comp won't display

[Arundel]

The computer I built has been working fine for 6 months at least. Last night it froze so I shut it off and went to bed. This morning I turn it on and I get the beep code one long two short which is supposed to indicate video issues - no display comes up. I restart a couple times and the beep codes stop happening but still nothing comes up on the screen. I switch out the video card and put in another, still I get no display. I reset the CMOS to no avail. Also it does not start up imediately when I push the power button. I push it and then after 10 seconds or more without warning the comp starts up. Please give me ideas - could the CMOS battery have gone to cause this? What should I do to troubleshoot? Thanks. Config below

Abit kg7-raid
Athlon 1.4
512 mb ddr ram
IBM 30 gb Hd
WD 120 gb HD
ATI A-I-W 8500
Creative Audigy
Toshiba 16x/40x dvd drive
Sony DRU 500A dvd-rw
Win2k

 

[Arundel]

bump

 

[Ionizer86]

Are both AGP? It'd be handy to have a PCI vid card lying around it possible. (ie testing the slot)

 

[Arundel]

I actually happen to have a pci card lying around and I tried it - no difference.

 

[mechBgon]

Got a different 300W+ power supply you could test with? Does the monitor work on another system? How about the video card, does it work in another system?

 

[Arundel]

I don't have another power supply to test, would a bad power supply cause the video not to function? The monitor is fine, I've tried different video cards in the system and none have worked.

 

[Ionizer86]

Possibly the board or power supply (maybe the ram or cpu but I don't think so).

How many sticks is the ram? If two, I'd test one at a time, though ram is not a very likely culprit. I'd also try another cpu, maybe a cheap Duron, on the board, but I think it's either the PSU or board.

As for the cmos batt, if it's out, the bios won't hold the settings, but the comp should still work. Clearing the cmos mem and booting again is worth a try, as the bios settings can be reset easily.

 

[Arundel]

Thanks, can I get any other confirmations/ideas? so recap - I still get the beep code for video problems off and on but I've tried different video cards both pci and agp and it made no difference. When I press the power button it takes 15 seconds or more for the computer to actually begin powering up, it just sits there as if nothing happened and then all of a sudden turns on. Everything seems to proceed normally except I get no beep or the video beep code and no display comes up. So what could this be? agp port gone bad? bad CMOS battery? bad power supply (would this cause the video issues?) burned out cpu? or something else on the mobo? Thanks, I don't really want to go out and start buying new parts just to test the various components until I get a better idea of what it is likely to be.

 

[RReed]

You may want to check around on the motherboard look for blown caps, burn marks soemthing along those lines. Then check your agp slot make sure it's not damaged check for cracks, burn marks, etc. YOu may see if you can borrow a power supply from a friend. You can normally rip one out of another computer in under 10 minutes. I would try all this and then let us know the results.

 

[TheGrandHooHa]

This is a complete shot in the dark, but try disabling any power management settings in your bios. That 10-15 second delay might be due to something like 'Power On After System Failure' being activated. Again, this probably won't help, but it's something to consider.

 

[Arundel]

It was the power supply. So any recommendations for new power supplies or cases? Which are the best.

 

[lchyi]

I asked this same question like a month ago when I was thinking about replacing my TurboLink generic (which is a pretty good PSU in it's own right). Basically there were a few answers and it varies with your budget.

(no order whatsoever)
Allied
Sparkle
Antec
Enermax

Allied and Sparkle are the cheap but good ones.