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  • #2117160

    Could this be a CPU issue?

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    by maggyver ·

    Hi…troubleshooting a system and have come up against a wall. Hope you can help.

    Celeron 533 (PPGA)w/cooling fan, Tyan S1854 mobo, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, 300W PS in mini-ATX case, Stealth III S540 32MB AGP video, 8GB Quantum Bigfoot HD, Win98SE, PS/2 mouse & keybd, 48X CDROM.

    Trouble began when system would not complete boot. Powered on but no display and no HD or FDD access. Discovered that system would boot normally as long as keybd was disconnected. Cleared CMOS, no help. Contacted Tyan who offered to repair mobo, presuming it was a short somewhere. Board was returned, same issue. Contacted Tyan AGAIN, technician explained it was the chipset located very near the AGP & PCI slots which had pins touching whenever card was installed. I requested that the board be completely replaced with a new one to alleviate problem. Tyan tech agreed, board was returned AGAIN. When board was shipped back, same problem, and it was the old board (not a new one as requested) so I opted to try buyinga new mobo and to deal w/Tyan customer service later.

    Purchased Iwill VD133Pro mobo. Set up system, now system won’t boot normally even with keyboard disconnected. Same problem, semi-boot but no disk access. Replaced power supply with a known good one – no help. Removed all PCI cards from system & replaced AGP video with a known good one – no help. Replaced AGP card with PCI video – no help.

    Since I’m not getting any disk access, my question now is whether the CPU or RAM could be malfunctioning, and if these symptoms are indicative of this. I’m planning on grabbing a CPU from a local shop to try and replace to see if that works, but I wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone has a different approach to suggest.

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    • #3671406

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by dmiles ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      If the board is a slot 1,make sure that it is seated properly in the adapter and that the motherboard is not grounding out.
      Check the memory to insure that it is compatible with your system some pc133 will work with pc100 but is has to be enabled thru the bios.

      • #3671402

        Could this be a CPU issue?

        by maggyver ·

        In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

        CPU is PPGA, as I stated. Memory is compatible and was working fine for 4 months before this problem arose. Thanks anyway.

    • #3671398

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by csmith ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      You may have a virus called “The Monk”.
      It kills the system as soon as the boot sector is read.
      This happens so quickly that it is virtually undetectable.
      WARNING! This is a retro virus. I tried Norton against it. The Monk erased Norton.
      I had to zero fill and low level format the hard drive to get rid of it.
      Try booting on an old 300-500 Meg hard drive that is known good.
      If this is the problem, throw out any floppies you have used on the system since the problem started.
      Regards , Chris

      • #3671393

        Could this be a CPU issue?

        by maggyver ·

        In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

        That sounds great, if only I could get the system to even boot completely…I don’t get any display or BIOS information. As I said, no disk access. From what I’ve just read at the SARC, the Monk virus can be fixed by booting to a clean floppy – which I am unable to do. Thanks anyway!

    • #3669360

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by csmith ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      If you are not getting the Video Card BIOS screen, you are not even partially booting.
      The Video BIOS is first. This is not a virus, if this is the case. You must have a very fundamental problem, such as a loose ground wire on the wall socket, bad CPU, etc. Bad RAM will not normally stop the Video BIOS display.
      I would test the cards you removed in a running system. If some of them are bad, you are getting surges from the wall socket or telephone line, or the plug has a bad ground, etc. . (I am assuming you had a MODEM installed.)
      You can check the wall plug with a multimeter.
      I would also check the connector to the motherboard. If you have a loose pin in the power supply cable, you will also get this no Video BIOS. (Likelyhood about 2%.)
      Regards, Chris

      • #3683633

        Could this be a CPU issue?

        by maggyver ·

        In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

        It turned out to be a bad CPU. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with suggestions.

    • #3670874

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by zackstevens ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      One grounding problem you could be having is if your motherboard is one that needs washers around the screws holding it down if you leave them off you can get problems like you are talking about. Check the book your Motherboard came with it should tell you if you need them or not.

    • #3670828

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by shanghai sam ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      I would try to unplugging your cdrom, hard drive, and floppy drives individually. I have experienced this problem and have upgraded everything else in the computer and still would get no video on cold boot. I found it to be bad power in my floppy drive, but it could be any old component in the system.

    • #3855879

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by shanghai sam ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      The simple volt/ohm meter for 9 bucks from Radio Shack is a great troubleshooting tool for this type of problem. Start at the wall socket and work through the chain to the connector on the motherboard, you should find the bad reading.
      Regards, Chris

    • #3683632

      Could this be a CPU issue?

      by maggyver ·

      In reply to Could this be a CPU issue?

      This question was closed by the author

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