Fried Motherboard?

[sonncha]

Hi,

I'm having some trouble with my desktop as it won't power on for longer than 10 seconds : the fans start up, the POST beeps, but the monitor won't power on. Shortly after both the DVD drives power on, the computer seems to struggle and shuts down.

I've had similar problems before and it was usually because of some heating problem with the processor (intel dual core E6600), but I always managed to fix things pretty simply. In fact, it was clearly an overheating problem before since windows would start loading but then crash. I could also go into the BIOS setup if I wanted to check the CPU temp (which was always high...). This is because I have had problems with my heatsink as one its four pins would sometimes loosen up for some reason (manufacturing problem maybe?).

This time around though, nothing seems to help: I've cleaned the cpu and heatsink and added new paste, made sure the heatsink was tightly in place and everything, but nothing gives (I've re-done this 5 times in a row in case I was being a klutz, but in vain, and I'm running out of paste!).

In any case, I don't really know if the problem is my CPU or my motherboard, but I don't think it's the PSU. I've got a good 600 watts OCZ, but I can't test it since I don't have a multimeter.

Help?

[InspectahACE]

hmmm...well...i would think it could be 1 of 4 things(or all 4 j/k thats ABSOLUTE worst case scenario )...of course the first thing i would think would be the motherboard..2nd could be the cpu..motherboard did beep for ya..now the 3rd thing may hurt(depending on how much paid for it)..it could also be just the video card...lastly which i don't think but is possible...your ram...so I would try(if you haven't yet) booting with just one stick of ram(assuming you have more than just one stick) if possible try another heatsink, if not another motherboard...i don't think its the power supply either..but then again who knows...if the heatsink wasn't on right, it should still boot..even into windows. just wont be for very long(in my experience anyway)..hell for $hit$ and giggles i would even look to make sure all the cables are plugged in right...i'm sure they are though..i found myself messing up in that department once in a while..i wouldn't worry too much about the video card unless you tried everything else and still having issues..in that event i would (if possible) plug the video card into another machine and try that and if it boots there...then of course the vid card is ok...well thats my 2 cents...im no expert just what ive seen in my experience..

[bubba]

Your vid card may have died. If you can't see anything on the monitor for the post then this may be the issue.

What board do you have? does it have on board video? if it does take out the card and hook into the on board video and try to boot.

Does the monitor wake up from sleep mode when the you power on the system?

[sonncha]

Ah... well I didn't have time to try any of that before my computer just decided to start working again... I have to admit I'm releived, but I'm still worried as to why it wasn't powering up for two whole days. Could it still be something that has to do with my motherboard? I'm 99% sure my vid card is A-Ok.

[Methious]

Some times it's just a seating problem. Turn it off, open the side, re-seat all the cards and memory, check all the cables and make sure their tight. If the video card or memory shift just a hair you can get a beep, no video on post and a shut down. Or run it until it does it again (if it does) then re-seat every thing.