is the motherboard fried?

[Beyond]

monitor and computer were plugged into the same outlet without any kind of surge protection. pretty sure monitor is dead.

tried a different monitor with the onboard video. still no picture (only a blank screen) when the computer turns on.

went out and bought an agp graphics card. still no picture.

even tried a pci graphics card. no picture.

the power switch no longer works for the computer.. to turn it on/off you have to unplug power cord from psu (computer is in an always on state) also, when the computer first boots the optical drive can eject, but a few seconds later the drive has no power and for it to close you must manually push it in. also, when the power switch connector is disconnected from the motherboard the computer still turns on by plugging the power cord into the psu. when the cd-rom has no power, the cpu's fan does spin, however.

if the motherboard is dead, the strange part though is the fact that after the installation of the agp card the computer worked. however, after restarting the computer same case: blank screen.

also, the day after the above it booted once. hasn't worked since, however. (this was with a new power supply and the agp card..)

i'm positive it isn't the power supply for i went out and bought a new one to check. also, i have an old motherboard on which i used the power supply from the computer that doesn't work along with the agp card plugged into my monitor. it boots just fine.

if in fact the motherboard is dead, what confuses the CRAP out of me is how the computer has worked twice on bootup but no more....

HELP!

edit: evidentally it's not posting, either. when i take out the memory and boot i don't get any kind of beeps now...

 

[tripleplay905]

Your onboard battery might be dead. I may be causing your BIOS not to save settings. Check in bios to see if your can set it to boot to a pci card or agp card.

 

[Beyond]

Your onboard battery might be dead. I may be causing your BIOS not to save settings. Check in bios to see if your can set it to boot to a pci card or agp card.

during the time when i was able to get the computer working i went into the bios, and the graphics setting was set to pci first. this would definitely be the default settings, as the user of the computer wouldn't even know how to get into bios. so even if it were somehow changed, i have tried resetting the CMOS.. which didn't help anything.....

 

[Praetor]

if the motherboard is dead, the strange part though is the fact that after the installation of the agp card the computer worked. however, after restarting the computer same case: blank screen.

How do you know the card works?


Now what parts are you trying to get working now?

 

[Beyond]

How do you know the card works?


Now what parts are you trying to get working now?

i know the card works because when i put it in an old motherboard i have laying around it works.

i've pretty much given up.. although i'm trying to get the computer to even post. i forget if i've mentioned this earlier in the post, but about 3 seconds after the computer boots it dies.. the cd tray loses all power and i don't get beep codes when i take the ram out.

 

[Praetor]

but about 3 seconds after the computer boots it dies.. the cd tray loses all power and i don't get beep codes when i take the ram out.

Assuming the PSU is ok, that would definitly be a case of dead mobo

 

[Beyond]

Assuming the PSU is ok, that would definitly be a case of dead mobo

psu is fine, it boots the spare motherboard just fine and i even tried a brand new power supply with the motherboard. a dead motherboard is what i concluded as well, which may explain why the power switch doesn't work.

the problem is the person i was fixing the computer for, for they saw it boot successfully after i installed the new graphics card. after i restarted it, it never successfully turned on the rest of the day. when i took it home the next day it booted once for me, but that was it. how can i explain this to them? i truly think it was NOT my fault, as their monitor is dead as well and the computer was plugged into the same outlet without any form of surge protecion.

i've thought of building them a new pc, but several problems arise:

1) i don't know if the hard drive or cd rom is okay

2) they don't have their copy of windows although the sticker with the key is on the back of their case. could i use my cd with their key, or would that not work?

 

[Praetor]

i don't know if the hard drive or cd rom is okay

Odds are its ok

they don't have their copy of windows although the sticker with the key is on the back of their case. could i use my cd with their key, or would that not work?

That would work. You'd have to reactivate tho but since you're reformatting thats still legal