Is it the motherboard??

[Treebeard]

Okay my computer will not boot, it sticks on the bios splash screen. elimitated cpu as problem.

My thoughts are the mobo is dead.

anybody have a second opinon.

[makntraks]

Okay my computer will not boot, it sticks on the bios splash screen. elimitated cpu as problem.

My thoughts are the mobo is dead.

anybody have a second opinon.

I would check numerous other things before assuming it's the MB...
Could be ps not putting out enough, hd connections, reseat ram, etc
Does it check you memory or look for the drives?

Did you reset the bios by removing the battery???

makntraks

[bazooka]

It might be time for a bios firmware upgrade.

[waheed]

I dont think its a dead motherboard. If the motherboard was dead, then your pc wouldn't even start up, let alone display a bios splash screen. the problem lies elsewhere, there are many possibilities, such as the memory, cpu, hdd etc... and even the MB but not a dead MB.

[makntraks]

It might be time for a bios firmware upgrade.

Not to take this to far off tangent... but what would this resolve?

Especially if the pc in question has been stable and nothing new added "prior" to his problems.....
I'll stick with bad PS, loose/bad cable... possible video card/ram issues (need reseating at the least)

makntraks

p.s. baz, I do respect most of your replies though.... just need to call on this one..

[Capmaster]

Did you try removing and reseating the CPU in its socket?

[Treebeard]

tried 2 different working cpus, ram i seated, tried booting from bootable disk, disconnected all drives except drive w/ os on it.
still no change in anything.

i may pull all out of the case and build from scratch and try to eliminate anything.

dont have an extra power supply or vid card to try.

[Capmaster]

tried 2 different working cpus, ram i seated, tried booting from bootable disk, disconnected all drives except drive w/ os on it.
still no change in anything.

i may pull all out of the case and build from scratch and try to eliminate anything.

dont have an extra power supply or vid card to try.

THe PS was my next suggestion. Many are marginal when sold and just get worse with time. If you have a lot of ripple in the DC, or if it's slightly low in voltage, it can do some funky things

[bazooka]

It might be time for a bios firmware upgrade.

Not to take this to far off tangent... but what would this resolve?

Especially if the pc in question has been stable and nothing new added "prior" to his problems.....
I'll stick with bad PS, loose/bad cable... possible video card/ram issues (need reseating at the least)

makntraks

p.s. baz, I do respect most of your replies though.... just need to call on this one..

Simple.

For example I had a system that would inexplicably lock up and did this for three years.

A bios upgrade fixed it.

At least it is a suggestion.

[Treebeard]

bios is the most recent available version

good suggestions so far.

[Treebeard]

One other piece of information,
windows did puke w/ a message of serious hardware failure and I was able to boot back to windows about 3 times then no more

[makntraks]

One other piece of information,
windows did puke w/ a message of serious hardware failure and I was able to boot back to windows about 3 times then no more

Then I doubt a bios flash will help.....
Sounds more and more like a hardware failure of some sort...

makntraks

[tekkieman]

I just went through this myself two days ago. You can probably rule out HD if it doesn't make it through BIOS. Don't need it. Unplug it. That will help take some load off the power supply as well. In my case, it was the second stick of ram. Same hardware message as you seem to be getting, only it was when trying to boot the OS. That's because even though ram was tested at BIOS, it does not test all address ranges. In your case, may be first bank causing the problem. How many sticks do you have, and do they need to be in pairs? If you only need one, remove bank 0 and move bank 1 to bank 0 and try again. If you need pairs and only have 1 pair, swap their positions, and see if you make it through BIOS, then error starting OS. Otherwise, I agree with most others. Probably the power supply.

[Treebeard]

i only have 1 stick of 512mb ram. and no spares to swap in to check it.

[tekkieman]

No spare ram, no spare power supply....no chance of finding the problem! :P

[Treebeard]

yup sucks to be me.

[smearbrick1]

I know this may sound like a ridiculous solution, but did you try clearing the CMOS (pulling the battery). Doesn't hurt to try. Also, can you enter the bios setup from where the computer stops?

Would you agree that if it was a power supply issue that it would not make it through post?

Did you trying yanking the OS hard drive and letting the system boot (attempt to boot) without it?

[Treebeard]

did reset cmos, pulled all drives except OS. will do that tonight

[Treebeard]

Update:

Have eliminated the power supply and memory now, also eliminated the hard drive.

I ordered a new motherboard, im suspecting something is wrong on the motherboard.

[Capmaster]

Update:

Have eliminated the power supply and memory now, also eliminated the hard drive.

I ordered a new motherboard, im suspecting something is wrong on the motherboard.

Looks that way. At least it'll probably be cheaper than if it had been the CPU

[Treebeard]

I just bought a new XP 2700 a week ago!! right before this died.
Heres what I ordered, nice upgrade from my kt400 chipset
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=246222

[smearbrick1]

Aren't those KT400's VIA chipsets? I heard they aren't very reliable.

[Treebeard]

Yes they are via chipsets. and it was a inexspensive board. but now ill be cruising w/ my nforce 2 ultra board an xp 2700

[zzyzzx]

Did you try booting to a DOS disk (i.e.- windows 98 boot disk).