All fans spin but NO POST

Hi...,

After intensive search in this forum I’m posting my problem…
I'd assembled a System in Oct 04 with OS Win2K. It worked well for an year. I decided to upgrade the OS to WinXP. While upgrading I noticed during one of the reboots that the welcome page before POST began, had shown as Celeron D, whereas the system I had built was Pentium IV 2.4Ghz. .. Anyway, I completed upgrading the System to WinXP. During subsequent restarts, I observed that at least 1 out of 5 times welcome page showed as Celeron D. Out of curiosity, I opened the heat sink to reconfirm the make of the CPU. It was marked as Pentium IV 2.4GHz. Reassembled everything back.

Configuration of my system is as below:
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CPU-Intel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz
MB-Intel D865GBF
RAM-256MB 266MHz (Now 2 x 256MB 400MHz)
Seagate 80GB
PSU 300 Watts
ATX Tower Cabinet with 1 In Fan, 1 Out Fan
LG CD writer

Now, I started facing the series of actual problems:
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1. The System works well, as long as I run ordinary programs.
2. Idle conditions, the CPU zone temp is 46 to 48C max. Any low end games will raise the CPU temp to 54 to 56C max. And high end games will raise temp above that & system will freeze!
3. Well the system can be used for several hours in idle condition or with ordinary software, but the system DOES NOT START even after normal shut down..
4. After normal shut down and wall power taken off, when the system is powered back again, the CPU & Cabinet fans run and NO DISPLAY, NO POST, NO BEEP....
5. I tried all possible methods to identify the problems through reading the Intel website, Forums etc...
6. Some of the quick solutions were like, CMOS battery change, Bios recovery, RAM replacement, PSU replacement and reassembling the parts one-by-one in sequence, etc. Nothing worked.
7. Finally, I could start the system by removing the CPU & reseating it again, placing the heat sink back with thermal paste. But the problem starts again when the system is restarted. But the problem is solved temporarily every time by reseating the CPU! And no other methods mentioned in sl. no. 6 work

My first question is, which out of CPU & MB has gone bad or both of them? And next Q is, Can the problem be resolved in any tricky method or should I try returning the CPU/MB Intel?

Thanks to all & welcome with some genuine solutions.

Is there a fan on the heatsink or is it just a heatsink?

I would say it's the CPU. In my experience, no display, no post, no beep, but fans and HDDs spinning, means bad CPU.

^ Bizarre.

Suggestion: try an equally bizarre experiment. Get it to boot up and leave it running a bit to your satisfaction. Then, literally, pull the plug out of the wall. Don't shut down. Don't even use a switch. Plug it back in and see if it reboots. It might be somewhat telling. (I know that normally isn't advisable but it will determine if the problem is caused by something in the shutdown process)

specifically if you're using a BIOS flash update, it might be flashing the BIOS on reboot because something in the startup if triggering it and it's permanently in the queue since it never succeeds. Thus, removing the CPU somehow resets that but on shutdown it queues up the BIOS flash again, and the cycle renews ...

If you can boot, might also boot in safe mode then reboot from there.

Thx to jharnois & medialint for reply,

1. Replying to jharnois:-

There is a fan on the heatsink.

If you say CPU is bad...then how's possible that system restarts everytime I reseat the CPU? If i'm not wrong the CPU is never intermitent...and it should either be dead OR alive...So du u agree?

2. Replying to medialint:-

The bizarre experiment in para1 is interesting one. But I don't know I should try this...the mobo is still under waranty period.. Pls tell if there is any risk to the mobo..

Your second para: I agree with ur guess which even i hv the similar kind. But hou2 clear that..? As i said initially, if i could boot, the system works fine for ever till I shut down....and it will never come up.... .... untill I reseat the CPU..

rgds,
BellyBotton

I'm going with the CPU too. Just to check tho, you haven't accidentally clipped the heatsink & fan the wrong way around so the hinge isn't resting against any transistors ??

As for medialints experiment, there shouldn't be any damage to your motherboard if you only do it occasionally (they are built to withstand a certain amount of power interrupts, e.g. power cut).

If you are reflashing your BIOS, try and do it again when you get the system up and running. Doing it again may overwrite the existing process.

Thx aitken325i,

That's really soothing one..

I would certainly check the CPU resting against any transistors. Also try medialints experiment.

Now I've removed the battery for more than 48hrs. Let me replace it back & let me do all the above tests and come back again...

thx.

I can only provide ideas based on my experience, and while I've never experienced something quite like this, the other signs still lead to CPU, so, yes, I'm still saying CPU, and yes, I could definately be wrong.

Thx jharnois,

for ur providing the ideas. I do give respect to the experience. And encourage u to come out with more such ideas.

Now, can u throw some light on the mobo behaving in such manner, i mean it could be related to bios, chipsets etc..
I'm trying to convice u that such behaviour could be related to mobo and not the cpu...although the system becomes alright after reseating the cpu...well i may be wrong. But i'm just trying to know more on mobo and it may be possible and cpu dead means dead.

Sorry..i'm trying to dig out all possibilities to solve this issue. And i've myself neither come accross such problem earlier nor read in any forums...Pls. let me know if any posting with similar problem

Thx.

Dear aitken325i,

Yesterday, I checked the heatsink/Fan none of them resting on any of the transistors. They are mounted as per the guidlines given in the mobo manual...

I also tried medialints experiment but couldn't get any clue...

Replaced the battery after 48 hrs..once again upgraded the bios (but it doesn't really upgrade since it is already done)

Recovered the bios...still NO JOY

Thx,
BellyBotton

Have you or did you research hardware compatibility b/w your motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Video Card?

I would start with the CPU. If you experience the same problems, move on to the motherboard. Either way, you need to start replacing something if you want to figure out the problem.

Hi jharnois,

Yes, Swapping the components with other best known components is the best way to detect & eliminate the problem. So far I hv swapped RAM, PSU, HDD, KB, Monitor & Mouse. I dont hv a spare MB & CPU right now. I shall wait 4 sometime to get one or trade 4 it. Anyway, I shall come back with the result when do the test. Meanwhile I'm only finding some other logical methods to find the fault (either CPU or Mobo).


Thx & rgds,
BellyBotton

I think jharnois may be on the right track. I've actually had the exact lovely experience with my system this past week (minus the POST screen identifying my CPU incorrectly). I'm still trying to push my socket A system to the limits and dragging my feet on getting a 939 based system. My A7N8X-E Deluxe MB couldn't boot over 219 MHz FSB unless I left the window open in the middle of winter and even then it was sketchy at best. So, I lapped both the NB and SB, and lapped their heatsinks. After putting everything back together, I set the FSB to 222 right away and thought everything was stable for the first few min. Only needed 1.75 volts for the CPU as always with my OC's on my 2500+, but the system froze. So after a hard reset I was going to up the volts but never even got the POST screen. I thought I had blown a capacitor or something since none of my components showed any sign of fatigue over the life of the system. I tried everything to get the board back to life, flashed the bios chip on a universal programmer at work... nothing. Bought a new bios chip from badflash.com.... nothing. Even tried the stupid placing the MB on tin foil for a night trick out of desperation... nothing. I pulled everything off the board, left only the vid card and processor to see if it'd complain about not having any ram installed... no beeps at all. So I figured I had toasted my board beyond repair. So I took out my old MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU (has always treated me right). Put my 2500+ in it, turn it on, gets to the desktop, freezes, and same thing all over again. No POST each time I reboot. I put back in my 1700+ Palomino (L1 bridge mod of course ) and it fired right up. And that's where I'm currently at right now. Talk about a pain in the ***!! I just hope those poor bios chips haven't been abused too much with all the installing and uninstalling I've been doing with them. If anyone cares, I'll be testing my Palomino on my Deluxe board to see if anything is salvagable. Hope this can help people out who are experiencing the same problems.

Well, that was fun. After everything I've done (my desk, living room and computer room floor look like a computer exploded all over them), I was dead sure the problem was isolated to the cpu. Nope. Then I found that the processor worked but with other ram sticks I had. Must be the mem that was bad. Nope. Everything is "back" in the system (still a pile on my desk and not in my tower) and running like a champ In short, if you ever have problems you can't figure out, send the hardware to me and I'll sit on it for a few days then send it back good as new. The computer gods are finicky folk The scary part is I know what I'm doing, despite how these last two posts make it seem.