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Re: So if your computer\'s processor dies...
Would you believe....?
Ok, so while trying to resurrect my PC, I followed the advice given here and unplugged everything (read: unplugged the power cables to all the drives) but still got no signal to the monitor, so then it dawns on me (and Matt stated a bit more clearly) that you guys were saying to REMOVE the internal cards from their slots and try it.
So I did and hooked the monitor up to the built-in video port.
And I got a signal.
So I put the video card in - no signal.
Connected the monitor to the video card - got a signal.
Put the Sound Card in - got a signal.
Put the IDE Hard Drive card in - got a signal.
Put the 3-port FireWire card in and plugged in the floppy, CD, and System drive - no signal.
Unplugged the power to the CD drive - no signal.
Unplugged the System drive - no signal.
Unplugged the floppy and doublechecked that I had the cable on the board correctly - no signal.
Removed the FireWire card - I got a signal.
Plugged the Floppy in - got a signal.
Plugged in the System drive - got a signal.
Plugged in the CD - got a signal.
Plugged in one of the drives on my IDE card - got a signal.
Plugged in a 2nd drive on the card - got a signal.
Plugged in all the other drives and got a signal.
Put the FireWire card in - no signal [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]
So far I've replaced the power supply, the motherboard and RAM (foreseeing a voltage issue with my old RAM and the new board, I splurged on new sticks), the video card, and have a new CPU on the way, not to mention I've been without my "Super Computer" for almost a month, and the whole time it was a $20 PCI card from WalMart [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
BUT, just to be sure it wasn't the slot itself (on my previous board one of the PCI slots was kinda iffy - like the pins were too loose - only card that fit snug in it was the sound card because it was a bit thicker than the others), I moved the soundcard to that slot and got a signal.
Put the FireWire card in the slot the Sound Card came from - no signal.
A $20 card caused all this trouble [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
But this experience has given me a great idea for a BIOS feature - a diagnostics routine that will tell you, without being asked, if a given item is having some sort of fault, as well as having the on-board video bypassing all accessory slots (AGP, PCI, etc) to at least let the monitor run so it can deliver the message. That way if there IS a short somewhere outside the video, memory, or CPU circuit, you still get the message without having to take it to a shop or needing a degree from ITT to figure it out.
Would you believe....?
Ok, so while trying to resurrect my PC, I followed the advice given here and unplugged everything (read: unplugged the power cables to all the drives) but still got no signal to the monitor, so then it dawns on me (and Matt stated a bit more clearly) that you guys were saying to REMOVE the internal cards from their slots and try it.
So I did and hooked the monitor up to the built-in video port.
And I got a signal.
So I put the video card in - no signal.
Connected the monitor to the video card - got a signal.
Put the Sound Card in - got a signal.
Put the IDE Hard Drive card in - got a signal.
Put the 3-port FireWire card in and plugged in the floppy, CD, and System drive - no signal.
Unplugged the power to the CD drive - no signal.
Unplugged the System drive - no signal.
Unplugged the floppy and doublechecked that I had the cable on the board correctly - no signal.
Removed the FireWire card - I got a signal.
Plugged the Floppy in - got a signal.
Plugged in the System drive - got a signal.
Plugged in the CD - got a signal.
Plugged in one of the drives on my IDE card - got a signal.
Plugged in a 2nd drive on the card - got a signal.
Plugged in all the other drives and got a signal.
Put the FireWire card in - no signal [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]
So far I've replaced the power supply, the motherboard and RAM (foreseeing a voltage issue with my old RAM and the new board, I splurged on new sticks), the video card, and have a new CPU on the way, not to mention I've been without my "Super Computer" for almost a month, and the whole time it was a $20 PCI card from WalMart [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
BUT, just to be sure it wasn't the slot itself (on my previous board one of the PCI slots was kinda iffy - like the pins were too loose - only card that fit snug in it was the sound card because it was a bit thicker than the others), I moved the soundcard to that slot and got a signal.
Put the FireWire card in the slot the Sound Card came from - no signal.
A $20 card caused all this trouble [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
But this experience has given me a great idea for a BIOS feature - a diagnostics routine that will tell you, without being asked, if a given item is having some sort of fault, as well as having the on-board video bypassing all accessory slots (AGP, PCI, etc) to at least let the monitor run so it can deliver the message. That way if there IS a short somewhere outside the video, memory, or CPU circuit, you still get the message without having to take it to a shop or needing a degree from ITT to figure it out.
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