Quake3World

The other night after cleaning my PC, my PSU blew. Seriously, smoke came out of it, it stunk. I went out and bought a new PSU hoping it would fix the issue but sadly my MoBo and PSU were dead.

So, I go out and buy a new MoBo, a new PSU, new CPU and new RAM. But I keep getting "no video input" on my monitor. At first I thought it was a bad MoBo, but I've changed that for qa new one and the problem stays...

Some notes:

1) I've reset the cmos jumper, no change.
2) I've tried a clean boot with just whats needed, i.e. the mobo, ram and CPU/fan, no change. The new board has no onboard VGA, but still even with my GPU plugged in, no change. So the problem is there no matter what video input I use.
3) Checked, double checked and tripple checked wiring. All wires that would be needed to boot are in place.
4) Same issue on two mother boards now, not just one.

Now as I said, I've already took the MoBo back to get that replaced and that never fixed my issue. I'm now left thinking it could be the CPU (Not Likely) or the PSU (Possibly). Anybody else think the PSU is the case here?

When I flip the switch on my PSU, the machine comes on straight away. The CPU fan spins full speed constant, the GPU fan spins full speed constant. I get no error beeps at all, regardless, unless I leave the power cable out of my GPU, in which case of course I get beeps...

So I'm really at a loss here... I've stripped it down to its basic components, three of them, and its not the mother board so I'm now down to two... Could it REALLY be a faulty PSU I've got? Would it still power up as such, but not give video input? Any thoughts guys?

Specs:

AMD Athlon X2 Duel Core 5000
AM2 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2
550w PSU unbranded
DDR2 ram, 2gig, 800
Geforce 8800 GT 512meg...

That should be all you need for this anyway... Any thoughts would be AWESOME guys...

why are you not suspecting the GPU?

Yes, check the GPU.

And I would have thought you would learn your lesson and get yourself a decent branded power supply. Cheap, generic PSU's are generally a time bomb waiting to happen.

Because my GPU works on another board, and I also get the same issue with the built in onboard GPU via both DVI and VGA (on the old board, new board doesnt have one).

So, it cant be the GPU.

Also, the Mother Board wont beep at me no matter what I do, even if there is no Ram present, which is really confusing me... So as you can figure out it SOUNDS like the board, but two boards in one go? Both with the same issue, both different types? I doubt that...

The only things that have stayed the same are the CPU and PSU... And I doubt its the CPU?

well , you have elimated almost everything by trial and error what could be faulty except PSU keyboard, mouse, loose cpu fan and cpu.

i hate being in your shoes and i've been there too many times.
it's usually a costly trial and error excersise.

Yeah, thankfully I bought it all from a store near here, about 10mins drive. Its a pain getting there but it would be more a pain if i got it online... So, Monday, its all going into the shop and wont leave until its sorted. I've wasted far too much time and effort on something that, I think, Isn't even my fault. The PSU seems to be the likely problem. I dont think i would be the CPU but you never know...

I am right in saying its still possible for all the fans etc to kick in at max even if the PSU is naff right?

my guess .. simply watching fans spin doesn't mean the PSU is working properly
i doubt fans require the same current presicion as a cpu .. if the voltage is eratic then maybe it would cause cpu/gpu failure.

I know you said your MB doesn't come with onboard video, but have you checked the BIOS anyway to make sure that it's set to PCI Ex. instead of PCI or anything else that your card isn't?

Also, I'm sure you did, but did you plug in the PSU to the vidcard?

how can he check anything in the bios when it wont post?

in this case, i would look toward the PSU, but first the ram.

I dunno about ram, because when i power the board up with no ram i dont get any warning beeps...? So its not even getting that far...?

So I'm honestly thinking PSU.

Solved my issue guys, it was my PSU like I thought.

Now I have another issue... I've lost my sodding memory stick... Bah... *looks*

good on ya

Yeah all is well, even found my memory stick, was down the back of the chair in the car.

So alls good Woop!