My computer had been having issues with the video for the past week, now when I go to turn it on it gives me nothing, stays on for about 3 seconds, and turns off, then tries to turn on again, lasts for 3 seconds, and shuts off again. No signal to monitor, no post noises.

I pulled the power supply from my other PC and put it in and the computer still wouldn't boot.

Any ideas of what I need to replace to get my PC running again?

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 6:19 PM. Reason : ]

7/12/2010 6:16:50 PM

take the video card out and see if it boots with just cpu & ram
look for blown caps on motherboard.

7/12/2010 6:25:16 PM

It has on board video, I took out the ram individually and could not get it to boot with either in there.

Starting to think motherboardish. What does a blown cap look like?

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 6:40 PM. Reason : ]

7/12/2010 6:39:40 PM

most likely bulging top:



if you don't see any, than it could be cpu, if you can swap out for a known working cpu, that would be next to try

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 6:47 PM. Reason : .]

7/12/2010 6:47:00 PM

Muchas gracias, will take a look around and see what I can find.

Kinda wanting to upgrade to a quad core anyways...

7/12/2010 7:20:57 PM

Looks like I have a couple of capacitors with bulging tops, although not terribly dramatically.

New MB time I imagine.

7/12/2010 7:54:01 PM

one last option is to put a speaker on the MB to see if it beeps for error codes:


do the HDD's spin up and do the fans spin at all?

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 9:23 PM. Reason : /]

7/12/2010 9:19:59 PM

PSU and CPU fans both spin up. I haven't heard the HDD spinning up and I don't remember seeing the HDD light come on when I was trying to power it up earlier. I disconnected the HD though in an attempt to narrow down the problem.

I've found a new MOBO that won't force me to upgrade to DDR3 ram for it on NewEgg, so I probably will just go that route. Any other ideas for me first though?

Replacing http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500031

With http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135233

For my Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9Ghz

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 9:36 PM. Reason : ]

7/12/2010 9:27:03 PM

I think his processor has over heated once and now he has no thermal paste on it and it boots over heats and shuts down to protect itself.

Being on board video... video would heat up the processor early too.

these are my thoughts good luck pruf

but yeah new mobo and processor is always a fix but thermal paste between the processor and heatsink may fix it too.

7/12/2010 10:08:42 PM

Okie, I can get some new thermal paste tomorrow and see if that fixes things for me.

7/12/2010 10:20:18 PM

i'd be surprised if it was the CPU overheating. typically they can POST just fine even without thermal paste and second, it would be hard pressed (maybe sans HSF) to overheat in 3 seconds. also CPU's just don't die that easily unless it's a bent pin or overheating for months on end before they typically just go kaput. but hey, it's $5 to try paste vs. $35 for new mobo, so worth a try.

also the motherboard you own, a couple reviews talk about power issues, no posting, no solid caps, only supports up to 65W TDP (which tells me it can't handle much heat or power), etc... just sounds like a poorly manf. motherboard.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 11:47 PM. Reason : ,]

7/12/2010 11:43:46 PM

i've had a couple of amd based systems overheat before making it to the windows screen and a new heatsink & paste fixed both which ran for 1.5 more years for mine (still runs just don't use it) and 3 years for my parents... i'm not saying this IS the problem but it could be and its a cheap fix so why not try.

I'm no computer genius and i have no idea how they really work but both of mine had the past turn to a chalk like substance.

7/12/2010 11:53:47 PM

you have a zotac motherboard. replace that shit for $35 and consider yourself lucky.

7/13/2010 12:27:53 AM

sounds like its broken

7/13/2010 10:04:12 AM

Ain't got no gas in it.

7/14/2010 8:55:47 PM

UPDATE:

New motherboard came in on Thursday. I installed it Friday night. Shit is good again.

7/17/2010 8:19:05 PM

yay!

7/17/2010 11:45:26 PM