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Computer Will Not Boot

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11 replies

by daz'n'ash 1 view

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I have a computer given to me that has a mysterious issue. Try to boot, no post beep, black screen nothing to be seen at all, not even a flicker. I was told by the previous owner that all they did was to plug in a printer to USB port at the back, tried to install using proper driver, then the computer locked up and was unresponsive. The reset button was pressed and from that point, nothing but black screen. All the fans and hard drive spin.

Have tried:
New powwer supply
clearing the CMOS
reseating the RAM and CPU
new RAM

11 replies

by nexs

Another monitor?
Another video card?

by oh smeg

Replacing the BIOS Battery?

When they go below 3 V DC they can cause the system to hang and become unresponsive.

If that does nothing try reseating any Plug In Cards particularly any Video Cards and double check the ATX Connectors. Especially any Supplementary 12 V DC Plugs on the M'Board.

Col

by dmolter

How old is the mo-board?
I've seen many board that run hot and shorten the life of the components on the board. The easiest tell-tale sign is bulging, split or leaking electrolytic caps that are usually near the CPU. They are generally 1000uf~3300uf. If they're bad, the board is toast. It will power up, but the CPU won't respond.

by robo_dev

For whatever reason, plugging the USB cable into the system killed the motherboard.

If you:

- clear/reset the bios
-unplug everything except the processor (including memory)
- remove the motherboard from the case
- plug in the power supply and short the power pins on the mobo.

If the motherboard does not start giving you beep codes at this point, it is a dead duck. Some mobos also have a status LED on the board itself that should go green.

by oh smeg

Have you looked at the M'Board?

I pulled the cover off a desktop where the user had plugged in a USB Printer and didn't bother going any further. There as a big black mark on the M'Board that had taken out one of the 2 USB Controllers. Seems that they had a shorted USB Lead and the moment that they plugged it in they blew that USB Channel.

Col

by daz'n'ash

Yep, Have seen that happen before. However, that is not the problem here. Looks like the board is dead. I will try a different CPU to be sure, but I don't hold much hope for it.

by prrethish

Remove all u r connections except keyboard & monitor
also remove the reset & power switch connection from the case to the mother board
try power on the system manually by shorting the power on switch in the mother board

by daz'n'ash

Yep, did that. I think it is time to give up. The board is dead. Thanks to all for your help :)

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