Hi

I read lost of post from people who think they have a fired motherboard but none that explain how you determine if it's a motherboard fault.

I've an old (5yrs) Linux box that shut it's self down a couple of times for no reason I could decipher so the next time I tried to plug in a monitor to see what was going on and it didn't reboot. There's nothing wrong with the hard drive (I've booted another machine from it). I've tried removing all the extras (memory and cards) but when I try to boot: I can feel the hard drive is spinning but the light never comes on, the fans are all going, but I get nothing on the screen, just black.

So is it safe to assume the motherboard is fried or is there something else I could try?

Thanks

Sounds like the motherboard could be dead..

Did you check to see if the capacitors on the motherboard are bad ? Quite a common problem for a machine that age.. I have a shelf full of dead PC's with that problem.. See the wikipedia for more info, and pictures that show how to diagnose the problem..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

i sound like it's dead but i would try replacing the graphic card with another one and see how it goes. if the machine is not giving you any post codes, the motherboard is most likely dead ... but try replacing the graphic card ... it might work :-)

Thanks.

I wouldn't have known what a faulty capacitor looked like but I checked and they look fine. I can't see any signs of stress on the motherboard but I'm sure that won't stop it being dead.

Edit

Thanks again. Didn't have a graphic card it was purely for number crunching so just two processors, lots of ram and a network card.

That's unusual. All the MBs I've come across must have a graphics card fitted in order to boot, even headless machines.

Are you sure there isn't an integrated graphics card on the motherboard?

Regarding faulty capacitors: The tops must be absolutely flat. Any hint of curvature indicates trouble. It is possible to replace them but not as a first time soldering project.

a computer can't boot without a graphic card .... if you have a place to plug your monitor, you must have a graphic card. it's part of the initial POST test that any computer does. if you don't see an actual PCI card that doesn't mean you don't have one. your graphic card is defiantly integrated on the motherboard. just get an extra PCI graphic card , stick it in the machine and see if you get any output.

without a graphics card plugged in the POST process would surely beep beep beep etc.. to notify you.. no Graphics adapter is usually a series of like 8 beeps..

SO either the motherboard or the power supply would be my guess..