My PC is dead, can't complete post

mrtom

W 7 : Motherboard Gigabyte GA-FA55M-HD2


My PC is dead, can't complete post. I suspect a hardware issue. So diagnosis begins; The CPU fan runs and I hear the hard drive spinning up. No beeps. The screen is dead so I cant access bios. There is a discreet Nvidia card fitted. To rule out failure of the Nvidia card I need to revert to the on board graphics via Bios. As the screen displays nothing how can I switch graphics ?

Johnboy1951

mrtom wrote: »

W 7 : Motherboard Gigabyte GA-FA55M-HD2


My PC is dead, can't complete post. I suspect a hardware issue. So diagnosis begins; The CPU fan runs and I hear the hard drive spinning up. No beeps. The screen is dead so I cant access bios. There is a discreet Nvidia card fitted. To rule out failure of the Nvidia card I need to revert to the on board graphics via Bios. As the screen displays nothing how can I switch graphics ?

It might revert by default if you withdraw the nvidia card and then boot up.
(probably depends on BIOS settings)

mrtom

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It might revert by default if you withdraw the nvidia card and then boot up.
(probably depends on BIOS settings)

Tried that and got a constant tone from the board. Also shorted jumpers on the board to clear CMOS settings to achieve default settings in the hope that it would revert to the integrated graphics. Nada !
Dont wish to replace the board until I eliminate the Nvidia as causing the issue.

PropJoe10

Probably a long shot, but try plugging out all connected peripherals including hard disks. Also, try with different sticks of RAM in case one is dodgy. See how you get on.

Johnboy1951

If you have beeps from the motherboard this might help

https://www.gigabyte.com/Support/FAQ/816

1.AWARD BIOS

1 short beep ：System normal
2 short beep ：CMOS Error
1 long beep and 1 short beep：Memory error
1 long beep and 2 short beep：Graphic card error
1 long beep and 3 short beep ：AGP error
1 long beep and 9 short beep ：Memory Error
Continuous long beep ：Memory not correctly installed
Continuous short beep ：Power supply unit failed


2.AMI BIOS

1 short beep ：Memory Error
2 short beep：Memory parity check error.
3 short beep ：basic memory 64K address check error
4 short beep ：Real Time Clock malfunction .
5 short beep ：CPU error
6 short beep：Keyboard error
7 short beep ：CPU interruption error
8 short beep：Graphic card error
9 short beep ：Memory error
10 short beep ：CMOS error
11 short beep ：CPU cache memory malfunction

Lu Tze

mrtom wrote: »

Tried that and got a constant tone from the board. Also shorted jumpers on the board to clear CMOS settings to achieve default settings in the hope that it would revert to the integrated graphics. Nada !
Dont wish to replace the board until I eliminate the Nvidia as causing the issue.

What CPU do you have? If its an athlon they don't have integrated graphics AFAIK

mrtom

Lu Tze wrote: »

What CPU do you have? If its an athlon they don't have integrated graphics AFAIK

Yep, its an Athlon, dont have model to hand. Though I see "Dual Graphics" on the MB (see attch) and comes with D sub / DVI / HDMI ports.
Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-HD2.
johnnyboy, No beeps at all.
At this point when I power up, the CD tray can open, the optical mouse glows, CPU fan spins and platters spin up so power supply not suspect yet! No lights on the keyboard (Num lock etc)

Johnboy1951

mrtom wrote: »

W 7 : Motherboard Gigabyte GA-FA55M-HD2


My PC is dead, can't complete post. I suspect a hardware issue. So diagnosis begins; The CPU fan runs and I hear the hard drive spinning up. No beeps. The screen is dead so I cant access bios. There is a discreet Nvidia card fitted. To rule out failure of the Nvidia card I need to revert to the on board graphics via Bios. As the screen displays nothing how can I switch graphics ?

Have you checked the video cable to the monitor?
Have you checked the monitor itself?

There might not be anything the matter with the PC ..........

mrtom

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Have you checked the video cable to the monitor?
Have you checked the monitor itself?

There might not be anything the matter with the PC ..........

DVI.
yes and yes

Deagol

mrtom wrote: »

Yep, its an Athlon, dont have model to hand. Though I see "Dual Graphics" on the MB (see attch) and comes with D sub / DVI / HDMI ports.
Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-HD2.
johnnyboy, No beeps at all.
At this point when I power up, the CD tray can open, the optical mouse glows, CPU fan spins and platters spin up so power supply not suspect yet! No lights on the keyboard (Num lock etc)

PSU has a 3.3v line that supplies CPU and bridges only. If that line is gone down then peripherals will work but M/B won't be able to start.
Definitely remove all the RAM sticks (if you have more than 1) and try just one of them at a time to see if that makes any difference.

mrtom

Deagol wrote: »

PSU has a 3.3v line that supplies CPU and bridges only. If that line is gone down then peripherals will work but M/B won't be able to start.
Definitely remove all the RAM sticks (if you have more than 1) and try just one of them at a time to see if that makes any difference.

1 stickof DDR 3, 8gb. reseated.
Now I have a 2 Gb DDR 2 modual in onother pc. Can I substitute this to eliminate this as cause ?
Unsure how to test power supply.

mrtom

So ram not compatable. Though I'v learnt : If you remove the module and boot, you should get the memory error beeps but if you don't then that tends to point to the motherboard. Ah ha ! However as I got a constant tone after removing Nvidia from PCI.

clemop

Check the power supply with a multimeter to see if it's pushing out 5v out of the power_good wire, usually gray wire. It give +5v to the motherboard if the PSU has passed the self-checks and only then will the cpu allow boot.

Lu Tze

mrtom wrote: »

Yep, its an Athlon, dont have model to hand. Though I see "Dual Graphics" on the MB (see attch) and comes with D sub / DVI / HDMI ports.
Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-HD2.
johnnyboy, No beeps at all.
At this point when I power up, the CD tray can open, the optical mouse glows, CPU fan spins and platters spin up so power supply not suspect yet! No lights on the keyboard (Num lock etc)

Yeah the motherboard ports only work with an Amd APU (namr prefixed by A4, A6, A8 or A10).

Athlons don't have built in graphics, so even if everything was working perfectly, you won't get a display without a graphics card.

mrtom

Lu Tze wrote: »

Yeah the motherboard ports only work with an Amd APU (namr prefixed by A4, A6, A8 or A10).

Athlons don't have built in graphics, so even if everything was working perfectly, you won't get a display without a graphics card.

Clear, then what might "Dual Graphics" mean "lettered" on on the MB ? (see attch)

"Dual graphics allows AMD's APUS to crossfire their IGPUs to a discrete GP.U"

Lu Tze

mrtom wrote: »

Clear, then what might "Dual Graphics" mean "lettered" on on the MB ? (see attch)

"Dual graphics allows AMD's APUS to crossfire their IGPUs to a discrete GP.U"

If you have an A10 or similar cpu with integrated graphics, it can be Crossfired with hd7770 or other and graphics cards. The mither board allows this. But if there is no integrated graphics on the CPU (like the athlon) the motherboard ports won't work, and you need a separate graphics card to display to a monitor

mrtom

Lu Tze wrote: »

If you have an A10 or similar cpu with integrated graphics, it can be Crossfired with hd7770 or other and graphics cards. The mither board allows this. But if there is no integrated graphics on the CPU (like the athlon) the motherboard ports won't work, and you need a separate graphics card to display to a monitor

Got it, thanks for your time.
Considering :
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Gigabyte-GA-F2A55M-HD2-Rev-1-2-Socket-FM2-MicroATX-Motherboard-HDMI/292218261747?hash=item440990d0f3:g:11oAAOSwraZZlb10

clemop

If you can, check the PSU with a multimeter. Maybe try and get a hold of a friend's PSU and swap it out if you don't have a multimeter. I had similar symptoms on a MB, everything spinning up but no post or display. Took everything apart piece by piece but couldn't even trigger a beep sequence.
I spent hundreds on a new MB, CPU, graphics card, set it up with the old PSU - same symptoms.
I finally tested the power_good wire on the old psu to discover it wasn't giving +5v. D'oh!
New PSU for €45 and old and new MB both worked perfectly. Unnecessarily burned a load of cash on new system but, then again, I also had a new system :-)

mrtom

clemop wrote: »

If you can, check the PSU with a multimeter. Maybe try and get a hold of a friend's PSU and swap it out if you don't have a multimeter. I had similar symptoms on a MB, everything spinning up but no post or display. Took everything apart piece by piece but couldn't even trigger a beep sequence.
I spent hundreds on a new MB, CPU, graphics card, set it up with the old PSU - same symptoms.
I finally tested the power_good wire on the old psu to discover it wasn't giving +5v. D'oh!
New PSU for €45 and old and new MB both worked perfectly. Unnecessarily burned a load of cash on new system but, then again, I also had a new system :-)

Yep, trying to avoid that particular dance ! I pulled apart my other PC and swapped PSU & AMD GFX card, no change. So that leaves MB, CPU & Ram. So the laws of probability (failure rate) point to the MB. Also the easiest, just a click with ebay. So pulled the trigger on that and might have it by the weekend. Time to get thermal paste. Will let you know outcome.