Computer crashed and won't POST

[cbell]

Hey all, I'm new to this forum, so I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum or if I'm giving too much info.

My comp started crashing occasionally about a month ago. The screen would go black, and the comp would be frozen (I couldn't put it to sleep or get the HDD's to do anything, as far as I could tell). It always happens while using windows media player, and I'm pretty sure always when it's switching between full-screen and windowed. Strangely enough, it always seems to happen around midnight, but I'm just chalking that up to coincidence right now. I changed from Catalyst drivers to Omega drivers, and the problem happened less frequently after that, but still occasionally.

Last night, it did the same thing, except this time it wouldn't turn back on. The monitor doesn't recieve any signal. At first I assumed that it was the video card, but I don't get any 'beep' at POST. The optical drives spin up if there is a disk in it, and the HDD light flickers a little, but no POST and no 'beep' at all.

I don't know where to start diagnosing this, since I have no extra components to swap in, and nobody I know has a rig that I can test my components in. Anybody know what my first step should be? My first thought is to do a jumper-reset of my BIOS. Any reason I shouldn't?

My CPU is overclocked from 2.4 to just under 3.6, but it never crashes at high loads, only when it's using windows media player, and the CPU is pretty much idle. All my temps are within safe limits, at least last time I checked.

If resetting the BIOS doesn't help, then I'm at a loss as to where to start diagnosing. Thanks in advance for the help; any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz running @ 3.55GHz
RAM: 2gigs Dual Channel DDR2 Team Xtreem PC6400 @ 4-4-4-8
Hard Drive: 2X Seagate 320GB 16MB cache 7200RPM in RAID0
Heatsink: Big Typhoon
Case: Ultra Aluminus
Power: Ultra 550W Modular Powersupply
Graphics: ASUS ATI X1950 Pro
Optical: BenQ DW1620 & Pioneer DVR-111D
Moniter: LG 20.1" Widescreen L204WT

Update:

So I cleared the CMOS by removing the battery and switching the jumper, and it doesn't seem to have helped anything. I still get nothing on the monitor when I power on, and there is no BIOS 'beep'. I have no idea where to go from here. Has anyone got an idea of what I could try next, or what component might be failing?

 

[PC eye]

If the system shuts off immediately after powering it on you may have seen the board crap out on you there. The lack of the single beep heard at post time points at the board as the most likely item to have failed there. Bad caps or a bad chipset even bios eprom chip may have simply gone doa on you.

For video cards, cpu, memory type problems the board will sound off with a specific beep code provided the board has an onboard speaker. For no default beep heard at post it sounds like the board went on you.

For Omega drivers seeming to run better then the version of catalyst you had on that may have been too new for that model card. ATI loves to drop support on cards fast.

 

[cbell]

The lack of a BIOS beep had led me to believe that it's the motherboard as well. I upgraded the thermal paste on the northbridge and southbridge a while back, which most definately voided my warranty. Is there any chnace that the problem could lie with the PSU? Or does the fact that the fans are spinning rule that out? (For reference, I have been running this rig without issue for about a year now, with no indication that any components are defective)

 

[cbell]

Update:

A revelation... I tried booting with no RAM, and got a repeating sequence of three beeps. Not sure if that means that the MOBO is working, but it's more life than it showed before. Not sure what to attempt now though.

 

[cbell]

Turns out that the problem was the RAM. It appears that one of the chips died, since it'll boot with one of the DRAM in, but not the other. That was espensive ram too... I wonder what would have caused that. If I just buy another 1 gig chip, will it work properly in dual channel with the other one that I still have?

 

[Lane]

I have a similar problem, mine will start to post but then freeze in the middle of posting. As I keep resetting it will freeze at different points, I have swaped my ram and when I did that it would not post at all the screen remained black wich leads me to think I could have the same problem as you did, I will have to try it tomorrow as for now it is running very well. This is only a problem for me after it is turned off all night and I try to start the next day.

So what I am thinking is that when it is reading the ram at post it sees something not sure though.

 

[PC eye]

Turns out that the problem was the RAM. It appears that one of the chips died, since it'll boot with one of the DRAM in, but not the other. That was espensive ram too... I wonder what would have caused that. If I just buy another 1 gig chip, will it work properly in dual channel with the other one that I still have?

Board or something on the board like memory. A doa dimm will hamper things fast. For replacing the one dimm you would have to iorder the exact same by that brand or equivalent of the same type and timings by another.

Your best move would be the same if say you are seeing 4-4-4-11 with the current dimm remaining simply grabbing any dimm might see 4-5-4-15 or some other latency issue. Then you have the option of buying a totally new matched pair of dimms leaving that as a spare.