Computer Gurus- need your help

[FreekShow]

Ok, im on a separate computer right now from the one im about to talk about.

I was in my room the other day and my comp just shut off for no reason. IT had only been on for about 10 mintues. So I hit the main power switch and let it sit for about a minute and then turned the comp back on. Well the fan would only kick on for about a half a second then shut right back off. So i took apart my case and made sure of all the connections and then blew out everything with air. I put the case back together and the comp then turned on and ran fine. The only problem is that the monitor, keyboard, and mouse will not work now. The comp has an onboard graphics card but i am currently using a 64mb card that the monitor was plugged into for about 2 weeks with no problem. Well when I unplug that card, the monitor turns on and goes completely white or it says check connection cable. It does this for both the vid card port and the onboards graphic card port. I have taken the battery out on the motherboard, reseated the CPU, and everything else I could think of. ANyone have any ideas why my monitor, keyboard, and mouse arent working?

[Ralph]

are they plugged in? j/k

Your motherboard could be fried.

also check your memory, take it out and plug it back in.

Also does it just turn on and do this or does it turn on for a second and then shut of again real quick?

[Titanium]

Maybe the rails (sp) went out on it:( that's all i can think of other than the motherboard could be fried like stated before.

[FreekShow]

the comp turns on and the fan runs completely fine.....it runs full time. Im thinkin it might be the motherboard too.

[MOFO]

Hmmm....

Could be a cooling fan that failed, then the CPU fried if the bios did not detect it and shut it down. Or just like everyone else said, the motherboard fried.

How about providing some spec's of your computer. Processor type, motherboard type....etc. The more details the better.

[FreekShow]

http://www.xoticpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=1261&wconfigure=yes

thoise are the specs, everything is the most basic except im running a 64mb vid card and windows xp home.

[Titanium]

I was thinkin again and wat could happend was the rails went out causing the computer to take in to much power than its spose too causing the computer to fry the mobo. is this computer one u built yourself or is it a dell, gateway, hp etc...?

[MOFO]

Well, I'm not familiar with your motherboard... but if it was my PC, I would guess motherboard is bad.

Start pulling devices out...swap memory if possible.... try to eliminate everything you can.

[300ex13]

i had a similar problem with my Xbox...as far as i know it is a term called fragging (on xbox it means flashing red and green), which could also tell you that the mobo is a goner...when you are working on the inside of the computer make sure your working not on carpet but on a nice hard surface( i.e. hardwood, tile etc.) and ground yourseldf the the metal casing on the inside of the case so as not to ESD the components. but from what i have experienced and have heard of this problem is most likely the mobo. hope i helped just a little bit

[ballisticpb]

before you replace your motherboard... i would remove your power supply and take it to a shop to get tested.. they are more likely to go out the a mobo. If one of the voltages are wrong the system might still be enough power to run fans and lights but not enough to cycle the mobo... and a new power supply is 40 as to a new mobo around 100-150...

good luck and let me know what works

[omaits]

I would try updating/resetting the BIOS before you do anything else. If you look in your case, you will see what looks like a huge watch battery. Take that out for about 2 mins and put it back in. If that doesnt work, download the newest BIOS for yoru mother board you can find and try that. If those both dont work, try swapping ram with a stick from another machine.

If neither of these work then it is time to look at replacing the motherboard or ram.

Also, when you are doing diagnosis like this, it is a good idea to remove all non-essential parts. (Auxilary graphics card, usb mouse/keyboard (use ps2), modem, any pci cards, etc...)

[ballisticpb]

Originally posted by omaits
I would try updating/resetting the BIOS before you do anything else. If you look in your case, you will see what looks like a huge watch battery. Take that out for about 2 mins and put it back in. If that doesnt work, download the newest BIOS for yoru mother board you can find and try that. If those both dont work, try swapping ram with a stick from another machine.

the last thing i would do is flash the BIOS. if any thing goes wrong and it was not the mobo you will have to buy a new one... there is no way to fix a bad bios flash.

[omaits]

the last thing i would do is flash the BIOS. if any thing goes wrong and it was not the mobo you will have to buy a new one... there is no way to fix a bad bios flash.

What are you talking about? All that does is reset the BIOS, not erase it.

[ballisticpb]

pulling the battery resets it...... if you download and update you are overwriting the old firmware. if there is an issue half way thru the overwrite then there will be no way to recover it without replacing the board or bios chip.

[omaits]

pulling the battery resets it...... if you download and update you are overwriting the old firmware. if there is an issue half way thru the overwrite then there will be no way to recover it without replacing the board or bios chip.

Yeah, your right. You might as well just throw the motherboard away instead of trying to fix it. :rolleyes:

Here is a link on how to recover a partial/failed upgrade...

http://www.pcmech.com/show/bios/81/2/

[JLanphear]

As the others said it is more than likely a motherboard issue, however I suppose a bad power supply can do funny things too. If you have a spare computer you can try swapping the power supply over to the broken one (there are a few different types of power supplies, I didn't look at your system specs). That's one of the more simple things you could try.

However bad RAM or a bad processor can do the same thing. If you have two or more sticks of RAM in there you can try taking one or more out to see if it fixes the problem (and swap it so you have tried every combination).

Since your computer is not getting a video signal I would put my money on it either being the motherboard, processor, or RAM though.

If it were me I would swap the processor and RAM with other parts I have lying around, but not sure if you have access to other things.