Legit Reviews

Ive had my computer for 2-3 years, running without incident until a few days ago. I had it on, playing some mp3's, left the room, and when I came back, there was a blank screen and no sound. At first I thought it was a random crash, although it had never done anything like this before, so I rebooted. Nothing. The fans would spin, harddrive revved up, but nothing on the screen. I'm not a very technical when it comes to computers, so I called a friend to seek advice. He told me to take stuff out, reseat the ram, etc. Nothing. So figuring it was the mobo, I ordered a new one, which I just got done installing. Still nothing. Here are the specs:

P4 2.6 Ghz
1gb Ram 2700 (?)
Old mobo - soyo p4x900 dragon lite
new mobo - msi PM8M-V
radeon 9700 pro
2 hd's, cant remember brand

Like I said I'm not very technical, but I think I can install a mobo, but the new one didn't do anything, so I'm guessing that rules the mobo out. Which I guess leaves the cpu? I left it running for about 5-10 min after installing the new mobo, then turned it off, took off the HSF, and the cpu was cool to the touch. Does this mean the cpu is fried? I would appreciate any help and advice.

You said the fans spin? Do they spin when using the old new motherboard?
If they do, then I think the prob is with the GFX card!
Normally if the CPU or Ram is dead, then squat happens....

Do you hear beeps?

Also make sure the GFX card has the addition floppy power connector attached.

The RAM.....is it 1 or two sticks? If it's two, test with 1 stick....and in each ram slot.

it sounds to me like it's cpu's problem. I had similar problem in the past where the cpu just died and I turn it on, nothing on the screen. Try to take the cpu out and reset the cmos, then put the cpu in and apply thermalpaste, if you still see black screen, then I would say it's time to replace it.

Yes, everything spins and sounds normal, minus any beeping noises, but honestly I can't remember if even beeped when it was working. But I have headphones hooked up to see if windows starts up. I'm curious to why you think it might be the GX card, because I had music playing when it crashed, and I if it was the card, wouldnt the system have kept running, minus the display?

I reset the cmos twice, once on new board, once on old. At least I think I did, never did it before, but still nothing. I mean this is a brand new mobo and it didn't work. I'll try the ram thing.

A motherboard must have gfx,cpu and mem to boot.
If the gfx is dead, then you get beeps.
if its mem or cpu, nothing happens.

how many beeps do you hear......they tell you whats wrong!!!

That's what I was saying, I can't remember if it ever beeped or not. But it definitely doesn't beep now. And if the gfx card was dead, wouldnt it still go to windows, and I would hear the windows startup?

tator wrote:................if the gfx card was dead, wouldnt it still go to windows, and I would hear the windows startup?

no....it wouldnt boot

does any lights or fans come on now?

I tried an old gfx card, as well as trying each stick of ram by themselves. Same results, fans spin, leds light up on case, nothing on screen. Any chance it could be HD related, otherwise I'm probably going to Fry's tommorow to buy a new cpu :/

if uve tried all that, chances are its the CPU.

Dead HDD still will allow the system to boot, just wont detect a HDD!

id say just go to fry's

tator wrote:I tried an old gfx card, as well as trying each stick of ram by themselves. Same results, fans spin, leds light up on case, nothing on screen. Any chance it could be HD related, otherwise I'm probably going to Fry's tommorow to buy a new cpu :/

Make sure the mobo speaker is enabled (if equipped with a speaker). I'm not familiar with that mobo but there is usu a jumper for this. It could be the CPU if you have tried another GFX card. Have you pulled the cpu and had a look at at? If it died, most likely the cooler you were using quit unless you were overvolting or something. Keep this in mind if you stick a new chip in there.

I tried finding any markings on the cpu to see if it was burnt or anything, but couldn't, and I don't overclock. I also have a big copper HSF on there, although it was extremely dusty when I took it off. Maybe that had something to do with it. The funny thing is, I'm stuck with the new mobo since all the new P4's are now 800mhz FSB, which my old mobo doesnt support. I'll let ya'll know when I get my new cpu. Thanks for all the help so far.

well, it could happen. The one that died on me was a p3 cpu that out of no where when I turn it off the night before works fine but the next day, it won't boot at all:(. It was OEM cpu and I think poor psu may have cause the problem.

Good news: I got a p4 3.2 (from a 2.6) from frys for 60 bux.

Bad news: Still a blank screen...

I guess the only other thing to replace is the power supply. Is it possible that it could just stop working like that, but still have enough juice to power led's and fans, but not enough to boot up the computer? Guess I'm going back to fry's tommorow :/

It was the power supply. Thanks for all the help.

So the other cpu and motherboard work fine with the new psu? Looks like you might have two systems now.

good to hear that you got it fixed.

One of the best things to have is a power supply tester. You can pick one up at the store for around $12. You just plug your PS to it and if all the lights don't light up then the PS is bad. When power supplies go bad they can mimic problems from other componets.