PC no longer booting

Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte GA-K8NUSL-RG,
AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and dual GCSLISW-RH
graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7 Ultimate

Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via CD) or
start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to see what
happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung for some time and just
as I was about to press reset it continued to desktop after completing
(earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further updates to
PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours work with multiple
restarts and restarted one last time to check all OK and then switched off
until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error code
0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing showing on screen
at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting delays on
another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win 7 compatibility
testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar time lag on this PC.
Also, there was an update for the card which, I'm now regretting, I
downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems using last night with
multiple restarts since installation of update. I don't have a spare PCI
express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I barking up the wrong tree?
Is there something or anything else I should be looking at/trying. Help
much appreciated.

In ,
barrowhill typed:
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate
Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via
CD) or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just
to see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung
for some time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to
desktop after completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further
updates to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours
work with multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all
OK and then switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing
showing on screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting
delays on another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win
7 compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar
time lag on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which,
I'm now regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems
using last night with multiple restarts since installation of update.
I don't have a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I
barking up the wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I
should be looking at/trying. Help much appreciated.

Well you have two video cards. Switch SLI mode off (if there is a
switch) and remove the second video card. If that doesn't work, replace
that video card with the other one and give that a shot.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

"BillW50" wrote in message
...
In ,
barrowhill typed:
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate
Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via
CD) or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to
see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung
for some time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to
desktop after completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further
updates to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours
work with multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all
OK and then switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing
showing on screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting
delays on another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win
7 compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar
time lag on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which,
I'm now regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems
using last night with multiple restarts since installation of update.
I don't have a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I
barking up the wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should
be looking at/trying. Help much appreciated.

Well you have two video cards. Switch SLI mode off (if there is a switch)
and remove the second video card. If that doesn't work, replace that video
card with the other one and give that a shot.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

Well, shucks, I missed that before I replied :-(
--
SC Tom

In ,
SC Tom wrote:
"BillW50" wrote in message
...
Well you have two video cards. Switch SLI mode off (if there is a
switch) and remove the second video card. If that doesn't work,
replace that video card with the other one and give that a shot.

Well, shucks, I missed that before I replied :-(

Well I was also thinking of saying what you did too. Glad I didn't now,
as we would have said the very same thing. ;-)

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

Bill,

There is no switch. There is a SODIM style chip on mobo : one way for SLI
the other for normal. I changed to normal. Tried card 1 slot 1 - NOK,
tried card 1 slot 2 - NOK. Tried Card 2 slot 1 - NOK. Tried Card 2 slot
2 - NOK. Tried both with card 1 slot 1 and card 2 slot 2 then reverse still
NOK.

Tested memory in another machine OK and checked PSU and OK. Replaced CMOS
battery. Can't test Graphics cards as other machines don't have PCIe
connectors.

"BillW50" wrote in message
...
In ,
barrowhill typed:
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate
Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via
CD) or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to
see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung
for some time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to
desktop after completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further
updates to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours
work with multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all
OK and then switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing
showing on screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting
delays on another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win
7 compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar
time lag on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which,
I'm now regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems
using last night with multiple restarts since installation of update.
I don't have a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I
barking up the wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should
be looking at/trying. Help much appreciated.

Well you have two video cards. Switch SLI mode off (if there is a switch)
and remove the second video card. If that doesn't work, replace that video
card with the other one and give that a shot.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and dual
GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7 Ultimate

Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via CD)
or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to see
what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung for some time and
just as I was about to press reset it continued to desktop after
completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further updates to
PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours work with multiple
restarts and restarted one last time to check all OK and then switched off
until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error code
0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing showing on
screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting delays on
another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win 7
compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar time lag
on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which, I'm now
regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems using last
night with multiple restarts since installation of update. I don't have a
spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I barking up the
wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should be looking
at/trying. Help much appreciated.



Upon restart, did you get your POST screen, or is it just blank from the
moment it's turned on?

If you get the POST screen, then press F8 repeatedly and see if you can
start up in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
If you can get into Safe Mode, roll back the driver for the video card
through Device Manager.
If no Safe Mode, but you can get into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you can
attempt to restore your system to an earlier time by typing in

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe (for Windows XP)
%systemroot%\system32\rstrui.exe (for Windows 7)

and pressing Enter (I know you said the OS is Win7, but this is an XP group
:-) ). The normal System Restore GUI will come up, and you can then pick a
time before the driver update was installed.

If you can't get into either mode, turn the PC off, pull the power cord,
open it up, and remove the video card. Plug it back in and turn it on.
You'll get a series of beeps, meaning that there is no video card installed.
Turn it back off, unplug it, and put the card back in. Turn it on and see if
you have video again. If so, roll back the video driver as soon as you are
able to navigate through Windows. (Of course, this suggestion is moot if
it's an onboard video chip.)
--
SC Tom

SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code sounds at
all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker anywhere in (Packard
Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to think
that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???



"SC Tom" wrote in message ...

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate

Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via CD)
or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to
see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung for some
time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to desktop after
completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further updates
to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours work with
multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all OK and then
switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing showing on
screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting delays on
another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win 7
compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar time lag
on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which, I'm now
regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems using last
night with multiple restarts since installation of update. I don't have
a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I barking up the
wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should be looking
at/trying. Help much appreciated.



Upon restart, did you get your POST screen, or is it just blank from the
moment it's turned on?

If you get the POST screen, then press F8 repeatedly and see if you can
start up in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
If you can get into Safe Mode, roll back the driver for the video card
through Device Manager.
If no Safe Mode, but you can get into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you
can attempt to restore your system to an earlier time by typing in

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe (for Windows XP)
%systemroot%\system32\rstrui.exe (for Windows 7)

and pressing Enter (I know you said the OS is Win7, but this is an XP
group :-) ). The normal System Restore GUI will come up, and you can then
pick a time before the driver update was installed.

If you can't get into either mode, turn the PC off, pull the power cord,
open it up, and remove the video card. Plug it back in and turn it on.
You'll get a series of beeps, meaning that there is no video card
installed. Turn it back off, unplug it, and put the card back in. Turn it
on and see if you have video again. If so, roll back the video driver as
soon as you are able to navigate through Windows. (Of course, this
suggestion is moot if it's an onboard video chip.)
--
SC Tom

In ,
barrowhill wrote:
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code
sounds at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker
anywhere in (Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to
think that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???

Well not yet. Any fans or power lights?

Anyway it is time to remove all unnecessary devices like CD, DVD, extra
RAM, and the alike. I would even try removing all hard drives as well
just to see if it powers up. Even swap the one removed RAM with the
other. The idea here is one device is loading the power supply down.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

Bill,

PSU and 3 case fans working (and lit), Removed power and interface
connections for 2 x DVD and 2 x HDD. Also removed front panel mobo
connectors for USB ports and Card Reader

RAM chips OK as removed and tested in another machine without problems -
swapped chips between machines and back as well

So only thing running now is Processor, Graphics cards and Fan's. Monitor
still blank - here I've changed cable and connected another monitor with
same result; blank screen. Perhaps I should try and reseat/reseal CPU ??




"BillW50" wrote in message
...
In ,
barrowhill wrote:
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code
sounds at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker
anywhere in (Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to
think that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???

Well not yet. Any fans or power lights?

Anyway it is time to remove all unnecessary devices like CD, DVD, extra
RAM, and the alike. I would even try removing all hard drives as well just
to see if it powers up. Even swap the one removed RAM with the other. The
idea here is one device is loading the power supply down.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

In ,
barrowhill wrote:
Bill,

PSU and 3 case fans working (and lit), Removed power and interface
connections for 2 x DVD and 2 x HDD. Also removed front panel mobo
connectors for USB ports and Card Reader

RAM chips OK as removed and tested in another machine without
problems - swapped chips between machines and back as well

So only thing running now is Processor, Graphics cards and Fan's.
Monitor still blank - here I've changed cable and connected another
monitor with same result; blank screen. Perhaps I should try and
reseat/reseal CPU ??

Yes it is worth a shot, but it sure doesn't look good at this point. :-(

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code sounds
at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker anywhere in
(Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to think
that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???


From the rest of your replies here, I'd be leaning that way, too. If
everything has been unplugged/removed, and there still are no beeps, it's
probably the mobo, power supply, or a bad connection between the two.

Odds are, there isn't an off-board speaker. Most have the speaker built onto
the mobo- look for a round black plastic piece about the diameter of a dime.
That would be your speaker.
--
SC Tom




"SC Tom" wrote in message ...

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate

Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via CD)
or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just to
see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung for some
time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to desktop
after completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further updates
to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours work with
multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all OK and then
switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing showing
on screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting delays
on another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win 7
compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar time lag
on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which, I'm now
regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems using last
night with multiple restarts since installation of update. I don't have
a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I barking up the
wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should be looking
at/trying. Help much appreciated.



Upon restart, did you get your POST screen, or is it just blank from the
moment it's turned on?

If you get the POST screen, then press F8 repeatedly and see if you can
start up in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
If you can get into Safe Mode, roll back the driver for the video card
through Device Manager.
If no Safe Mode, but you can get into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you
can attempt to restore your system to an earlier time by typing in

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe (for Windows XP)
%systemroot%\system32\rstrui.exe (for Windows 7)

and pressing Enter (I know you said the OS is Win7, but this is an XP
group :-) ). The normal System Restore GUI will come up, and you can
then pick a time before the driver update was installed.

If you can't get into either mode, turn the PC off, pull the power cord,
open it up, and remove the video card. Plug it back in and turn it on.
You'll get a series of beeps, meaning that there is no video card
installed. Turn it back off, unplug it, and put the card back in. Turn it
on and see if you have video again. If so, roll back the video driver as
soon as you are able to navigate through Windows. (Of course, this
suggestion is moot if it's an onboard video chip.)
--
SC Tom

SC Tom wrote:

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code
sounds at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker
anywhere in (Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to
think that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???


From the rest of your replies here, I'd be leaning that way, too. If
everything has been unplugged/removed, and there still are no beeps,
it's probably the mobo, power supply, or a bad connection between the two.

Odds are, there isn't an off-board speaker. Most have the speaker built
onto the mobo- look for a round black plastic piece about the diameter
of a dime. That would be your speaker.

GA-K8NU-SLI

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128279

It's an Nforce4 SLI, using a paddlecard for the two PCI Express slots.
Turned one way, the paddle card will route all PCI Express lanes to the
blue video card slot. Turned the other way and inserted, the paddle card
will cause half the available PCI Express lanes to go to each slot. If
you're running two video cards, then the paddle card must be in the
correct position, as otherwise, the second video card (in the black slot)
gets no bus connections.

The motherboard has no onboard speaker or piezo electric device. An
onboard speaker tends to be used on OEM motherboards inside the major
brand names (HP/Dell/Acer/Gateway etc). If instead, you buy a retail
motherboard at your local computer store, and build your own computer
from parts, those retail motherboards don't have the speaker. And then,
the computer case has to provide the speaker. There are a few enthusiast
cases (relatively expensive ones) that come with no speaker, for no
discernible reason. And in such a case, you have to buy a "speaker plus
pigtail" as a separate part, if you expect to "listen for beeps".

I think this thread already has some excellent suggestions, basically
to simplify the hardware setup and retest.

I would add one further test case.

1) Remove RAM.
2) Remove both video cards.
3) Leave CPU plus heatsink/fan installed.
4) Make sure the computer internal case speaker is connected.
5) Do a test, with basically just the processor and motherboard.
The processor should read the BIOS, and attempt to find RAM and video.
When no RAM and video is found, a distinctive beep pattern should
come through the case speaker.

That particular Gigabyte motherboard seems to have dual BIOS chips. I see
two chips, just above the blue video card connector. At least, in the past,
Gigabyte dual BIOS, had one boot block, and two main BIOS code blocks, so the
dual chips don't represent true duality. There is still a dependence on a
single boot block to be present, and if that gets wiped, it isn't going to
POST (power on self test) and display anything on the screen.

The OP mentioned no issues with keeping BIOS settings. Some computers
will not start, if the CMOS coin cell is flat. Using a multimeter, leave
the battery in its socket, clip your ground onto a screw in the I/O plate
area of the computer, then probe with the multimeter red lead, the top
surface of the CR2032 coin cell battery. A good battery would be around
3V. A bad battery, is anything below about perhaps 2.4V. The battery
voltage declines relatively rapidly when the knee is reached, so can
drop to zero in no time.

For some reason, some motherboards won't start when the battery is flat,
even though the +5VSB derived path from the power supply is operational
and providing duplicate power in parallel with the battery (using
diode steering, so the coin cell cannot be charged). Some SuperI/O chips,
have a provision to connect Vbat as an input, but I don't know if the
SuperI/O will deny startup, if Vbat is flat or not. I thought the Vbat
connection was purely for monitoring as a hardware monitor ADC input.

If the battery is flat, it should be replaced, and the tests run again.

In the past, there have been some Hvidia chipsets, with static sensitive
video card slots. It's possible to "blow out" a slot, and the PCI express
lanes would be failed as a result. In such a case, the installation of
something like an old FX5200 PCI video card, can be used in an attempt
to evaluate the computer. I keep one of those in my tool box, for
stuff like this.

Whether the paddle card is in either position, the blue slot should always
work. The black video card slot, only works if the paddle card is in the
SLI position.

Barrowhill could try a check of the condition of the capacitors on
the motherboard, but since there were no crashes mentioned, or anything
to indicate previous instability, I'd discount that as a theory. A flat
CMOS coin cell is a possibility. A blown PCI Express lane or lanes is
another possibility, especially as a lot of hardware has been handled
recently. It's even possible, that PCI Express slot failures, can occur
without handling things, so a previous ESD event might contribute
to something failing. Checking the history of that chipset, in some
forum, would be the best way to determine how ESD sensitive that
chipset is.

Power supplies can fail, but in this case, there is no mention of previous
problems in that area.

Paul

*** reply in line

"Paul" wrote in message
...
SC Tom wrote:

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code sounds
at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker anywhere in
(Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to
think that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???


From the rest of your replies here, I'd be leaning that way, too. If
everything has been unplugged/removed, and there still are no beeps, it's
probably the mobo, power supply, or a bad connection between the two.

Odds are, there isn't an off-board speaker. Most have the speaker built
onto the mobo- look for a round black plastic piece about the diameter of
a dime. That would be your speaker.

GA-K8NU-SLI

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128279

It's an Nforce4 SLI, using a paddlecard for the two PCI Express slots.
Turned one way, the paddle card will route all PCI Express lanes to the
blue video card slot. Turned the other way and inserted, the paddle card
will cause half the available PCI Express lanes to go to each slot. If
you're running two video cards, then the paddle card must be in the
correct position, as otherwise, the second video card (in the black slot)
gets no bus connections.

The motherboard has no onboard speaker or piezo electric device. An
onboard speaker tends to be used on OEM motherboards inside the major
brand names (HP/Dell/Acer/Gateway etc). If instead, you buy a retail
motherboard at your local computer store, and build your own computer
from parts, those retail motherboards don't have the speaker. And then,
the computer case has to provide the speaker. There are a few enthusiast
cases (relatively expensive ones) that come with no speaker, for no
discernible reason. And in such a case, you have to buy a "speaker plus
pigtail" as a separate part, if you expect to "listen for beeps".

*** You're correct on that; my old OEM board had the piezo device on it, but
my new (to me) M2NPV-VM doesn't. It has the solder points and silkscreen for
one, though.
I have sound through a USB sound card and no internal speaker at all (with
or without a pigtail- I looked), but when I boot up, I get the POST beeps
from somewhere inside the PC (no power to the sound system at that time).
I'll have to pull the side of the case the next time I reboot to see where
it's coming from, but there's no obvious spot. It's a small to mid tower
(Compaq SR1124nx) that I've had for years, and it's the only factory thing
left. Everything in it has been replaced at one time or another, and I am
yet to find a speaker :-) That's why I assumed the beeps were coming from
the MB.
--
SC Tom



I think this thread already has some excellent suggestions, basically
to simplify the hardware setup and retest.

I would add one further test case.

1) Remove RAM.
2) Remove both video cards.
3) Leave CPU plus heatsink/fan installed.
4) Make sure the computer internal case speaker is connected.
5) Do a test, with basically just the processor and motherboard.
The processor should read the BIOS, and attempt to find RAM and video.
When no RAM and video is found, a distinctive beep pattern should
come through the case speaker.

That particular Gigabyte motherboard seems to have dual BIOS chips. I see
two chips, just above the blue video card connector. At least, in the
past,
Gigabyte dual BIOS, had one boot block, and two main BIOS code blocks, so
the
dual chips don't represent true duality. There is still a dependence on a
single boot block to be present, and if that gets wiped, it isn't going to
POST (power on self test) and display anything on the screen.

The OP mentioned no issues with keeping BIOS settings. Some computers
will not start, if the CMOS coin cell is flat. Using a multimeter, leave
the battery in its socket, clip your ground onto a screw in the I/O plate
area of the computer, then probe with the multimeter red lead, the top
surface of the CR2032 coin cell battery. A good battery would be around
3V. A bad battery, is anything below about perhaps 2.4V. The battery
voltage declines relatively rapidly when the knee is reached, so can
drop to zero in no time.

For some reason, some motherboards won't start when the battery is flat,
even though the +5VSB derived path from the power supply is operational
and providing duplicate power in parallel with the battery (using
diode steering, so the coin cell cannot be charged). Some SuperI/O chips,
have a provision to connect Vbat as an input, but I don't know if the
SuperI/O will deny startup, if Vbat is flat or not. I thought the Vbat
connection was purely for monitoring as a hardware monitor ADC input.

If the battery is flat, it should be replaced, and the tests run again.

In the past, there have been some Hvidia chipsets, with static sensitive
video card slots. It's possible to "blow out" a slot, and the PCI express
lanes would be failed as a result. In such a case, the installation of
something like an old FX5200 PCI video card, can be used in an attempt
to evaluate the computer. I keep one of those in my tool box, for
stuff like this.

Whether the paddle card is in either position, the blue slot should always
work. The black video card slot, only works if the paddle card is in the
SLI position.

Barrowhill could try a check of the condition of the capacitors on
the motherboard, but since there were no crashes mentioned, or anything
to indicate previous instability, I'd discount that as a theory. A flat
CMOS coin cell is a possibility. A blown PCI Express lane or lanes is
another possibility, especially as a lot of hardware has been handled
recently. It's even possible, that PCI Express slot failures, can occur
without handling things, so a previous ESD event might contribute
to something failing. Checking the history of that chipset, in some
forum, would be the best way to determine how ESD sensitive that
chipset is.

Power supplies can fail, but in this case, there is no mention of previous
problems in that area.

Paul

SC Tom

Couple of messages on this issue from yourself and a chap called Paul that
I couldn't review because ...."News servers regularly expire articles as
they get older to make space available for newer articles" Looking at date
and time of both posts how they could be classified as old when they were
only posted 2 - 3 hours ago I don't know!. Anyway...................

Double checked for speaker. Definitely nothing that I can see or find.

I've removed processor chip and heatsink cleaned out dust from fan, heat
sink and mobo. cleaned off old thermal paste and renewed. Re-installed but
result on start is still the same.

Reviewed my notes on actions to date to see if I've missed anything in
diagnosis and to see if there is anything else I can look at.
****Interesting****

I said at start that original reported fault was problem with USB KB and
mouse not working. I used PS/2 KB and mouse when I started to look at PC.
On starting up there had obviously been a problem as I had repair or normal
start option waiting me.. I chose normal start, which it (eventually) did
and I was able to update and perform multiple restarts before turning off
for the night. This is the *****interesting**** bit. What I failed to
state when I restarted in the morning ..............I had removed PS/2 KB
and mouse and installed USB KB and mouse...............On start up, I
immediately got unrecoverable hardware error (0x0124). On restart, no
video, nothing!

I think whatever the (USB) problem was, the impact of using USB KB/mouse
was to take out the mobo. I really can't come up with any other answer. I
don't think there is anything else I can do; unless you know better, other
than inform my friend his PC is dead.



"SC Tom" wrote in message ...

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
SC Tom,

No POST just blank from the moment it's turned on. No beep code sounds
at all but that may be because I can't see/find speaker anywhere in
(Packard Bell) case.

See all by reply to Bill re additional checks etc. I'm beginning to
think that mobo has gone AWOL. Would you agree ???


From the rest of your replies here, I'd be leaning that way, too. If
everything has been unplugged/removed, and there still are no beeps, it's
probably the mobo, power supply, or a bad connection between the two.

Odds are, there isn't an off-board speaker. Most have the speaker built
onto the mobo- look for a round black plastic piece about the diameter of
a dime. That would be your speaker.
--
SC Tom




"SC Tom" wrote in message ...

"barrowhill" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Received friends PC last night with a view to fixing for him. (Only)
reported fault was no (USB) KB or mouse (?), Mobo is Gigabyte
GA-K8NUSL-RG, AMD 64 Dual Core 4600+ processor, 2 x 1 GByte RAM. and
dual GCSLISW-RH graphics cards running in SLI mode. O/S is Windows 7
Ultimate

Connected PS/2 KB and mouse and on boot presented with DOS window
indicating error had occurred and whether I required to repair (via
CD) or start windows normally. Opted to start normally (why not) just
to see what happened. It got to Windows starting icon and hung for
some time and just as I was about to press reset it continued to
desktop after completing (earlier) update installs

Decided to remain with PS/2 configuration and check for further updates
to PC. Eventually completed all updates after a few hours work with
multiple restarts and restarted one last time to check all OK and then
switched off until this morning.

Started up this morning and promptly got unrecoverable hardware error
code 0x0124. Pressed restart and on reboot no video - nothing showing
on screen at all! That is still position

One suspect is Graphics because previously experienced starting delays
on another win 7 PC when booting, Turned out that despite win 7
compatibility testing, card wasn't in fact compatible. Similar time
lag on this PC. Also, there was an update for the card which, I'm now
regretting, I downloaded and installed. Didn't have problems using
last night with multiple restarts since installation of update. I
don't have a spare PCI express graphics card to try so stuck. Am I
barking up the wrong tree? Is there something or anything else I should
be looking at/trying. Help much appreciated.



Upon restart, did you get your POST screen, or is it just blank from the
moment it's turned on?

If you get the POST screen, then press F8 repeatedly and see if you can
start up in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
If you can get into Safe Mode, roll back the driver for the video card
through Device Manager.
If no Safe Mode, but you can get into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you
can attempt to restore your system to an earlier time by typing in

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe (for Windows XP)
%systemroot%\system32\rstrui.exe (for Windows 7)

and pressing Enter (I know you said the OS is Win7, but this is an XP
group :-) ). The normal System Restore GUI will come up, and you can
then pick a time before the driver update was installed.

If you can't get into either mode, turn the PC off, pull the power cord,
open it up, and remove the video card. Plug it back in and turn it on.
You'll get a series of beeps, meaning that there is no video card
installed. Turn it back off, unplug it, and put the card back in. Turn
it on and see if you have video again. If so, roll back the video driver
as soon as you are able to navigate through Windows. (Of course, this
suggestion is moot if it's an onboard video chip.)
--
SC Tom

In ,
barrowhill wrote:
SC Tom

Couple of messages on this issue from yourself and a chap called
Paul that I couldn't review because ...."News servers regularly
expire articles as they get older to make space available for newer
articles" Looking at date and time of both posts how they could be
classified as old when they were only posted 2 - 3 hours ago I don't
know!. Anyway...................

Well Paul's comments were quite excellent. So I'll repost it here below.


From: "Paul"
Subject: PC no longer booting
Date: Monday, May 09, 2011 6:55 AM

The computer cases I have here, they like to hide the speaker in the
front plastic fascia. If you take the thing all apart, eventually you
might be rewarded with a 2" speaker or the like.

If you trace where the SPKR connector and two wire cable go, you'll
eventually find it. It can't escape :-) Start at the motherboard PANEL
header, and work your way back, following the two wire twisted pair.

When I get a new computer case, I take special pleasure in disassembling
the thing, and removing the bits I don't want. For example, the first
thing to go, are the front USB or Firewire ports, the audio connectors
and wires. By removing those and saving them for later, I have less
cruft hanging down inside the computer. Since my computers are always at
desk level, and oriented so I have access to the rear connectors, there
is no need for front connectors. I started this practice, after finding
wiring errors on some of my older cases, and rather than wasting time
catching those errors before they burn or damage something, I just got
in the habit of tearing them out.

But I always keep the speaker, due to the ability to do "beep tests" if
something breaks.

Some computers (Dell) have a four LED display on the case, using two
color LEDs. And those can give diagnostic codes, indicating a problem.

Some retail motherboards (typically Nvidia motherboards resold by other
companies), have a two digit POST code right on the motherboard surface.
The actual codes aren't of much use, but the ability to see whether the
POST display will work at all, helps identify whether the processor is
able to read the BIOS or not. If the POST display stays stuck at 0xFF or
0x00, then chances are the processor isn't running for some reason
(stuck in reset, no power etc). Any other of the remaining 254 decimal
codes, indicates something is going on, but usually there is no reliable
documentation of the code values, and even if there is documentation,
the codes don't focus on a single fault at all. So they're not really
that useful. In all the cases, where a person has posted the value they
got off their display, when I looked up the code, no good came of it
(the user was none the wiser).

Now, a feature I liked, but which is no longer used, was the Winbond
audio post device. It was a chip that would play back voice messages, to
tell you what was going on. These would be triggered by writing a
control byte in the chip, via BIOS code. But unlike the POST display,
the events were designed to be a bit more useful. The audio was coupled
into the regular Line Out connector, so the "bitchen betty" voice came
out of your amplified external computer speakers. Asus put that on their
motherboards for several years, and then gave up on it. It probably cost
them a dollar or two per motherboard (audio playback chip plus serial
EEPROM). There was even a utility, so you could record your own voice
for the samples if you wanted (it took 30 to 60 minutes to re-program
the serial EEPROM).

By comparison, the computer case (internal) speaker is a bit boring, but
at least it is common enough, that some useful testing can be done.

Paul