[NEED HELP ASAP] Power outage, monitor stays on amber light now.

K

kuzzie

Geek Trainee
I was on my computer one morning and we happened to have a power flash, quickly on and off. Afterwards i turn on my computer, everything comes normally, gives me the safe boot option, i start up windows 7 log in and it freezes, on a side note that is very unusal. I've had my setup for a month now and not 1 freeze. Afterwards anytime i attempt to turn on my computer the monitor stays amber and nothing shows, no bios nothing. I've tried tried multiple things such as replacing the power supply, running bare minimum (1 stick of ram, cpu, cpu fan and power supply without graphics card installed), Ironically im in a nerdrage rush to get it fixed by 11p.m. central time tonight, a new game i've been preparing for with new comp upgrades and such for months comes out on midnight and i very much so intend to be there for it.

my computer specs:
890GPA-UD3H Motherboard
3.3 dual core am3 socket processor
9800gt xlr8 nvidia graphics card
2 sticks of 2 gig 1333mhz ddr3 ram
600w Power supply
500 gig sata harddrive

im running windows 7 professional 64x



i was running a 480w power supply when the power flashed, i bought a 600w today.
 
Hi,

Have you tried resetting the BIOS yet? Unplug the computer, take out the coin battery for the cmos, and then hold down the computer's power button for 10-20 seconds so it will discharge the system board. Then try booting again to see if it comes up. Also, when you turn the pc on, does it give any POST code beeps? If your monitor is an LCD, it should have the option to choose between a digital and analog signal. Make sure its setup to match whether you are using a vga (analog) cable or dvi (digital) cable. Also, if you havent already, try swapping out the video card, monitor, and video cable if you have another pc that you can pull parts from. Just swap them one at a time though, so you can rule them out as being bad as you go. If after you try the new power supply and swapping out the video hardware still doesnt help, I would be leaning towards a damaged motherboard or cpu at that point. Also, if you currently are not using one, you should get a good surge protector to protect your system. A normal power strip or plugging directly into the wall isnt safe for your equipment.
 
ive reset the cmos
post beeps, i didnt have the internal speaker plugged in until i read your reply, hooked it up and got 1 beep. (that was before i reset the cmos) i reset the cmos and now i get no beeps. I have a odd feeling my video card might be fried due to the fact that when i power up it revs up fast, slows down, waits 5 seconds, and rinse repeat. When it used to work it would get to a decent fan speed and keep it, extenuating circumstances being when i tune my computer for pure online gaming (the fan would run faster, nothing to due with the topic i believe but im doingmy best to give you info so i can get help)
as to the monitor topic, im using a Acer AL1706, it has to ports in the back, 1 for power 1 for vga, the4 buttons in front are 2 arrow (selection buttons) a menu and auto button. All 4 do NOTHING when i attempt to use them atm.
On a side note i do have a 2nd monitor that i tested out to see if #1 was faulty, same problem but a tad different, when my video card would rev up for a second the screen would go from standby to green with no signal and the second it revs down it goes back to standby, and repeats.
As for testing, the comp im experiencing problems with is the only one that works with amd socket 3, and ddr3 1333mhz ram so i have no stand ins. My video card supports only dvi but i have 2 vga--->dvi adapters (i used to run dual monitors)
 
It looks like your system board has onboard graphics as well if I found the right one on newegg. Its a gigabyte board? If it does have onboard graphics, take out your current video card and plug into the onboard one to see if it will boot. Where you got the one POST beep, that should mean the rest of the hardware is running ok. Try the onboard video and see what happens.
 
Have you tried the onboard without the other card installed and after the BIOS was reset? Some of the newer system boards will disable the onboard video if it detects a video card installed in the motherboard.
 
Yes, ive tried the onboard after i reset bios, and i tried the vid card after i reset bios.
And odd sidenote, i cant get any beeps out of my computer now.
 
I went and bought a geforce gt240 graphicard, same problem, but on startup I get the 1 short beep that according to my motherboard manual, means the system bootssuccesfully, yet the monitor still stays in standby
 
Also I'm a high school student who does online school. With my computer down imasically screwed, I'm 3 days with no work away from a truancy ticket, and 10 away from the end of the semester
I would very mug appreciate any help or comments
 
At this point, you have tried a new powersupply, video card, monitor, video cable, and done a minimal boot with nothing coming up on the screen still. Doing a minimal boot and have it failing still after replacing all the above hardware, it only leaves the cpu and system board that might be having problems. Doing a minimal boot with just the cpu, 1 stick of ram, and the video card installed should have at least brought the BIOS information on the screen before it errors because of no bootable device. You replaced the video card, monitor, and video cable, so those are not the issue. If you tried 1 stick of ram, then the other and still it wont come up, you can rule those out. The power supply was replaced, so its not that. It only leaves the CPU or system board having an issue. One last thing you can try is to take the system board out of the computer case and set it on some non conductive surface, like cardboard, and try starting it again. It's possible that it was touching the metal of the computer case causing a short, so trying it outside of the case would rule that out. If still not working, I would think system board before processor might have a short or something else going on with it. System boards seem to die a lot more than processors so that is what I would look at next.
 
One other thing to try would be to reseat the cpu in its slot and to clean then reapply the thermal paste to the cpu and heatsink. Also make sure the cpu fan is running.
 
I've already tried running it on a cardboard bow without ram and system speakers hooked up, ( so I hear the bios error if I'm correct) but instead I get no beep whatsoever, I'm assuming most likely motherboard i's fried?
 
Try reseating the processor and booting with 1 stick of ram and video card outside of the case. If it still doesnt come up, the system board would be the next thing to swap out. :/
 
FWIW, you have two issues: old greybeard says-
1) Always have a spare - a "Get out of jail" solution, this applies to life generally.
The real problem, if your college work is behind, you need to get on with it, and forget the Games tournament - - - in a few years the Tournaments will still be there, but you will be "out" of college.

2) If the problem is electrical (as you hint), the chances are it's taken "something" out. The first place to look is the PSU since this gets all the nasty stuff first. =- swap it out. (You were right to buy a replacement)
If you suspect the inner components then you have to follow a clear logic, don't swap everything at once - that gets confusing and whilst "all new" should fix it, I've known folk who swap-about so much they don't know what new and what's broke.

3) Lastly fit a filter - not one of those expensive "computer accessories" but something more like a supressor with chokes and capacitors - this "should" prevent nasty spikes getting in - any "overvoltage surges" beloved by parts-salesmen will be dealt-with by the computer psu, which are quite high-tech these days. The external supressor-box just cuts them down in size, rounds over the spike, etc. next time.

Now,
Go round to a friends and "borrow" an old PC to get that work done......
 
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