Motherboard, CPU or what? Help please?

[mikelly]

Hello, you experts and aficionados! Here's the problem, and hoping someone can advise.
I'm no power user my PC has a Gigabyte GA-7N400 board and Athlon XP 2600, running WinXP. 512 meg ram. The usual HDD and DVD burner setup.
Okay, the PC has stopped working. I think I might have zapped it with a careless on-off switch via my Tevion TV card. Only maybe - I don't know.
Be that as it may, here's the symptoms:
* At switch on, the front green LED lights up and stays on, but the red light comes on then goes straight off.
* At the same time, the PSU fan starts momentarily, then stops. The CPU fan does the same.
* The little LED light by the RAM comes on and does stay on.
* No HDD, ditto the DVD drive.
* The PC don't work. No POST, nothing.
* I tried the DVD in my old W98 box and it works okay. Ditto the HDD, but of course I can't read it with FAT 32.
* Interesting point, there is just one item that does work in the PC, and that is the 'go-to-sleep' function. As per manual, if the 'start' button is pressed and held for four seconds then the green LED goes out. Press it again and it 'wakes' and the startup initiates - but stops as described above. Does this indicate that the board is maybe okay?
Is the PSU maybe controlled by the CPU or the board? That could explain why the PSU fan starts and shuts off again.
My guess is that the CPU is zapped.
So, anybody got a clear opinion, please? If a new CPU or whatever is needed, okay, but will that be all? The thing is, I read on this forum and elsewhere about people who are more used to all this than me, and some of them have real problems. First they buy one part, then another, and ends up they might as well have junked the beast and bought a new box. Argggh! Luckily, I still have my earlier old PC, otherwise I'd be stymied, as I live out in the country.
All comments gratefully considered. Please?

You may have to start swapping out parts anyway to find which one is defective.

If you have a local computer store with diagnostics capabilities it may be your best bet in narrowing down the problem, otherwise you may be just stuck buying parts and testing them one by one until you find the problem child [or children].

I'd start with removing the TV card and/or swapping it out. If the problem persists, I'd probably try the PSU then CPU next..

Someone else may have another or better suggestion though, so hopefully you'll get some more replies here.. good luck!

[Viking_LW]

When a PC starts up, it does the following things:

1. Checks the cpu to make sure it is ok.
2. Loads the video BIOS.
3. Loads the system BIOS
4. Checks for a keyboard.
5. Checks for RAM (does a ram count as well, typically)
6. Looks for SOME kind of drive to get an operating system from.


Use this list and what you see on the screen to help troubleshoot.
If it never displays anything, but it looks like it tries to start, then I would look at my video card ( this might be the TV card you mentioned... and what LaraRR diagnosed as well.) Try swapping it with the one in your WIN 98 box first. If it IS the VC, then you should see similar symptoms on the 98 box, while the current machine will boot ok. If that doesn't work, check back here and I will try to help you diagnose the problem . Btw, if you can afford it, and there is one close, LaraRR's suggestion to take it to a local shop is a good one, provided you : A) have one out in the country, and B) they are reputable. Good Luck!

[mikelly]

- Thankyou both for the replies.
- Viking, I didn't know that information about the start-up sequence. I'll make a note of it, thanks. In the meantime I'll try what you suggest. Incidentally, the video card is a Nividea something which came with the box. I put the TV card in later. Had no trouble with it, but have taken it out now, although with no result.
- You might interested in the following - because my TV reception is poor, not being near a transmitter, I use a booster which does make a lot of difference. The booster runs off AC power via a plugpack. So, the booster power comes out of the AC, the TV aerial coax plugs into the booster, the TV - or in this case the PC card - is connected to the booster (the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone). What I did one day was inadvertently switch the booster on-off at the power. A spike? Maybe, I dunno.
Of course, I have always used a surge protector for the computer but also (of course!) when I fitted the TV-in, I didn't think of it, so no protection. I've since corrected that.
Well, it may not be that. Anyway, I'll try the suggestions, and at worst try to find a reliable repairer.
Thanks again - I'll let you know how it goes.