Computer Used to Work Fine

[cchen]

So I started playing fallout recently on my rig that has a c2d e6750 o/c to 3 ghz, 2 gb ram, and a 7600gt. not the greatest specs but i don't do much gaming but wanted to try out fallout. anyway, sometimes, as i was playing, the video card fan would get really really loud and the graphics would start to get distorted. at this point i would usually exit the game. however, the display would then keep on refreshing when at the desktop, so i'd reboot.

however, the computer wouldn't start back up. it would power up, video card fan still running very loud, not post, turn off, power up again, etc etc until finally it would boot back up again. this process would sometimes take minutes, but sometimes even hours before it would boot back up again.

well i stopped playing fallout and i haven't had to reboot the computer in a long time. xp was being buggy a few days ago so i decided to reboot. bad move, as it won't turn on. i've left it on literally for days and it just continues the cycle of power on, no post, power off.

i've unplugged everything and have only the cpu, ram and video card in the mobo. took out the mobo and its sitting on a piece of cardboard right now. reset bios. now when i turn it on, it just stays on, all fans at full blast, keys light up on keyboard. no post, no beeps.

any ideas on what could be the problem? tried switching ram slots, took out video card and put it back in. i don't have any extra hardware unfortunately to test with. any help is appreciated

 

[oynaz]

Your video card has overheated. The cooling system was probably defective in the first place, and Fallout put too much pressure on it.

It sounds like this has killed your video card. If your card is still under warranty, contact the manufacturer. You may be entitled to a new one.

 

[cchen]

The weird thing is how everything worked fine until I rebooted. The other thing is that even when I remove the video card I still don't get any beeps from the bios

 

[pugster]

What kind of power supply you have? You might want to consider to replace your power supply because it is not providing enough juice to your computer.

 

[cchen]

corsair vx450, it has enough juice...

so i got a new video card, still won't boot.

now its down to the motherboard, cpu, ram, or psu. any way i can test without having to buy new components?

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

That sounds like a voltage issue to me, but it could be a number of things. What voltage is your RAM spec'd for? Are you overclocking them along with your CPU? If your RAM is spec'd at, say, 2.0V and you OC'd, it might have needed more voltage, especially when taxed by Fallout. Low voltage can also cause your constant reboots. If you reset your CMOS and the board is supplying stock Vdimm (usually about 1.8V), then your RAM might not even allow you to POST.

Try taking your RAM out completely and see if your board complains. If it does, then you probably do have some issue with the RAM (not enough voltage, bad DIMM slot, bad stick of RAM, etc.). Also, you said you tried different DIMM slots -- did you use single sticks of RAM to test? If not, use each module separately in every slot. If you can POST with a particular stick or slot and not another, then you may have found your problem. If you get no POST beeps regardless of whether or not RAM is present, that doesn't rule out the RAM, but it does mean that POST never gets to the RAM test.

Then you get to focus on mobo, CPU, and PSU. Without having another mobo/CPU to try, that could be difficult. CPUs don't usually just die on you unless you manage to fry them or otherwise physically damage them. Mobos and PSUs are more likely to crap out. Your PSU isn't completely dead since it will spin up your fans and turn on your keyboard, but without a multimeter or another PSU to try, you can't be sure that it's supplying enough voltage to boot. If you can't narrow down the problem, you're simply going to need additional components to test with.