possibly a bad motherboard..opinions please

[andrewjs18]

I'm currently using a machine that is about 4 years old and has all the original parts except the motherboard; that was replaced 2 years ago or so.

anyhow, I've been recently having this problem where when I push the power button on my PC to turn the machine on, the computer starts up but nothing shows up on the screen. in order for me to actually get anything to come up, I usually have to pull the plug on the psu and flip the switch. after that and a few hard power on/offs, I usually get the computer to come up, but it shows an overclocking error. here's the error to be exact:
Overclocking Failed! Please enter Setup to re-configure your system.
Press F1 to Run SETUP
Press F2 to load default values and continue

I haven't overclocked my system at all.

I've done the following to try to troubleshoot the problem:
1- replace psu
2- replace cmos battery
3- blow out all the dust of machine
4- reset the cmos (with the jumper)

I just switched the actual psu power cable, but I doubt that's the root cause of the problem.

what do you guys think it is? bad motherboard? bad video card? my monitor is only about a month old and the dvi cable is new.

system info:
motherboard- asus pk5c
cpu- intel e8400
video card- evga 8800 gts 320mb
psu- corsair hx620W
ram- g.skill ddr2
os- xp pro sp3

[AceInfinity]

First of all, make sure the cable from your tower to your monitor is secure, that won't be the problem, but you'll want to make sure that it isn't an issue if you solve the problem.

Is your power supply good enough to supply power to your machine? During the bootup your computer does a lot of memory tests which are very CPU intensive, so if you have a good power supply it would probably give you more reliable startups.

I'm reading that memory timing issues, and video card communication problems are sometimes the cause for this error. How many RAM cards do you have set in your computer? you could reduce the timings to cope with the extra loading.

Sometimes it is the settings too, you should check whether or not the setup was properly configured for your chipset. I've never had this report before, but I know that setup issues will cause problems. I'm familiar with all the BIOS settings since i've had issues with it a few times as well.

[andrewjs18]

First of all, make sure the cable from your tower to your monitor is secure, that won't be the problem, but you'll want to make sure that it isn't an issue if you solve the problem.

Is your power supply good enough to supply power to your machine? During the bootup your computer does a lot of memory tests which are very CPU intensive, so if you have a good power supply it would probably give you more reliable startups.

I'm reading that memory timing issues, and video card communication problems are sometimes the cause for this error. How many RAM cards do you have set in your computer? you could reduce the timings to cope with the extra loading.

Sometimes it is the settings too, you should check whether or not the setup was properly configured for your chipset. I've never had this report before, but I know that setup issues will cause problems. I'm familiar with all the BIOS settings since i've had issues with it a few times as well.

cables are all tight and double checked the other night.

the Antec psu is a 620W psu. I swapped in a brand new 600W psu just to see if that was the source of the problem, but I can confirm that it's definitely not a psu issue as the problem still exists several days after swapping them out. I even replaced the psu power cable thinking there might be an issue there but it wasn't the problem either.

I haven't changed any settings in the BIOS ever. the system was stable for almost 4 years up until recently.

so I'm going to run some RAM tests tonight and see if that returns any errors. if it doesn't, I'm basically left with it either being a video card issue or an actual motherboard problem.

[Dexdrex007]

it will be hard to troubleshoot problems like this, when i have problem like this, i do switching of parts, like use other mobo, use other Rams etc etc.

but you said that it saying the Overclocking failed ,

im 40% its the Mobo.

i also had this problem on one of my customer's PC. its motherboard has a defective Mobo, i RMA'ed it.

[andrewjs18]

it will be hard to troubleshoot problems like this, when i have problem like this, i do switching of parts, like use other mobo, use other Rams etc etc.

but you said that it saying the Overclocking failed ,

im 40% its the Mobo.

i also had this problem on one of my customer's PC. its motherboard has a defective Mobo, i RMA'ed it.

I'm pretty sure it's a bad mobo myself. I ran memtest for slightly over 10 hours on my RAM and it didn't produce any errors. so hopefully in the coming days when I have some spare time, I'll swap the motherboard out.