have lost.
So i'll buy a new board tomorow. The CPU is a 850Mhz, and it's set to 850
Mhz.
I've never done any overclocking...

I hope this is the problem and i hope that my retailer have some Socket A
board available.

I write back tomorow after the swap.

 

[-= Ratz O. Fratzo =-]

Thanks,
the coin is flipped, and the mainboard have lost.
So i'll buy a new board tomorow. The CPU is a 850Mhz, and it's set to 850
Mhz.
I've never done any overclocking...

I hope this is the problem and i hope that my retailer have some Socket A
board available.

I write back tomorow after the swap.

I have no idea what your budget is, but you may want to consider
this...

You can buy a trailing edge Athlon XP processor to go with your new
board for $50. An XP 1800+ is quite a leap in processing power from
an 850. Socket A mobos can be had for $50-75. If a local guy can't
give you those parts for those prices, you may want to order them over
the net. Saving $30-50 for the same parts is worth the wait.






*´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> Ratz O. Fratzo

 

[Robert L.]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

The problem with the athlon XP, is that i need DDR memory module, my PC133
won't work. I currently have 512 Meg.
Right now, my system is
850 Mhz AMD
512 Meg DIMM PC133

If i get the 1800 Mhz, how much memory module should i buy to have at least
the same power?
i'm running Windows XP, Sims, Sims City Rush Hour, Visual C++, Etc..
If you say i will get the same performance with only 126 Meg, i'll probably
do this.

Thanks

Robert.

 

[-= Ratz O. Fratzo =-]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

The problem with the athlon XP, is that i need DDR memory module, my PC133
won't work. I currently have 512 Meg.
Right now, my system is
850 Mhz AMD
512 Meg DIMM PC133

If i get the 1800 Mhz, how much memory module should i buy to have at least
the same power?
i'm running Windows XP, Sims, Sims City Rush Hour, Visual C++, Etc..
If you say i will get the same performance with only 126 Meg, i'll probably
do this.

Yeah, the memory slipped my mind (there's a pun in there somewhere).

Personally, I'd want at least 256. That's another $50. Down the road
you could add another 256. But you're looking at $150 to do the whole
thing. But consider this. Should you decide to upgrade in six months
or a year, that mobo you bought to save the PC133 will be a door stop
to the new system. If it were me, I'd find a way to beg or borrow the
cash to get a new CPU, mobo and memory. That would leave me with
options in the future. PC133 is a dead end street.






*´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> Ratz O. Fratzo

 

[Robert L.]

Hi,

I have enough money to buy for 300$ in part. But i'm planing on doing a trip
to NY city next weekend, i'll buy clothes, have fun, etc... (should spent
250$ or more)
I have to pay more than 300$ for snow tyre. (I live in Montreal, there's
already some snow here). BTW, these amount are in US currency. So if i spend
too much in computer, my car won't be safe, my clothes will be old, and i
won't have fun.

You see....
But you are right. And the worst, is i can not wait more for the system,
everyone at home are depress because they can not play on their favorite
game.

The computer i use now is a low end system: Celeron 533, 512 Meg ram with a
3d Prophet 4500 (it really sucks, i need a good video card, Can not play
Grand Theft Auto, Vice City, it's too damn slow)

Thanks

(Anyway, i think i'll wait my next pay for winter tyre, so i may be safe on
money)

 

[kony]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

The problem with the athlon XP, is that i need DDR memory module, my PC133
won't work. I currently have 512 Meg.
Right now, my system is
850 Mhz AMD
512 Meg DIMM PC133

If i get the 1800 Mhz, how much memory module should i buy to have at least
the same power?
i'm running Windows XP, Sims, Sims City Rush Hour, Visual C++, Etc..
If you say i will get the same performance with only 126 Meg, i'll probably
do this.

Thanks

Robert.

Insufficient memory will make any system slow down a LOT, dependant on
the hard drive speed as a swap file. The faster memory speed and CPU
can't subsitute for insufficient memory, you'd want at least 384MB,
but practically 512MB is a nice round number.

If you're not going to overclock the system and can accept a ~4%
performance loss, just get some basic PC2100 memory... for example
Officemax and Staples both have deals going this week for 256MB of
PC2100 for $20-30. That memory may not be the best for an nForce2
chipset motherboard, but a KT400 or KT600 board is almost the same
performance, still far far faster than your current box (was), could
save a few bucks there.

You could also sell the CPU (as-is) and the PC133 memory on ebay or
wherever, to recoup some of the upgrade costs.


Dave

 

[Robert L.]

Hi,

I could not buy any main board for a 850 Mhz.
So i buy these 3 part:
Asus A7V8X-X (integerated Sound and Lan)
2400+ AMD Athlon XP
256 Meg 333

Now it's running, some problem with the USB (my mouse doesn't want to work
correctly) and the sound driver is not installed. Both problem will be fixe
today.

Thanks for your help.

Robert