2 Windows 7 PCs suddenly no longer boot, no POST

Lordbob75 · 18 Jul 2009

7echno7im said:

Jesse,
I have seen this before on some machines. Althought your power supply does seem really, really low on your 2nd machine. only 450? And you are running a C2Q with a 9600gt???

If you do not even get the BIOS post screen, you will not be able to try the things people have suggested. If there is no POST, it is not software.

I would do what LordB said and reset the CMOS.

If this doesn't work, take all peripherals except 1 stick of RAM, CPU, and 1 Video card (no sli) out. And try booting. Work your way up.

Again, your 2nd machine's power supply it very, very low. I am surprised you had the right power rails to power the 9600gt. Did you use adapters?

He brings up a good point. Take out ALL NON ESSENTIAL HARDWARE, and see if the computers will boot. If not, then it is either BIOS, or your mobo.

~Lordbob

7echno7im · 18 Jul 2009

Lordbob75 said:

He brings up a good point. Take out ALL NON ESSENTIAL HARDWARE, and see if the computers will boot. If not, then it is either BIOS, or your mobo.

~Lordbob

oopps I edited my post after you quoted me >.<

Lordbob75 · 18 Jul 2009

7echno7im said:

oopps I edited my post after you quoted me >.<

Oh well, I still threw it out there. No worries mate.

~Lordbob

P.S. RRRAAAAWWWWWRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jesseftw · 19 Jul 2009

So... I've got both systems back up and running now.

System #1 turned out to be hardware failure on the motherboard at dimm b2 (memory slot 4). All the memory sticks are fine but when slot 4 had anything in it, the computer would instantly go BSOD when trying to load Windows. I did have to do a battery pull to get the POST again. To figure out what was doing it, I yanked all components and put them back one by one. I did several tests on the memory and did multiple configurations to make sure that it was dimm b2 and not any of the sticks. I updated the bios from v1205 to v1503. The OS is intact and everything is running normally so far.

System #2 did require a reinstallation of the OS. Startup recovery/repair was unable to fix the problem. Fortunately, Windows 7 was able to back up the previous installation under a Windows.old directory, thereby preserving my documents. I was already using the latest bios v2101 but had to reconfigure after the battery pull.

It looks like I just had bad luck with the 2 Win7 systems dying in the same day. The problems so far seem unrelated. I'll definitely be keeping sleep mode disabled on both systems from here on out. It's not worth replacing the motherboard on System #1 just for one more memory slot so I'll keep using it with the 6gb instead of 8.

@7echno7im
I think peak usage on System 2 is right around 300w

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

7echno7im · 19 Jul 2009

jesseftw said:

So... I've got both systems back up and running now.

System #1 turned out to be hardware failure on the motherboard at dimm b2 (memory slot 4). All the memory sticks are fine but when slot 4 had anything in it, the computer would instantly go BSOD when trying to load Windows. I did have to do a battery pull to get the POST again. To figure out what was doing it, I yanked all components and put them back one by one. I did several tests on the memory and did multiple configurations to make sure that it was dimm b2 and not any of the sticks. I updated the bios from v1205 to v1503. The OS is intact and everything is running normally so far.

System #2 did require a reinstallation of the OS. Startup recovery/repair was unable to fix the problem. Fortunately, Windows 7 was able to back up the previous installation under a Windows.old directory, thereby preserving my documents. I was already using the latest bios v2101 but had to reconfigure after the battery pull.

It looks like I just had bad luck with the 2 Win7 systems dying in the same day. The problems so far seem unrelated. I'll definitely be keeping sleep mode disabled on both systems from here on out. It's not worth replacing the motherboard on System #1 just for one more memory slot so I'll keep using it with the 6gb instead of 8.

@7echno7im
I think peak usage on System 2 is right around 300w

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

Ok no problem. Good job narrowing down and troubleshooting your system. Enjoy 7. Glad it is now working, and if it goes sour again.... we'll be here.

Frostbite · 20 Jul 2009

Glad to hear you got them both back up. Always a pain when these things happen but also nice when you get the back working again.

jesseftw · 20 Jul 2009

Thanks again :)

pparks1 · 20 Jul 2009

Glad that you were able to figure this out. I was going to suggest checking the RAM modules themselves as I had a box act very similarly to what you are describing. It turned out that one of my RAM sticks was causing the issue. I could move the stick of RAM around and the problem would follow...but once removed form the system everything was alright. However, by time I saw the thread, you had already figured it out and responded on the 2nd page.

drak · 07 Jun 2010

im actually having this very same problem on two of my other machines. tho they are not running seven (xp/Vista) ill troubleshoot the same as you and see if thats fixes it. i did pull the cmos battery out of the xp machine with no luck getting post. if i take everything out except vid card 1 stick of ram and one hard drive and stilll no POST what are my other options?

bigpygme · 17 Apr 2011

happened to me too - Win 7 Pro x64, no post, fans spinning. reset CMOS and jumper, no joy. took out the video card and the BIOS started and announced "Found new CPU" !!! Still have no idea what that was about, but it started to boot after that.