hi everyone,
I want to open foobar again!!!!
But: My PC crashed and now it doesn't start anymore.

Problem:
When pressing the start button the monitor stays black. You can hear the fans and the HD's but that's about it. No BIOS beep no Boot sound. The mainboard POST Led shows C1.


System:
Graficcard: Radeon 9000 64MB
CPU: Amd Athlon 1800+
Mainboard: Epox nvidia nforce EP-8RDA+ (onboard lan sound etc.)
2x 256MB RAM
WINxp
HDD's at IDE0: 1x Western Digital 800b master, 1xSamsung Spinpoint SP1604N autodetect.
External CD burner per usb (internal already on "warranty tour").

Work done:
POST = C1 means: bad memory but could 2 Rams die at once?
all devices unplugged: no change, without ram: long beep
different grafic card: nothing
switched RAM (and tested each single one): nothing
different HDD: nothing
BIOS reset: nothing

Anyone knows how to pinpoint the broken devide? How 2 locate the mainboar, the CPU, the RAM? or could it be the power? On the 28. my warranty is expired so I have to find the part before that!!

Any idea anyone? Or coud you recomment a forum for that question?


John Doe

Since you've tried multiple things why not get an RMA number and return the PC pronto for repairs before time runs out!

Did you try some borrowed modules or yours? If only yours then borrow a module which is known to work and try again. That would be strange indeed (and worrying) if both your modules died, but that's the only way to find out.

Did you reset by removing the CMOS sustaining battery? If not then try to boot without it.

I guess it's memory or something with mobo. CPU is probably fine as if it were broken you wouldn't hear a beep I think. Trying another PSU wouldn't hurt though. And I guess you know that all you need while testing are CPU, memory, GFX card, and maybe keyboard, all the other devices including HDD should be unplugged.

@andavari: thx for advice - would have done that already if I hadn't built my own pc from components (bought them cheap on the net).

@rutra80: unfortunately I dont have anyone with my RAM so I couldn't test it yet. About the CPU: I do NOT hear the BIOS beep so...who knows!!

Thanx for the help so far!

Unplug everything but these three:

Video card
CPU
1 RAM stick

Yes, unplug the hard drives, cdrom, USB devices, and floppy.

You should be able to post (power on self test) with those items.
If not, replace only one item at a time.
You may want to try the same memory stick in several slots.

If you can't post with the basics it is most likely the motherboard or power supply.
It is rare for modern CPUs to fail unless they have been mishandled or severely overclocked or under cooled.

You wrote that there is a long beep when RAM is removed...
Anyway, if you didn't yet, try to boot with CMOS-sustaining battery removed, I once had a very similar problem to yours and it turned out to be fault of corrupted CMOS.

allthough I tried most of what you described I'll try now.
About the beep - yea you're right - there IS the long beep but not the BIOS beep.
I'll let you know!

John Doe

I tried all configs and the onboard POST Led shows always C1 that means Memory corrupt. Is it that what you meant with Power on selftest? Or does it have to be on the monitor? Unfortunately I don't have any friend with "my" memory (DDR PC2100-3200) but I could buy one tomorrow and quicktest! Ohoh tim!e's getting short!

About the BIOS reset: tried the battery trick but that didn't change a thingy.


Thanx already. I'm grateful for more advice

John Doe

Power
On
Self
Test

Yup, sounds like you either have a couple of failed ram sticks or damaged RAM slots.
It is best to seat the ram by pressing both sides giving even pressure with your thumbs. Equal pressure both sides, until you feel a firm seating.

Ok so far: A friend told me, it could be the battery that might be empty...
That I can try when he provides me with a working one.
I tried different memory and that didnt help.

I'm beginning to get freaked out - computers have to work and not to make work!

John Doe

Empty battery wouldn't cause things like that. All that battery does is sustaining CMOS (hardware data, BIOS settings, etc.) so they don't get cleared on every power off. You can remove battery completly and run your computer without it, it will result in falling back to default BIOS settings and re-enumerating all the devices on every power on, nothing else. Maybe if battery wasn't fully loaded it could cause CMOS corruption and problems like you have, but it's not the case since you tried to boot with battery removed and it didn't change anything.

hi again.
Here an update again:
What I tried (unsuccessfully) so far to pinpoint a damaged part:

- removed everything including Powerbutton and started by a screwdriver
- 3rd party components tested: grafic card, PCI grafic card, BIOS battery, RAM, hard drive.
- Bios Reset by removing battery and CMOS Jumper
- all possible combination of components

What I could not test:

- CPU, Mainboard, power supply

CPU: Someone told me I would definitely recognize a damaged CPU due to smell, smoke and black marks
Mainboard: Still shows the POST messages. Most of the time C1=damaged memory, but sometimes, when I installed a new component it showed different codes. 25=Reserved, C3=Expand BIOS code to DRAM.
power supply: All the fans and the HD's still work (make sounds).


SO IS IT THE MAINBOARD THEN?


John Doe

Not neccesarily, only if it burnt, but there can be other CPU damages, without any fireworks.

Most probably, though if you can try another PSU and CPU then do that.

Thank you very much rutra80 but I have no resources for testing PSU and CPU so I will return the Motherboard and hope it'll be the damaged component.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT.

John Doe

Hello again.

Just for amusement I'd like to tell you the never ending story of customer vs online dealer:

A customer (me) once had a problem with a computer part. Faithfully he sent the part to his online dealer as a warranty case cause the 2-year-warranty wasn't spent yet.

After a week of waiting the customer got a little nervous because there was no notification of any kind that the parcel was received and he started blaming the good old parcel service.

He checked for a service hotline of the nice little online dealer to check if the parcel was received and he found two of them: A "low-cost" hotline for the usual 12 c/minute and a "premium" hotline for 2 €/min. Of course he chose the regular number because it was a regular question. Unfortunately he got an answering machine that asked him to wait a little. A N D H E W A I T E D... nothing. He tried several more times without any luck. Therefore he wrote an email with an online form of their website and waited again.

After a week or so the customer got a little more nervous and a little indignantly as well.
He wrote another email cause again he wasn't lucky with the hotline. Finally he got an answer to check his online customer account on the website (wow great, good service...): NOTHING!

Now began the war of the mails.

Sooner or later he got some kind of receipt but no information about how long this journey could last.
The little customer, who studied already quite some time, was about to start with his final exams. Unfortunately he was bound to the fact of needing a strong Computer for that.
That in mind, after four weeks of waiting he got VERY nervous and a little angry as well about the lack of service he got from the online store.
He started researching on the internet and found out, that he wasn't the first one, having troubles with RMA (complaints) associated with that online dealer. He also found out that he had to set a deadline to keep open option for legal steps. So shall it be. He set a time limit after: After five and a half weeks my computer part should be in his hands again.

The answer was quick and disappointing. Quick means 20 minutes after sending (in comparison to a week for an answer before) and disappointing means that the online dealer obviously chose a predefined draft for emails with the content "legal". Let's just decline any legal thread cause hey - who would accuse us for a part thats 100€ worth. could have been a quotation of a staff member of this little online shop.

To make a long story short...

The short end was very long:

We pretend having a time machine so we could check what happened to the lost computer part in the end. Let's hop on: DSSSSSSUMMMMMM

A few weeks later (to be precise: nine and a half weeks since that start of this story) the bell rang at the door of the really angry customer and it was the parcel service with a parcel. He started smiling because he knew: That can ONLY be my beloved new computer part.
He opened the box and stumbled...

Could this possibly be? He rubbed his eyes and checked again. No it is true. What he saw was HIS OLD COMPUTER PART.
Reading the receipt he couldn't find a hint that the dead thing in there was touched AT ALL by a technician.
But our little believer grabbed his old machine and reinstalled the whole thing. He knew, the risk of breaking something grew everytime he assembled and disassembled.

The last move was to plug-in the ... plug. His nerves were thin as a spiderweb and you could see the sweat pearling down his neck.

POWER

again...


POWER


nothing.

Nothing moved. No sound at all. Whereas before the whole story at least the vans moved, now there was nothing AT ALL!



Good night.

Brilliant. This is like Hydrogen Audio reality TV

End of the Story:

My last cry for help: I called the manufacturer (a step I have to recommend to do in an early stage of a problem) and described the problem.
Whilest the nice guy on the other end of the line confessed it might be possible that the long waiting was their fault ( "Yea, it happens that we need quite some time to process an RMA." ) he offered to send me a brand new mainboard, that is more advanced but lacks one feature (instead it has a view others more!). I agreed and a week later I got my mainboard. In the end I was right. I was always very nervous that I assumed wrong that it MUST be the mainboard but now everything works just FINE.

THREE MONTHS OF WAITING!!


JD


PS: If you want to know about the bad little Shop of Horror, click this link. (For adults only!)