Shuttle XPC won't post

[Fighter of Foo]

Hey guys...

The other day I noticed that my media pc froze up while on a screen saver. So I did the normal hard reset, and much to my chagrin, the PC won't post. I know the DVD drive spins, and the HD spins up and the access light blinks a few times, so I'm pretty sure it's not a drive issue. Power is going to the mobo, since the power light on the board is on. I tried to reset the BIOS using the CMOS jumper, but that didn't work. I've tried disconnecting every non-critical piece of hardware, but still no luck.

It's a Shuttle SN45G XPC system (w/ the supplied FN41U mobo w/ onboard sound, ethernet, Nvidia graphics), AthlonXP 2700+ CPU (socket A), 1GB Crucial PC2700 ram, 320 GB Western Digital SATA HD, 16x Lite-On DVD Drive

My big question is, does anyone know why this would happen? I know that screen savers tend to be CPU intensive, so could it be a CPU issue?, or did something blow out on the mobo itslef?

Any and all help will be appreciated...Thanks in advance

 

[APE992]

Just to throw out possibilities, not necessarily what has happened.

1)At one point in time (I think it still happens with modern solder thats lead free) lead free solder would splinter and cause a short. I suppose it could cause your problem but you'd have to do some research.
2)Something just blew. You'd have to yank each component and test it or swap in known working parts to see what the problem is.

I had a mobo go "bad". I say this because it was a doornail and worked a few months later. What happened was my PSU blew and the A7N8X-X wouldn't post. It would beep a general memory code but the ram is fine as I'm using the same sticks in this box that I'm posting from. Yank the board, buy an a64 and an A8N-SLI deluxe and everything was fine. Fast forward 5 months and the mobo boots up perfectly fine with the same CPU in it the day it went under. It was having issues running without hiccups but I blame the fact it was a half-assed XP install with really crappy no name ram. I had a P3 that would regularly not post or beep codes and come back fully functional a few hours later. Did it to me twice and never did I figure out what it was.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Much more likely to be a ram or GPU problem. First try reseating each and then try substitution. Good luck.