Black screen - No optical mouse Led

On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

Also, no beeps from computer.

"Joe T." wrote:

On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

Also, no beeps from computer.

"Joe T." wrote:

On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?


One debugging technique for motherboards, is to use the computer case
speaker and the "beep codes". With the power off on the power supply,
remove all the RAM and the video card. (Store them in antistatic bags,
until it is time to reinstall them.) The BIOS should normally notice
the RAM and/or video is missing, and give a beep pattern. Beeps are used
for any error condition that cannot be printed on the screen.

If you hear a beep pattern at startup, with the components missing,
you know the processor is getting power, and the path through the
Northbridge and Southbridge works. (The processor makes the beeps - a
dead processor, and no beeps.) I'm assuming the case speaker is
connected to the SuperI/O chip, which is connected to the Southbridge.
So to get there, and do the beeping, requires a lot of working
hardware.

If you're not getting any beeping, it could be a bad processor,
broken Vcore regulator, problem with chipset (processor can't fetch
BIOS code, as that flows through the chipset too). I suppose, even
the case speaker could be broken, but we shouldn't think about a
second failure at this point. We know something else is busted,
and that is most likely to prevent the speaker from beeping.

Some motherboards have a round black piezo speaker mounted on the
motherboard itself. That might be more common on pre-built systems
or maybe on a server. Retail motherboards like yours, should really
have a couple SPKR pins on the PANEL header, to connect a case
speaker to. If you haven't connected a case speaker, you're not
going to hear any beeps. So check your speaker situation, and if
the speaker looks like it is installed properly, remove the
video and RAM and see what response you get. If you do get some
beep pattern, add back the RAM. If the beep pattern changes with
the RAM back in, you might conclude the RAM is recognized a bit.
If you plug in the video and the beeping stops, then you'd suspect
the video is holding the system hostage (like a bad AGP slot).
If it beeps the same as the last test case, then maybe the video card
is bad.

In other words, if you think about it, each test case has two outcomes,
and the beep pattern or lack of beep pattern or different beep pattern etc,
is telling you something. It is like a fault tree, where each test case
takes you down a different branch of the tree.

If you failed the very first test case (i.e. remove RAM and video), and
there are no beeps, it could be a bad processor. You'll need to remove
the heatsink and have a look. Some AMD processors "cook" under there,
and if you see severe discoloration, a large crack or the like, you
have your answer. If not, clean of the dried paste, and apply
a thin coat of fresh stuff, before reinstalling the CPU heatsink.
Be careful not to crack the silicon die (a shim or four rubber bumps
helps prevent tilting of the heatsink and a cracked edge on the die).

You can do simple visual checks for the motherboard, like look for
bulging caps. I don't know what the reputation is for your mobo,
with respect to caps. Caps have stress relief cuts on the top,
so that the cap won't explode. If there is bad mojo (chemistry failure)
inside the cap, the top bulges, the pressure is relieved and the
goo leaks out. It can eat stuff it touches, or discolor things.
A skilled hobbyist can replace the caps, assuming you buy a cap
kit somewhere, from someone who knows how to select good quality
replacements. Pulling the caps out of the board, without ruining
something, takes good tools (and practice on a board you don't
care about). Considering the age of your motherboard, it might
be hard to find a decent substitute. Depends on the whims of Ebay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Since you've had your power supply tested, we can assume it is
OK. It should have been tested under a light to moderate load,
rather than just being switched on and listen for the fan
turning.

Paul

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?


One debugging technique for motherboards, is to use the computer case
speaker and the "beep codes". With the power off on the power supply,
remove all the RAM and the video card. (Store them in antistatic bags,
until it is time to reinstall them.) The BIOS should normally notice
the RAM and/or video is missing, and give a beep pattern. Beeps are used
for any error condition that cannot be printed on the screen.

If you hear a beep pattern at startup, with the components missing,
you know the processor is getting power, and the path through the
Northbridge and Southbridge works. (The processor makes the beeps - a
dead processor, and no beeps.) I'm assuming the case speaker is
connected to the SuperI/O chip, which is connected to the Southbridge.
So to get there, and do the beeping, requires a lot of working
hardware.

If you're not getting any beeping, it could be a bad processor,
broken Vcore regulator, problem with chipset (processor can't fetch
BIOS code, as that flows through the chipset too). I suppose, even
the case speaker could be broken, but we shouldn't think about a
second failure at this point. We know something else is busted,
and that is most likely to prevent the speaker from beeping.

Some motherboards have a round black piezo speaker mounted on the
motherboard itself. That might be more common on pre-built systems
or maybe on a server. Retail motherboards like yours, should really
have a couple SPKR pins on the PANEL header, to connect a case
speaker to. If you haven't connected a case speaker, you're not
going to hear any beeps. So check your speaker situation, and if
the speaker looks like it is installed properly, remove the
video and RAM and see what response you get. If you do get some
beep pattern, add back the RAM. If the beep pattern changes with
the RAM back in, you might conclude the RAM is recognized a bit.
If you plug in the video and the beeping stops, then you'd suspect
the video is holding the system hostage (like a bad AGP slot).
If it beeps the same as the last test case, then maybe the video card
is bad.

In other words, if you think about it, each test case has two outcomes,
and the beep pattern or lack of beep pattern or different beep pattern etc,
is telling you something. It is like a fault tree, where each test case
takes you down a different branch of the tree.

If you failed the very first test case (i.e. remove RAM and video), and
there are no beeps, it could be a bad processor. You'll need to remove
the heatsink and have a look. Some AMD processors "cook" under there,
and if you see severe discoloration, a large crack or the like, you
have your answer. If not, clean of the dried paste, and apply
a thin coat of fresh stuff, before reinstalling the CPU heatsink.
Be careful not to crack the silicon die (a shim or four rubber bumps
helps prevent tilting of the heatsink and a cracked edge on the die).

You can do simple visual checks for the motherboard, like look for
bulging caps. I don't know what the reputation is for your mobo,
with respect to caps. Caps have stress relief cuts on the top,
so that the cap won't explode. If there is bad mojo (chemistry failure)
inside the cap, the top bulges, the pressure is relieved and the
goo leaks out. It can eat stuff it touches, or discolor things.
A skilled hobbyist can replace the caps, assuming you buy a cap
kit somewhere, from someone who knows how to select good quality
replacements. Pulling the caps out of the board, without ruining
something, takes good tools (and practice on a board you don't
care about). Considering the age of your motherboard, it might
be hard to find a decent substitute. Depends on the whims of Ebay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Since you've had your power supply tested, we can assume it is
OK. It should have been tested under a light to moderate load,
rather than just being switched on and listen for the fan
turning.

Paul

Joe T. wrote:
Also, no beeps from computer.

"Joe T." wrote:


On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board

Unfortunately there is no good way to tell what the problem is other
than devising component-by component tests. The most likely thing, given
the checks listed above and the assumption you have checked all cables
and plugs, is the mainboard is bad. If you try a new board, also try to
update the BIOS as necessary and if possible before trying to boot
windows - in a very few cases this can avoid a nightmare.
--
Jeff Barnett

Joe T. wrote:
Also, no beeps from computer.

"Joe T." wrote:


On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board

Unfortunately there is no good way to tell what the problem is other
than devising component-by component tests. The most likely thing, given
the checks listed above and the assumption you have checked all cables
and plugs, is the mainboard is bad. If you try a new board, also try to
update the BIOS as necessary and if possible before trying to boot
windows - in a very few cases this can avoid a nightmare.
--
Jeff Barnett

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.

Bought a new board and new processor. Store guy said to do a XP repair after
putting it together. What am I looking at as to repair XP Pro SP2 retail
version? Got a good simple link?

"Joe T." wrote:

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.

Bought a new board and new processor. Store guy said to do a XP repair after
putting it together. What am I looking at as to repair XP Pro SP2 retail
version? Got a good simple link?

"Joe T." wrote:

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.

Joe T. wrote:
Bought a new board and new processor. Store guy said to do a XP repair after
putting it together. What am I looking at as to repair XP Pro SP2 retail
version? Got a good simple link?

This is a commonly quoted link for Repair Installs.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

This instruction page, is a little easier on the eyes. But
it doesn't cover any potential issues.

http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/window...airinstall.htm

The most important detail, is pressing F6 if a custom driver
is needed for the hard drive to be recognized. "Vanilla" mode
for an IDE or SATA drive, may get its driver from the Windows OS
itself (bundled generic driver). If something like AHCI or RAID
is required, WinXP at least, may require a manufacturer driver
to be installed. That is the most likely reason for no drive
to be detected, no boot device etc. And the motherboard
manual is usually woefully inadequate on details like that.

For example, a previous motherboard I had, had an Intel ICH5R Southbridge
(two IDE cables, two SATA plugs). And a Promise 20378 controller. If I
wanted to use the 20378, I'd press F6 and install a driver on a floppy
diskette. The diskette has "TXTSETUP.OEM" and the driver files. That
is the kind of stuff that goes on the floppy. The motherboard CD will
either offer to make the floppy for you, or offer a folder with the
floppy files in it. The TXTSETUP.OEM goes at the top level of the
floppy. Check the floppy when you make it, and see if that is there.

On my ICH5R, if I connected a drive to the IDE cable, then the Windows
default driver would work.

If I connected two SATA drives to the ICH5R and set the BIOS to RAID mode,
I'd need a different floppy with RAID driver on it.

So if you can find the most "vanilla" setting and interface for
the disk (usually an interface on the Southbridge chip), that
is the most likely to offer an option where no driver is needed.
If you have a modern motherboard with no floppy interface, and
need to do the F6 thing, then you're in a real mess. It might
take slipstreaming with NLite (nliteos.com), to place the
driver into a new Windows installer CD, so Windows can get it
without the floppy. Or maybe a USB floppy drive. Or whatever.

be aware, that if you don't install an AHCI driver, you may lose
the ability to do hot swap of SATA disks, or perhaps even have
trouble migrating to a RAID configuration later. Selecting the
most vanilla mode for the hard drive, solves your immediate problem,
but may make some change later more difficult.

Paul


"Joe T." wrote:

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.

Joe T. wrote:
Bought a new board and new processor. Store guy said to do a XP repair after
putting it together. What am I looking at as to repair XP Pro SP2 retail
version? Got a good simple link?

This is a commonly quoted link for Repair Installs.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

This instruction page, is a little easier on the eyes. But
it doesn't cover any potential issues.

http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/window...airinstall.htm

The most important detail, is pressing F6 if a custom driver
is needed for the hard drive to be recognized. "Vanilla" mode
for an IDE or SATA drive, may get its driver from the Windows OS
itself (bundled generic driver). If something like AHCI or RAID
is required, WinXP at least, may require a manufacturer driver
to be installed. That is the most likely reason for no drive
to be detected, no boot device etc. And the motherboard
manual is usually woefully inadequate on details like that.

For example, a previous motherboard I had, had an Intel ICH5R Southbridge
(two IDE cables, two SATA plugs). And a Promise 20378 controller. If I
wanted to use the 20378, I'd press F6 and install a driver on a floppy
diskette. The diskette has "TXTSETUP.OEM" and the driver files. That
is the kind of stuff that goes on the floppy. The motherboard CD will
either offer to make the floppy for you, or offer a folder with the
floppy files in it. The TXTSETUP.OEM goes at the top level of the
floppy. Check the floppy when you make it, and see if that is there.

On my ICH5R, if I connected a drive to the IDE cable, then the Windows
default driver would work.

If I connected two SATA drives to the ICH5R and set the BIOS to RAID mode,
I'd need a different floppy with RAID driver on it.

So if you can find the most "vanilla" setting and interface for
the disk (usually an interface on the Southbridge chip), that
is the most likely to offer an option where no driver is needed.
If you have a modern motherboard with no floppy interface, and
need to do the F6 thing, then you're in a real mess. It might
take slipstreaming with NLite (nliteos.com), to place the
driver into a new Windows installer CD, so Windows can get it
without the floppy. Or maybe a USB floppy drive. Or whatever.

be aware, that if you don't install an AHCI driver, you may lose
the ability to do hot swap of SATA disks, or perhaps even have
trouble migrating to a RAID configuration later. Selecting the
most vanilla mode for the hard drive, solves your immediate problem,
but may make some change later more difficult.

Paul


"Joe T." wrote:

Prevx was no hel as I cannot log on. Computer has no beeps as per Jeff's
notes. Guess I'll upgrade to newer board.

"Rick" wrote:

Joe T. wrote:
On Saturday 11-21-09 my home built 4 yr old computer just quit. XP Pro SP2,
retail version, K7S5A motherboard, ATI Radeon graphics card. Reset computer
and it came back on. 4 hrs later, same thing. Tried to restart but but this
time no screen, no optical mouse led light. Monitor says no signal. Does not
get to BIOS screen or anything. Just a black screen. I can hear hard drive
start. Here's what I have done-
1. Removed HD and put it in another computer. Boots ok. All files there.
2. Put in a old but good NVIDIA graphics card. Still no screen.
3. Put in old but good 512 memory stick. No luck. Worth a shot.
4. Took power supply to tech shop to test. Ok.
5. Changed ribbon cable.
Any other suggestions? New Board?

check this site and it may help look for Black Screen in November Archive

http://www.prevx.com/blog.asp
.