blank monitor when booting

my mate has just arrived and hes checked it. he says it looks like the processor chip has overheated. what now. do i get a new m/board and processor? which is the best m/board and a fast processor. i was looking at the ASUS A7N8X 2.0 but dont know which proc goes with it

 

It certainly won't hurt to follow all the helpful suggestions from Rockster2U and mattman because each has years of experience, as do I.
Of course, there are minor differences in everyone's experience and that makes for a somtimes lively discussion, usually of minor points of difference.

Sounds like you have plenty of knowledgeable help.

Overheating either processor or mobo can result from a faulty psu (power supply). I know of no reliable test of either mobo or psu outside an electronics lab, and substitution is really the only practical thing to do. It's up to the user (you), but I'd opt for a new mobo and psu because the unit posts, which means that the CPU is working, albeit that we don't know how well. If you find that the CPU is also damaged, you'll know what to do; but it's a good model and I suspect it'll be fine.
BTW, you must remove the old heat conducting compound and replace it when replaceing the CPU on a new board, or you WILL fry it.

 

Rockster2U, mattman, and rosha,

It seems to me that the problem in this machine is with the 'north bridge' portion of the chipset, part of the function of which is the handling of the AGP slot and 2D/3D graphics; it's not amenable to much modification by the bios. I've seen it black out the screen intermittantly when it's fan quits, so I believe that damage (heat or electrical) to the chip can explain the present problem. It's soldered in place. That's why I think nothing less than mobo replacement can solve the problem.

I made my mobo suggestion above, but the Asus is also excellent.

 

It could well be a mobo problem.
I have a an Asus computer that belonged to a friend and boots with a blank monitor sometimes. When I reseat the video card it will generally start booting normally. It will do some other crazy things and I have just labelled it as a "bad" motherboard. I recently came across a compatible video card (one of the original 1X/2X AGP cards) and installed that. It now seems to be booting correctly every time. One or two other times I have seen "booting without the monitor" have related to the video card.

rosha's does "beep" and seem to boot through into the OS, only it does not output a signal to the monitor. I would borrow another video card and see it if "magically" started working. After that I would tend to think that it was a motherboard problem. I would tend to doubt that you would get a POST beep and harddisk activity with a "broken" CPU (although, I think some of the CPU processes relate directly to the video, like "MMX technology "). Still, I would change both motherboard and CPU if it came to that, I don't think it would be worth "chasing down" the problem much further.

Matt

 

I agree, matt. I suggested that earlier, but maybe it should be done now if it hasn't been, before going to a new mobo. Up to rosha, of course.

 

I think you guys have it pegged quite well and I'd throw my vote with Sparrow re: the Abit NF7S - awesome board for the money. Will run the current CPU and memory and rosha, should you want to upgrade your processor and/or memory down the road - no problem. Can't do much better than this in my book.

 

sparrow,I just checked those links, they are amazingly inexpensive. They would make a good backup/interim card. You would not have much to lose at those prices.

Matt

 

mattman,

I keep a couple of inexpensive video boards around for testing purposes.

 

Rehi Rocksrer2U,

Thanks for the vote of confidence; coming from you it really means something!

I found an interesting web page for anyone interested in the VLSI motherboard ICs:. Do a search on the page (ctrl-F) for "The North Bridge" to see this problem.

 

right guys. i removed video card, graphic card, extra memory, spare hard drive from the pc and started from scratch. theres nothing different as i add back each piece. the video card works fine in the other pc. (the specs are the same). i,ve now decided to get the and xp 3000 and the gigabyte m/board. i,d like to say thanks to all of you for the help you gave. i could,nt have worked it out without you.

 

Interesting ......

 

Hi rosha,

Thanks for the update. Hope you'll let us know how the build goes; sounds like your first.

Hope you're successful. Best of luck.

 

had to buy new m/board and cpu. but never mind its done now. thanks everybody

 

You're very welcome. Glad you're successful.