Dead MOBO yes or no?

[ell]

In case I missed something, I have a giant home made rig with a
MSI P55-GD65 mobo brought in because of low memory warnings. I power it up and theres no video what so ever,
things I've tried: pulled cmos, swapped video card, pulled all ram (no beeps) put back in one ram. Hard drive sounds like its spinning up and fans come on as normal. Attached a speaker to get beep codes, managed to get 3 beeps, (memory) with one stick in, pulled it swapped it with another, no beeps but still no video.

 

[Krynn72]

Any onboard video?

Edit : whoops nevermind. Doesn't have it.

Tried the other pci-e slot for graphics card?
Sometimes I like to boot Gandalfs Win10 PE disk because it plays a loud startup music track. If you remove the customer hdd then usually it will boot from USB/DVD next by default and that's how you can boot it while "blind". It kinda sounds like it may be booting just without display, which is a weird symptom for a desktop mb, and why it could be just the pci-e slot.

 

[ell]

Any onboard video?

Edit : whoops nevermind. Doesn't have it.

Tried the other pci-e slot for graphics card?
Sometimes I like to boot Gandalfs Win10 PE disk because it plays a loud startup music track. If you remove the customer hdd then usually it will boot from USB/DVD next by default and that's how you can boot it while "blind". It kinda sounds like it may be booting just without display, which is a weird symptom for a desktop mb, and why it could be just the pci-e slot.

Yup, I put one of my cards in the second pci too. This is weird, still feel like I'm missing something. He has 3 hard drives in this thing too maybe I'll try disconnecting them and booting from a pe USB, but I doubt I'll get and video either. Hmm

 

[Larry Sabo]

Tried a known-good PSU?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Power supply?

 

[ell]

Tried a known-good PSU?

Not yet, last resort, spaghetti mess

 

[nlinecomputers]

Tried a known-good PSU?

You can tell what us old farts know to check first...

 

[nlinecomputers]

Not yet, last resort, spaghetti mess

That should be the FIRST thing you test. 20 years doing this. Always check power first.

 

[ell]

Lol you've got ten years on me, never seen a PS cause this but I hope I learn a lesson here!

 

[GTP]

You would be amazed/surprised/flabbergasted at what a "dodgy" PSU can do!

 

[ell]

You would be amazed/surprised/flabbergasted at what a "dodgy" PSU can do!

I wish I was, tried 2 power supplies, fail. She brings it in with a low memory message will leave with no video, not my desired outcome. I disconnected all drives too.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I wish I was, tried 2 power supplies, fail. She brings it in with a low memory message will leave with no video, not my desired outcome. I disconnected all drives too.

Not following. Are you saying it died on your bench?

 

[ell]

Not following. Are you saying it died on your bench?

No, I just got it in and powered it up, no video. She said the problem was low memory warnings and freeze up or shut downs. I'm pretty sure the hubby built this thing from scratch, put in what looks like 2 ssd drives and 3 standard sata something's not working right so he just wants someone to tell him what it is so he'll fix it. Hate it when this happens.

 

[GTP]

When you say "no video" is that no video at all or are you getting the post/bios screen?
I know you tried a PE disk but what about a vanilla live Linux?
Have you run any "offline" malware scans on the boot drive?

 

[ell]

When you say "no video" is that no video at all or are you getting the post/bios screen?
I know you tried a PE disk but what about a vanilla live Linux?
Have you run any "offline" malware scans on the boot drive?

No video at all, monitor goes to sleep mode, no signal, tried 2 monitors VGA &digital

 

[GTP]

Hmmm... Have you tried the "percussion" method? Lol

 

[nlinecomputers]

No, I just got it in and powered it up, no video. She said the problem was low memory warnings and freeze up or shut downs. I'm pretty sure the hubby built this thing from scratch, put in what looks like 2 ssd drives and 3 standard sata something's not working right so he just wants someone to tell him what it is so he'll fix it. Hate it when this happens.

Sounds like you are being setup. They said it was bootable but with issues, yet you have a DOA on the bench.

 

[ell]

View attachment 7211Hmmm... Have you tried the "percussion" method? Lol

LOL I'm going to get one of "those things" from my grandson

 

[ell]

Sounds like you are being setup. They said it was bootable but with issues, yet you have a DOA on the bench.

no kidding, grrrr practically broke my back hauling it upstairs again.

 

[ell]

No, she brought it in and told you that it had a low memory message. It was really dead on arrival. Not the same thing at all.

This is one of the reasons why we don't take in any computer for repair without having the client demonstrate the reported fault first. It takes a few minutes but it makes for a better diagnosis and clearly defines the point at which the computer becomes our responsibility.

The current state of the computer is not your problem, and you should already have a piece of paper with the client's signature on it saying exactly that. If you don't then you need to review your booking-in procedure.

But if you want to fix it: A home-built computer with behaviour which changes after being moved points to mechanical problems - wrong motherboard spacers, loose screws under the motherboard (I found three in one computer once), and similar cack-handedness. I'd be tempted to strip everything out of that case and test it on the bench in a minimal configuration with known-good RAM and PSU. Time-consuming but definite.

yes, I should have never taken it in when I heard "my husband knows about these things and put it together" (then why can't he fix it?!) I have no space to test desktops for customers in from of them, I won't allow them past the front door drop off area. Wish I did.