What
is the motherboard doing (or not doing)? Is it totally refusing to power up? If
so, try stripping it down to the bare minimum: motherboard,
CPU+heatsink,
RAM, power supply, graphics card, video cable to monitor.
That
means no hard drive, no floppy drive, no cables, no keyboard, no
Mouse,
no PCI cards, etc. If you can, take the motherboard out of the
Case
and put it on a flat, no conducting surface, like a piece of
Cardboard
or a wooden table.
Connect
the power cables to the motherboard, but do not connect the 50
million
little connectors to the case. Locate the two pins on the
motherboard
that connect to the case power button. Instead of connecting
the
power button cable to those pins, touch the head of a screwdriver to
those
pins. That will take the place of the power button for now.
If
the computer still does not start, try removing and reinstalling the
CPU,
RAM, and graphics card. It could be that one of those is loose.
Now
that the computer is out of the case, you should have easy access to
those
sockets.
If
the computer still does not start, make sure that the "Clear CMOS"
jumper
is set to the "Normal" position. Some manufacturers ship
motherboards
with this jumper in the "Clear" position to preserve battery
life.
I do not believe FIC does this, but it is easy enough to check.
Here
are some additional steps just in case:
The
surest way I can determine if the motherboard is bad is to install (known good)
basic components and see if the system will fire up.
Basic
setup for testing:
CPU
Motherboard
RAM
Video(Card)
& Monitor
Power
Supply
Keyboard
Many
motherboard these days also come with some form of self diagnostics built right
in (in addition to the BIOS beep codes). Either with LEDs, or on screen codes,
I've even run across a motherboard that will "talk".
NUMBER 2:INSTRUCTIONS:
· 1
Turn the computer off and then remove the power cable from
the electrical wall outlet. Plug a power cable from a different electrical
device into the outlet and power it on so that you can rule out the outlet as
your problem. Connect the computer's power cable back into the outlet.
· 2
Power the computer back on and place your hand behind the
case near the power supply. Wait a few moments to see if any air is pushed out
of the power supply by the cooling fan. Replace the power supply instead of the
motherboard if the fan is not working.
· 3
Shut down the computer again and pull out all of the cables
from the back side of the case. Remove any other devices you have connected to
the front ports on the computer such as a USB printer or jump drive.
· 4
Set down the computer so that the left side panel is facing
towards you. Unlock the side panel from the computer case by removing the case
screws if there are any. Twist of the thumbscrew or pull up on the metal
holding latch if the computer does not use case screws.
· 5
Remove the screws holding any expansion cards to the case
and then pull them off the motherboard. Pull out all of the cables running from
the motherboard to the power supply and drive bays. Pull out the screws holding
the motherboard to the case. Pull the motherboard straight up out of the case
and set it down carefully on a flat non-metal surface.
· 6
Check to make sure that there is no physical damage to the
motherboard such as bent pins or burnt transistors. Purchase a new motherboard
and place it back in the case if there is any visible damage.
· 7
Remove the screws holding the power supply to the case and
slide it out of the drive bay. Set it down near the motherboard and connect the
SATA cable from the motherboard to the power supply. Connect the power cable
from the power supply to a wall outlet. Plug cable from the computer's monitor
into the corresponding port on the motherboard.
· 8
Remove the RAM modules and replace them with another set.
Press down the power button on the motherboard with a screwdriver or another flat
object. Wait to see if the computer loads up without error, which will indicate
that the problem is with the RAM modules instead of with the motherboard.
· 9
Power the motherboard back off and replace the processor
with a different one. Turn the motherboard back on and see if the system boots
up normally, which will indicate a defective processor.
· 10
Turn the motherboard off and replace the video card with a
different one. Power the motherboard on and see if the system boots up, which
will indicate a defective video card.
· 11
Replace the motherboard if the system still will not boot up
after all of the other components have been checked.
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