A bit of background: There was a very close (like, 100s of feet or closer, by reports) lightning strike while I was away on vacation. The UPS, and thus the computer, was plugged in, but turned off. The UPS was also a decade old, but worked fine. My system was built circa 2008. It has an Asus M2N Deluxe motherboard, the video card was an XFX Geoforce 9800 GT.
At the time, I didn't know all that. All I knew is that I turned on my PC upon my return, it booted normally, but just as I was starting to do stuff, the UPS started beeping madly, then shut down hard. When I tried to fire the PC back up (I tried both on and off the UPS) it made a valiant try, but failed to make post. After that, pressing the power button caused the leds to just barely flicker and die. Unplug the video card, and it'd fire up, but then give one long, three short (no video), pause (random length) and beep again.
Well, dang. Troubleshooting ensued. I unplugged everything and the system would start, give the "no video" beeps and sit there. At one point I plugged the floppy in (yup, still have on of those!) and the system returned to just flicker and die. So, at first I thought, PS, but I decided in the end it was the video card. Having currently lost interest in building, I cheated and just looked for a card on Amazon with the same chipset - and received a used EVGA card. Plugged it in and now, instead of it not booting at all, it fires up, and the HD LED flickers as it should. Then the lights dim, it gives one long, three short, pauses, then gives one short. The HD light goes quiet. The monitors never register a signal. Both cards use the 6-pin plug, and I tried both plugs on the new PS (the old PS has only one)
I guessed maybe the PS had gone bad (by this time I'd heard about the lightning) so bought a new, much more powerful one. After installing it, sadly, nothing has changed. Both cards use the 6-pin plug, and I tried both plugs on the new PS (the old PS has only one)
Sound like the motherboard? Could it be anything else? This system has been running flawlessly for years, causing my troubleshooting skills to become rather rusty...
At the time, I didn't know all that. All I knew is that I turned on my PC upon my return, it booted normally, but just as I was starting to do stuff, the UPS started beeping madly, then shut down hard. When I tried to fire the PC back up (I tried both on and off the UPS) it made a valiant try, but failed to make post. After that, pressing the power button caused the leds to just barely flicker and die. Unplug the video card, and it'd fire up, but then give one long, three short (no video), pause (random length) and beep again.
Well, dang. Troubleshooting ensued. I unplugged everything and the system would start, give the "no video" beeps and sit there. At one point I plugged the floppy in (yup, still have on of those!) and the system returned to just flicker and die. So, at first I thought, PS, but I decided in the end it was the video card. Having currently lost interest in building, I cheated and just looked for a card on Amazon with the same chipset - and received a used EVGA card. Plugged it in and now, instead of it not booting at all, it fires up, and the HD LED flickers as it should. Then the lights dim, it gives one long, three short, pauses, then gives one short. The HD light goes quiet. The monitors never register a signal. Both cards use the 6-pin plug, and I tried both plugs on the new PS (the old PS has only one)
I guessed maybe the PS had gone bad (by this time I'd heard about the lightning) so bought a new, much more powerful one. After installing it, sadly, nothing has changed. Both cards use the 6-pin plug, and I tried both plugs on the new PS (the old PS has only one)
Sound like the motherboard? Could it be anything else? This system has been running flawlessly for years, causing my troubleshooting skills to become rather rusty...