No Post

[bluntspoon]

Son was playing BL2 today, video cut scene was playing, he heard an extended buzz through his headphones, video froze. Restarted computer and now it won't post. Power to all fans, hard drives spin but no other activity. LED's on MB indicate all is fine there.

There was no smoke and there are no visible signs of shorts.

Things I've done.

Changed out video card
Reseated and booted with one stick of ram, repeated 4 times for each stick
Changed cable on hard drive
Unplugged PSU and held power button down for 1 min
Pulled CMOS battery and left for 30 mins

I'm down to PSU which is what I thought in the beginning. Before I pull one out of my daughters computer any other suggestions?

I'm bummed because it's a Corsair vx550, a few years old but not a hunk of junk.

[Inner]

Try the PSU replacement. It's quick enough and straight forward. Heck you've probably already done it by now.

If that doesn't work my best guesses are:

a) The BIOS is encountering a fatal error. A computer repair shop with the right equipment can read the BIOS error output line and tell you what the error is.
b) The BIOS chip got fried

Good luck and keep us POSTed!

[Boss Llama]

From the sound of it, I'd guess you're looking at a motherboard failure. Specifically, I would guess something cooked in the interface of your son's video card slot. If your PSU goes, it generally will smell pretty distinct, and if it's still capable of powering up, will shut itself off moments after doing so as a built in safety precaution. The fans, LEDS, and HDD can definitely get power even from a fried mobo - unless the hard switch is flipped on the back, the system is powered at all times anyway, even when shut down. Still check your PSU obviously, since you have the ability to, but I'll be surprised if it's that.

One thing to be aware of is the outside chance that there may be a double failure. I had a situation once that manifested itself similarly to yours, wherein both the video card and the mobo's video slot were simultaneously trashed. One took the other with it, I don't know which, but it wasn't until I'd replaced them as a pair that things changed.

To verify you're not looking at a double failure (and simultaneously identify problem components), place questionable components from your son's computer one at a time in to one of your known-good computers - GPU, HDD, RAM, etc. This is better than putting known good components in a questionable box, since if two things are both not working, and you change only one at a time, you won't be able to isolate the issue. When you have a known-working config, if any questionable piece doesn't work, you know for certain that it has a problem, regardless of whether anything else does.

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Extra question: When you say it won't POST, do you mean that it won't successfully complete the POST check, or that it won't even attempt one? If it won't even attempt one, but has power and is running, it's almost assuredly the motherboard. If it is merely failing the POST, is it giving you a beep code? The number and length of beeps can be read like Morse Code using your motherboard manual, and will usually specify the problem.

[bluntspoon]

It won't even attempt Post Alizee.

You have me convinced atm.

I'll check the PSU and put the video card in another computer. But I may be buying a new MB tonight.