Posted January 02, 2011

Stuff
Resident Old Man
Registered: Dec 2008
From United States

Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom
Posted January 02, 2011
Tried it, yeah. The only thing is that on the new PSU it's two very separate plugs that you can't join together before plugging in. So it does require some extra care when doing so. I'll check it yet again tomorrow just to be on the safe side.

xyem
Old-ish User
Registered: Sep 2010
From United Kingdom
Posted January 02, 2011
Remove all the components from the motherboard, CPU, RAM, everything (except power).
Boot it up a bunch of times and note whether the motherboard complains (beeps) every time. If it doesn't, the motherboard is definitely broken and needs replacing.
If it does beep every time, put the components in one at a time until it sometimes doesn't which should indicate either the defective component or the part of the motherboard which has failed (i.e. the RAM slot itself might have a bad connection to the board).
You can see if it is the component/motherboard by testing it in another machine (providing you have one at hand that accepts it).
Boot it up a bunch of times and note whether the motherboard complains (beeps) every time. If it doesn't, the motherboard is definitely broken and needs replacing.
If it does beep every time, put the components in one at a time until it sometimes doesn't which should indicate either the defective component or the part of the motherboard which has failed (i.e. the RAM slot itself might have a bad connection to the board).
You can see if it is the component/motherboard by testing it in another machine (providing you have one at hand that accepts it).
Post edited January 02, 2011 by xyem

Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom

Linklinker
New User
Registered: Jan 2010
From United States
Posted January 02, 2011
Bad memory can definitely cause your computer to restart without even a single beep code or post. My friends computer would constantly restart without posting or any kind of error code. I tracked it down to one of the ram sticks causing problems with current and voltage which made the motherboard cycle on and off continuously.

Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom
Posted January 02, 2011
Well I kind of hope it's that as it would certainly be cheaper to solve than replacing the motherboard. Easier too given that AM3 DDR2 motherboards don't seem to be in stock much at the moment.

Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom

Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom
Posted January 05, 2011

Also just to be extra sure, pull the ram out, brush out the slots in case there's dust & reseat them firmly
Chances are that the mobo is the fault but RAM is as essential so it COULD be that
Thanks for all your help, guys!