Computer not booting

[Iphis]

Basically ive had this proble before but a couple restarts seemed to do the trick.... but not today, today my computer is point blank refusing to start.

I turn the power supply on hit the start button and all the fans spin up, usually on a normal boot then then spin down and the screen turns on with the abit64 logo. But for some reason this isnt happening, the fans spin up and just stay spinning.... doesnt seem to be anything coming from the hard drive, im not sure if its the hard drive or maybe the gfx card but the screen doesnt come on and nothing else happens. Any input would be greatfully recieved.

Thanks in Advance

Iphis

p.s oh and this computer is less than a year old

 

[Chronictank]

can you give your system spec, more importantly
Motherboard
CPU
Memory (RAM)
Graphics Card
Power Supply

 

[Iphis]

Motherboard : Abit AN8, nForce4, Socket-939
Cpu: AMD athlon 64 3700+
Ram:Corsair Value S PC3200 DDR-Dimm 1024mb
Gfx: Powercolor Radeon X850XT 256MB
PowerSupply: Forton/Source Powersupply ATX 400W
Harddrive: Samsung Spinpoint P80SD 160GB 7200RPM SATA28MB

 

[Darzil]

Something that sometimes works, and seems miraculous when it does :

Leave your PC plugged in at the wall, but switch it off at the wall. (This has the effect of leaving the earth connected, without letting power come through).

Switch on the PC. (It may try to start, but quickly stop, you have just discharged some static electricity and some capacitors).

Switch the PC on at the wall.

Switch on the PC, you may now find it works.

Darzil

 

[SkarIronfist]

Are you getting any beeps?

 

[Chronictank]

Motherboard : Abit AN8, nForce4, Socket-939
Cpu: AMD athlon 64 3700+
Ram:Corsair Value S PC3200 DDR-Dimm 1024mb
Gfx: Powercolor Radeon X850XT 256MB
PowerSupply: Forton/Source Powersupply ATX 400W
Harddrive: Samsung Spinpoint P80SD 160GB 7200RPM SATA28MB

Open up your case,
if i remember correctly the AN8 has a diagnostic LED which will give you a number code for the error you get.
Boot up your pc and see what number it stops at, this will give us a idea of what's going wrong.
Also is your computer overclocked?

Edit: found a pic

you see the LED panel on the bottom left, thats what will appear with numbers

 

[Svartmetall]

Like Skar said, are you getting any beeps at all...? If so, what pattern of beeps?

You say you're just getting the fans when you power up, but what is the amber HDD LED doing - is it off, flickering, or solidly on?

Check that your graphics card is seated properly in its slot (with all this heat it could be suffering from the dreaded 'creep'), and check that the fan on the card spins up when you power up the PC.

Long shot - remove every cable from the back of the tower, including the power, then hold the power button in on the front of the case for about 20 seconds. This does an ATX reset on the motherboard. Then reconnect everything and try booting again.

Long shot #2 - if you have a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, unplug them form the back of the tower and very gently touch the pins inside the PS/2 plugs with your fingertip to earth them (static charge can build up on the keyboard and/or mouse and prevent boot), then reconnect and try again.


Let me know what happens, I'll keep an eye on this thread. ATM it looks most like a GFX card or mobo problem...if you're not getting any POST screens at all and no beeps (if the GFX card had died but the mobo was healthy, I'd usually expect it to generate a POST beep code; 1 long and 2 short beeps is common for GFX card problems), then I'm slightly more inclined to think mobo than GFX card.

 

[Cylian]

hit DEL (or sometimes F2) to enter the bios and turn that splash screen off, maybe you get to see an error message then.

or remove the battery, turn the PSU off and wait a minute, then put the battery back in place and see what happens if you turn it back on.

 

[Svartmetall]

hit DEL (or sometimes F2) to enter the bios and turn that splash screen off, maybe you get to see an error message then.

He said he's not seeing the usual Abit POST screen, though.

 

[Irksole]

had the same problem like 20 mins ago.
U live in england by any chance? im sure its the current heat weve been having thats doint it. Just opened up the side of my PC, got a fan on and hey presto PC fires up. U myt wanna try this if the above dint help.

 

[Iphis]

Erm i didnt have any beeps to begin with, then i opened up the case and removed the hard drive.... replaced it after cleaning out the inside.

Then after the next boot there was one long beep for aboue 3-5 seconds.

I unplugged it all again and then the fans span up and nothing from the hard drive, no noise and theres no flashing from the hard drive flashing light.

I may be heat but im not really sure thats the problem, im outta town for a couple days so will see if the heat dies down and the computer comes back to life.

Thanks for replies, Iphis

 

[Iphis]

Open up your case,
if i remember correctly the AN8 has a diagnostic LED which will give you a number code for the error you get.
Boot up your pc and see what number it stops at, this will give us a idea of what's going wrong.
Also is your computer overclocked?

Yea thats my mother board its not over clocked and the screen isnt even coming on just the onlight is flashing as the computer isnt connected to the monitor atall.

 

[Cylian]

a long beep usually means there's a problem with the CPU, according to that link it could be a DRAM problem though:

ABIT Beep Codes

 

[Iphis]

Well ive tried everything i know how to do including cleaning and replacing everything but still im no better off, there are no longer any beeps coming from mobo when i boot, the fans just spin up and nothing.

Really dont know what to do about this, the leds read " 0.4. " but i cant seem to find out what that means, hope someone who knows more about this kinda thing can help.

Thanks again, Iphis

 

[Chronictank]

there is good and bad news when it comes to the 0.4. error,
the good news, your CPU is probably fine.
The bad news is that the 0.4. error is usually a sign that your RAM DIMM, or Gfx card memory has gone

unplug all peripherals (hard drives, cd drives, fdd drive, sound card, gfx card etc etc), and leave only the CPU (& heatsink ofc) and 1 Ram Stick in the slot
You should see the post code stop at a code starting with 7.
If this happens restart the machine a few times and make sure it stops at this code every time.
Note that the CMOS may be cleared whenever the hardware is changed (if i remember correctly)

pull out all the ram sticks except 1
then power the pc on and see if you get as far as the POST
if that doesnt work put the ram in the other slot, turn on the PC and see if it gets as far as the POST.
If that doesnt work repeat the above with a different RAM stick (asuming you have more than 1)

If all goes well plug in the Gfx card and see what happens.

If this all is going ok start putting things in 1 by 1 until you get the error code again in the following order:
RAM sticks
PCI Cards
HDD
Other devices

Good luck