Computer Dead

[LA_MERC_Maverick]

Well, just wanted to say that my super duper wonderdog of a computer is dead at the moment.

Left it up the other day, come back and its on a black screen, like its asleep. I go to wake it up and nothing happen, I notice that I don't even have power to my usb mouse/keyboard. I try to reboot it, nothing happens. It turns on, but will not post. I start looking at the debug LED, and notice that its stuck on a post code of 25. I look in the ever handy motherboard book, the description is Shadow VBIOS. Thats it, nothing else. Huh? What the heck is that? So I start looking online, and find other people with the same issue, and the issue was either video card needing to be reseating or motherboard having to be replaced.

At the moment, I am in email correspondance with EVGA support on the issue. I think the motherboard died, they want to blame the video card. Well, I say either way, its their problem, because both parts are from EVGA (LOL!).

Jason

[LA_MERC_FragFood]

Reset the BIOS to defaults, maybe?

[LA_MERC_th33_r00k]

I would flash the bios if a newer version is avail. Then again with EVGA involved, I would do what they need done to the letter so you are not blamed for anything.

[LA_MERC_Maverick]

I had already flashed the bios about a month ago, with no issues. At the moment, it will not even post, so not sure how to flash the bios to anything newer if I cannot get it to post.

I am going to try taking the battery out to reset the bios to default settings.

Thanks,

Jason

[LA_MERC_Maverick]

Well, I took the battery out, left it sitting for a few minutes, and was able to get the computer to post when I put it back in. But if I do anything in the bios, and reboot, then it gets stuck again. If I let the computer boot up into Windows, it will work, but when I reboot, it gets stuck.

I am in the process now of trying to update to the latest version of the bios, but having a problem getting the computer to recognize the drives as bootable. I have the bios image on both a cd and my removeable drive, but at the moment, can get neither to recognize.

I did send an email to EVGA with an update on what I have done, and informed them that the issue does not appear to be video card related, but an issue with the motherboard, which is what I told them to start with.

Jason

[LA_MERC_Drax]

My desktop does some strange things at the moment too. It runs fine, but if I have to shut it down or reboot it, i have to uplug the power from the back for about 30 seconds or else it will start booting up, and then reset after about 5 seconds. Rinse & repeat until i make it stop.

[LA_MERC_T4rg3T]

Can you update the bios from within Windows? Most newer motherboards update the bios that way

Do all the capacitors on your motherboard look good?

[LA_MERC_th33_r00k]

Yeah this sounds hardware in nature. Caps? Re-seat all power connections including the 24 pin main. Replace the 3v cmos battery to be sure.
Unplug everything from board except HDD to see if it hangs that way, then add a component at a time. See if it hangs each time.
Update the all board drivers avail. Turn off on board vid completely if it is there.

Funny thing is I have a similar thing going on with an Acer SF-micro. No post, no nothing except a lot of fan noise. I just fired it up on Friday at 4 pm before I left.

[LA_MERC_T4rg3T]

I'm not sure I would go as far as unplugging everything to see where it hangs since it will evidently boot after clearing the cmos.

I would typically say bad hardware, memory, or irq conflict. Pull it all out except for a single stick and then try the other stick (if you have 2)

List out your separate components.

[LA_MERC_Maverick]

I updated the bios using a removeable drive, but still the same problem. If I take out the cmos battery, let it sit for 5 minutes, then put it back in, it will post and boot into Windows. If I do anything that causes the computer to reboot, it hangs up before posting. I sent all this to EVGA, and they have agreed to start the RMA process on the motherboard.

I tried booting with no video card in, no luck. I moved the card to a different PCIe slot, no luck. I tried taking out my memory and reseating it, no luck. I tried unhooking all sata drives, reconnecting, no luck. I honestly think the motherboard went kapow.

I looked at the capacitors, but to be honest, unless there were burn marks, I couldn't tell a bad one from a good one. I didn't see any visible damage to the board however.

[LA_MERC_th33_r00k]

Kool
Hope it works. What size power supply? Did you have to use any adapters on the power cables?

[LA_MERC_LaTech]

When capacitors go, you can usually tell. The cap will be bubbled on the top (kinda like: http://media.photobucket.com/image/bubbled%20capacitor/whurd/Bad.jpg ) and sometimes the goop inside will leak out too.

If it's a known issue with the board, you're probably on the right track.

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

Regarding caps, I think his MOBO has all solid caps, so that shouldn't be an issue.

That sucks though Mav - I hope you get it sorted out soon, and he's got a Corsair 750W PSU so I doubt that's it.

You hadn't tried to OC anything had you Mav?

Anyway - eVGA usually rocks w/ RMA stuff so hopefully you won't be down too long.

[LA_MERC_Maverick]

Yea, I got the RMA confirmation this afternoon, but I still need to take it out of the case, put it in an anti-static bag, and then mail it back to them. Probably won't happen until Wednesday.

Thanks for the help guys.