Computer won't turn on. No beeps, no display

[jd342]

Hi guys,

So I'm in the middle of watching the end of the 4th season of The Wire on my PS3, when I get a media server error, and the playback stops. I originally assumed that the computer (the one serving the media over the network) had done an automatic Windows restart or something, and would eventually come back on. Well, that never happened. I went to the machine to check it out, and all of the inside lights were on, including the keyboard and mouse, the fans and HDDs were spinning, but there was no display to the monitor. Restarting by pressing the power key on the case didn't work. I was still getting no display as even the BIOS screen wasn't showing.

At first I thought it was a video card issue, but if that was the case, the operating system would still be running, and the media server would still be up. So I then tested the ram. There are two 1 GB sticks being used, so I tried each one individually. Still nothing.

Now I'm thinking (mostly because I've been Googling the issue, and these seems to be the likely culprits) that it's either the power supply, or the motherboard. I tried turning the system on with no ram to see if it would beep, and nothing happened. Still no display either. The only difference is everything goes on, waits a few seconds, then shuts off. It will keep doing this until I press the power button again.

So I'm not completely stuck, not yet anyway, but I could definitely use some more experienced insight before I go any further. What I'm going to try to do is to find an extra power supply and use that. Getting another motherboard right away won't be as easy so I'm hoping I can find out what's really going on with the other power supply.

Here are the specs to my system. It was built from scratch.

Video card - EVGA 512-P2-N757-TR GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

RAM - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core

Power supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jd342]

Some more info...

After waiting a few days, then going back and reconnecting everything, the computer successfully turned on.  After about 5 minutes or so, it abruptly shut off like it did before.  Then the same problem of no display or anything occurred.    I tried clearing the CMOS and still nothing.

Any ideas?

[Karnac]

Sounds like overheating, how's the housekeeping.....dust buildup, fans clean, working, etc......Check monitor cable and connections.......Try a different monitor, have you moved or jolted the case recently.....make sure the heatsink is flush to the motherboard all around......then swap the PSU.

[BC_Programmer]

if the video card failed the PC would not stay up as you hypothesize; the symptoms experienced in that situation would be the same as those you've observed.

[Computer_Commando]

...What I'm going to try to do is to find an extra power supply and use that. Getting another motherboard right away won't be as easy so I'm hoping I can find out what's really going on with the other power supply...

Do as Karnac suggests.