Aerothorn on 11/9/2010 at 13:35
Not to hijack this thread, but I'm actually having an identical problem right now. Same basic story - all signs indicate the computer is booting up properly, running Windows, etc, but simply not outputting a video signal. I've tried different DVI cables, different DVI ports, etc.
Where this gets mysterious is that it's not constant. When I got this computer out of storage (after it living there for a summer) it did this. The next morning it operated fine. For a number of days after that, it didn't. I took it in to a tech support place to do some tests and it operated totally fine - including when I got back home, ruling out my original theory that the monitor was at fault. After running fine for two days, it has now reverted to not displaying a signal.
I can do the RAM test, but if the RAM was shot wouldn't it have stopped working altogether?
The other thing I can think of is that I'm using a relatively low-powered PSU (380 watts) but I've used a PSU calculator and should be well below its max capacity (in the high 200s) even factoring in some degradation. But, again, wouldn't the failure in that case be constant?
Al_B on 11/9/2010 at 16:46
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I took it in to a tech support place to do some tests and it operated totally fine
Of course it did - sometimes even the presence of a screwdriver in the vicinity is enough to convince a computer to start working.
On a serious note, PSU ratings can be very misleading, particularly for cheap brands. The overall rating doesn't mean much if it can't handle the drain required on a particular rail. Do you have the option of trying an alternative, higher spec, PSU to rule that out?
Aerothorn on 11/9/2010 at 17:01
Quote Posted by Al_B
Of course it did - sometimes even the presence of a screwdriver in the vicinity is enough to convince a computer to start working.
On a serious note, PSU ratings can be very misleading, particularly for cheap brands. The overall rating doesn't mean much if it can't handle the drain required on a particular rail. Do you have the option of trying an alternative, higher spec, PSU to rule that out?
It's a pretty good brand - an Antec Earthwatts ((
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033&Tpk=antec%20earthwatts%20380)). I realize that wattage isn't everything, but I did some rail research when I built this thing and - while I could have screwed up - was pretty sure this would power everything on the given rail. I ended up yanking my sound card for now, so currently the only really "energy-intensive" device I have is the graphics card, which itself isn't particularly power-hungry. While I could theoretically swap PSUs (thank god I'm at a college with a free student-run diagnosis center,) I don't want to do that until I'm really sure - I honestly don't think it's the PSU. And, again, why would it be working sometimes and not others?
Al_B on 11/9/2010 at 17:22
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I honestly don't think it's the PSU. And, again, why would it be working sometimes and not others?
It's not always that simple. If the startup current is sufficient then a PSU can go into (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foldback_(power_supply_design)) foldback mode which can have a positive feedback effect. I'm not saying that's definitely your problem but temperature / day of the week / position of the coffee mug can tip something that's borderline into either working or not working.
Aerothorn on 11/9/2010 at 18:49
Makes sense. I'll explore that avenue - thanks for the suggestion.
Edit: Yeah, I tried the calculator again, and I don't know if I did it wrong before or waht but it's giving me a load in the low 400s for my 380-watt powered system. I'll try swapping a PSU and then will probably just break down and buy an Earthwatt 500, unless anyone has a better recommendation for a good brand.
SubJeff on 12/9/2010 at 20:18
Its not so much a beep I get but a long continuous whine. This happens without any RAM, with 1 or 2 sticks of RAM and with any of the identical 2GB sticks of RAM I have.
I've finally been able to get on the ASUS tech help sites and it seems this is either a CPU or a RAM problem. The error beeps are said to be continuous for RAM and continuous high-low loop for CPU. I can't really tell if the tone changes tbh. It sort of does but then on the other hand it sort of doesn't.
At this point I'm considering a total upgrade of mobo, CPU and RAM :(
SubJeff on 15/9/2010 at 10:23
I never did find the guilty component. It was probably the psu, but them all the ram did give an error.
Got new everything which is working fine so I probably have a working mobo, cpu and gfx spare now.
