After System Repair, my PC won't even POST.

NariandColds · 25 Jan 2012

So here's my issue. I was minding my own business watching some videos when I hear these weird sound. Like it sounded electrical or whatever. My PC restarts right after. No prob, I get back into Windows and resume what I was doing. And then it resets again as soon as I launch a video. After that I accidentally selected System Repair instead of booting up normally. I don't think the repair even finished working and my pc restarted again. Now I have just a big brick. I start it and it won't even post. No beeps, nothing. I unplugged my harddrives and still won't post. I switched the graphic card with an older one and still no game.
I'm using Win 7 64 bit and I have no idea what I can do. I don't have my win 7 dvd handy right now, but I have a feeling I won't even be able to install a fresh copy since it won't even post.
Anyone else have something similar happen to them? Any advice or past experience would be handy. I just don't know what to do with it. And I can't afford to buy and replace every piece of hardware to see if one of them is faulty.

DustSailor · 25 Jan 2012

Hello Colds, and welcome to Seven Forums.

This sounds very much like a hardware issue. It could be anything from the motherboard to the power supply to the CPU and more. Now I wouldn't recommend trying to use it in case it fries more of your hardware. I highly recommend taking it in to a good computer repair shop and telling them all that happened.

OR... you could risk everything and let us troubleshoot it with you...

If that is the case, unplug all power and hold the power button down 30 seconds. Then go in with the power still off, and:

reseat everything, check the CPU make sure it doesn't look burnt, and reapply thermal paste to it
make sure the fans and CPU fan is working
sniff for any burnt smell
inspect the graphics card and perhaps test it on another sytem
When you turn it on, count the beeps and light flashes on your motherboard according to your motherboard's manual to see if it tells you there is a problem.
Clean out the dust, and you can even try resetting the BIOS (especially if you've done any overclocking) by pressing the CMOS button if you have one.
Not recommended, but after all this, plug it back in, power on, and try to get into the BIOS. Reset the BIOS inside the BIOS, if you couldn't otherwise (failing this, you could reset it by removing its battery, but it is almost not worth it). Let me know if you can get into BIOS.
Not recommended, but try booting up and do system repair 3 more times. Failing that, read this: Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery
Failing all of that, take it in to a computer repair shop like you should have done to begin with...

NariandColds · 25 Jan 2012

That's the thing. There are no physical signs of foul play. The PC is running just fine, all the fans are working and there are no beeps or lights flashing.
I did notice that my hdd light on my case is not flashing at all after the system repair and even after I unplugged them in hope that it would boot into BIOS, it still won't post.
I'm starting to wonder if it's my motherboard. Everything was working fine before today and I never had issues with it rebooting all of a sudden. I was hoping someone else on here had the same issues and had it fixed already. Thanks for the advice though.
Oh, and I should say I'm not a newbie when it comes to PC's. I've built all the computers I had and they worked fine and I am highly skeptical of computer shops because I believe that if they can do it I can do it as well. Not to put your advice down or anything, just wanted to clarify this.
I appreciate you putting up a reply.

DustSailor · 25 Jan 2012

Not a problem, Colds. I couldn't really know your skill level until you told me. But if you are able to test it out on your own, go for it.

At least if you are able to replace the motherboard and CPU, test them to see if the computer can pass POST without any cards (graphics or network) or USB devices. That way you can narrow down whether or not the MB is actually causing the issues. But anything you do comes with a risk that any electrical problem gets passed down further to other componants.

NariandColds · 25 Jan 2012

I'm aware of that.
I have found my WIN 7 cd, and no game: it won't boot from it. And I had it set to CD->HDD in BIOS. This is not going to be easy.

So far:

No HDD led notification
No Beeps when computer turns on
No smell of burnt components
All fans running as they shoudl
Won't boot of Win 7 CD
Takes over 1 min to turn tower off using power button after being idle for 5+ min
After pushing reset button and trying to use power button to turn it off it turns off as usual: fast, no longer than 15 seconds.

A friend of mine said previously that he's going to bring his tower down for the weekend to test one of my old graphics card. I'll see if I can convince him to let me borrow some of his components for some tests. Hopefully I won't burn/break any of them.
Also, I hate it when stuff like this happens.

DustSailor · 25 Jan 2012

If the motherboard doesn't seem to be working and the HDD doesn't display the common light indicating it is receiving power from the PSU, chances are it is your Power supply. A plus side to this is there is no risk to damaging your friend's components if all you do is hook up his PSU to your computer for testing.

Are there normally beeps from your motherboard? Are there any light indications that the board is working?

NariandColds · 25 Jan 2012

I don't see any lights on the motherboard. And the hdd light hasn't worked ever since the sudden reboot. I am fairly confident at this point that it did reboot again during the system repair. It rebooted twice within a short interval right before I launched the sys repair utility.
Two more things I am noticing at this point:

My CPU fan slows down and speeds up at regular intervals while idle like this.
There is some sort of mechanical-type sound coming from the harddrive. As if they're trying to read, but they can't. And it is rhythmic. It does this every 4.5 seconds or so.

I feel a little bit better now. I will try and find a PSU this week to replace my own and see if that is the issue.

CShark · 25 Jan 2012

The cyclic clicking of a HD can mean it is dead or dying. It sounds like the read arm is seeking the boot sector without success. If possible, get another HD, and go from there. Good luck.

Oh, there is a chance you can repair the damaged drives, so don't chuck them out just yet!

NariandColds · 25 Jan 2012

Oh man, that would suck big time. I'll check them out in another friends computer see what's going on. I have two drives so I hope one of them is still going to be good.
Shouldn't the PC at least still post even if the drives are close to dying?
Thanks for the info CShark.

metalmania31 · 25 Jan 2012

It definitely sounds like PSU or motherboard. You said it sounded like electrical when this initially happened. You think there was a power surge or a brown out when this occurred? If that's the case then one or more of those components could be toast. But you said you didn't smell any burning so the damage could have been more abrupt. Possible it hit the HDD. Do you have another hdd to try. So if you unplug all the drives you don't get post either?